Media Reviews
'If you use consultants, or claim to be a consultant, you should read this book.' Charles Wilson, CEO, Booker Ltd.
'This book should be required reading for everyone who teaches at a business school, as well as for all MBA students. I recommend it to anyone interested in the upheavals around corporate governance and professional ethics that marked the turn of the 21st century.' JoAnne Yates, MIT Sloan School of Management
'McKenna has unearthed the distinctly American origins of modern consulting in the evolution of financial market regulation - surprisingly and convincingly.' John Clarkeson, co-Chairman of the Board, The Boston Consulting Group
'Witch doctors or miracle workers? Whatever your view of management consultants, it pays to understand how the world's leading consulting firms have become so influential. McKenna's superb history reveals how one crucial piece of US legislation - the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act - and one vibrant American city - Chicago - spawned an industry that has transformed the face of global business and national government in the 20th century.' Martin Giles, The Economist Group, North America
'Fascinating, frightening, and perfectly timed - McKenna's sweeping survey shines a brilliant light on a profession that has always preferred to keep outsiders in the dark.' Martin Kihn, author of House of Lies: How Management Consultants Steal Your Watch and Then Tell You the Time
'McKenna opens the private world of management consulting to his keen analytical eye, providing a rich, absorbing accounting of the rise and expansion of this profession, and a sharp critique of consulting's role in shaping the strategies of the world's largest corporations. This is a fascinating, revealing book about a profession that has received little serious, sustained scholarly attention.' Walter W. Powell, Stanford University
'This history of management consulting analyses an important stream of the history of modern business itself. Today's managers can put its insights to practical use when engaging - or deciding not to engage - consultants.' Tony Tyler, Chief Operating Office, Cathay Pacific Airways
'McKenna's book does a superb job of exploring the role that this industry played in transforming (not always for the better) a variety of different types of organizations - from businesses to religious and charitable associations to government agencies - and through them much of the fabric of modern life.' Naomi Lamoreaux, University of California, Los Angeles
'History is not bunk. With Glass-Steagall repealed and the aftershocks of the Enron scandal by no means over, the timing of The World's Newest Profession could hardly be more fortuitous. McKenna's breadth of scholarship and clarity of argument will undoubtedly sit, like Banquo's ghost, at the consulting banquet for years to come.' Fiona Czerniawska, Consulting to Management
'McKenna offers a lively look at a profession that has often been shrouded in secrecy, and shows how it has become enormously lucrative - although not always as a result of the quality of advice being doled out. Interesting and provocative, McKenna's book offers a lens to understand the development of the modern corporation.' Jon Housman, Managing Director of The Wall Street Journal Europe
'Intriguing revelations are contained in Chris McKenna's important new book. His timing is perfect. ... Although academic thoroughness is one of its chief merits, the book remains readable and entertaining throughout. ... It is a sober and truthful antidote to all the glossy consultancy brochures that promise 'strategic solutions' and 'value-added' analysis.' Financial Times
'A highly readable account of the rise of the management-consultancy phenomenon. McKenna is admirably balanced: not starry-eyed about the serious men in suits, but neither is he sneeringly cynical. Explains a lot about how businesses are run today.' Financial Times Magazine
'... the author has ... done [one] of the most important things that he sets out to do which is to bring to the attention of current and future management consultants a knowledge of the development of their profession.' The Business Economist
'The World's Newest Profession documents the rise of management consulting in the United States. ... It is a novel study that deserves the attention of business historians, management professors, and organizational scholars.' Neil Fligstein, Business History Review
'[The World's Newest Profession] is a compelling, well-told story that goes a long way toward explaining the ubiquity, intentions, and limitations of modern management consultants. The book makes an important contribution to the literatures on professionalization, on twentieth-century business history in the United States, and on corporate culture.' Christopher Tassava, Enterprise and Society
McKenna has unearthed the distinctly American origins of modern consulting in the evolution of financial market regulation surprisingly and convincingly. -John Clarkeson, Co-Chairman of the Board, The Boston Consulting Group
This book should be required reading for everyone who teaches at a business school, as well as for all MBA students. I recommend it to anyone interested in the upheavals around corporate governance and professional ethics that marked the turn of the 21st century. -JoAnne Yates, Sloan Distinguished Professor of Management, MIT Sloan School of Management
If you use consultants, or claim to be a consultant, you should read this book. -Charles Wilson, CEO, Booker Ltd.
