The McKinsey Edge: Success Principles from the World’s Most Powerful Consulting Firm

CHAPTER FOUR

Going the Extra Mile

Change before you have to.

—JACK WELCH

Perhaps the most noteworthy takeaway from McKinsey, from an organization’s perspective, is the importance it places on iterations: the systematic process that calls for everyone to not only contribute to produce an end outcome but also to synthesize the best possible one, a bit similar to the wisdom-of-the-crowd concept that the “right answer” can be better derived by combining thoughts from as many people as possible. At the core is one belief: high-impact work comes from believing your output can be iterated repeatedly. For example, we are regularly asked the questions, “Did you run this by XYZ?” when XYZ may not be a direct part of a particular project team. While for ...