Witch doctors or miracle workers? Whatever your view of management consultants, it pays to understand how the world's leading consulting firms have become so influential. McKenna's superb history reveals how one crucial piece of US legislation the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act and one vibrant American city Chicago spawned an industry that has transformed the face of global business and national government in the 20th century. -Martin Giles, Managing Director, The Economist Group, North America
Fascinating, frightening, and perfectly timed McKenna's sweeping survey shines a brilliant light on a profession that has always preferred to keep outsiders in the dark. -Martin Kihn, author of House of Lies: How Management Consultants Steal Your Watch and then Tell You the Time
McKenna opens the private world of management consulting to his keen analytical eye, providing a rich, absorbing accounting of the rise and expansion of this profession, and a sharp critique of consulting's role in shaping the strategies of the world's largest corporations. This is a fascinating, revealing book about a profession that has received little serious, sustained scholarly attention. -Walter W. Powell, Professor of Education & Sociology, Stanford University
This history of management consulting analyses an important stream of the history of modern business itself. Today's managers can put its insights to practical use when engaging or deciding not to engage consultants. -Tony Tyler, Chief Operating Office, Cathay Pacific Airways
McKenna's book does a superb job of exploring the role that this industry played in transforming (not always for the better) a variety of different types of organizations from businesses to religious and charitable associations to government agencies and through them much of the fabric of modern life. -Naomi Lamoreaux, Professor of Economics & History, University of California, Los Angeles
History is not bunk. With Glass-Steagall repealed and the aftershocks of the Enron scandal by no means over, the timing of The World's Newest Profession could hardly be more fortuitous. McKenna's breadth of scholarship and clarity of argument will undoubtedly sit, like Banquo's ghost, at the consulting banquet for years to come. -Fiona Czerniawska, Consulting to Management
McKenna offers a lively look at a profession that has often been shrouded in secrecy, and shows how it has become enormously lucrative although not always as a result of the quality of advice being doled out. Interesting and provocative, McKenna's book offers a lens to understand the development of the modern corporation. -Jon Housman, Managing Director, The Wall Street Journal Europe
It is an exhaustive account of the history of management consultancy that has been several years in the making. Although academic thoroughness is one of its chief merits, the book remains readable and entertaining throughout. McKenna's serious and not unsympathetic approach allows him to debunk certain myths about consultancy without falling into the trap of becoming an unthinking critic. It is a sober and truthful antidote to all the glossy consultancy marketing brochures that promise strategic solutions and value-added analysis. -Stefan Stern, Financial Times
Well-researched, thoughtful. -Choice
...this is a fascinating book whose accessible and clear writing style should ensure a wide readership. The footnotes provide a wonderful resource for any student of management consulting and knowledge-intensive firms. Its broad sweep and rich detail mean that it is destined to become a key text in this area. -Timothy Clark, Durham University, Administrative Science Quarterly
This groundbreaking study details how the leading consulting companies expanded after U.S. regulatory changes during the 1930s. -Abstracts of Public Administration, Development, and Environment
'Christopher D. McKenna's masterful, impeccably researched, prize-winning study of management consulting exemplifies the best that business history has to offer to the larger historical profession, the business community, and to those who shape the public policy. Albert Churella, Southern Polytechnic State University Journal of American History
FREE UK DELIVERY 
Global shipping from £2.99
FREE UK DELIVERY
30 Day Refund Guarantee
