Consulting is destroying our lives

Video Description

In this video, I deep dive into McKinsey’s shady role in the opioid crisis and reveal how consulting firms like them, fuelled by corporate greed, make unbelievable amounts of cash at the expense of society. Consulting isn’t the noble, change-making career it claims to be on their polished websites. Quite the opposite: the people who take the decisions at consultancies like McKinsey don’t seem to care about the repercussions of their secretive and deceptive style of working. From pushing OxyContin through sales schemes that couldn’t be more absurd, while consulting FDA regulators at the same time (conflict of interest much, lol), the consulting industry's web of influence is more tangled than ever. I sifted through the shocking email chains and insane PowerPoint presentations made public during the 2021 opioid litigation, and trust me, what I found will blow your mind. And, because this saga doesn’t end with opioids—I'll also touch on how consultancies are spinning tales of “sustainable growth” while profiting from fossil fuels, tobacco, and many more troubling industries. So make sure to subscribe, so you don’t miss the next episode in the Consulting series. Also go watch my other episodes on Consulting: The history of consulting: Why is everyone a consultant? How consulting works (I was just getting started so I didn’t have a proper camera and microphone, but the content is nonetheless very true): Debunking the consulting myth follow me on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/annabocca_ where I’ll be giving away my crappy timeline drawing (if anyone wants it - my mum didn’t) Sources for this video: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/03/business/mckinsey-opioids-settlement.html Bogdanich, W., & Forsythe, M. (2022). When McKinsey comes to town: the hidden influence of the world's most powerful consulting firm (First edition.) Doubleday. https://nida.nih.gov/publications/drugfacts/prescription-opioids Van Zee A. (2009). The promotion and marketing of oxycontin: commercial triumph, public health tragedy. American journal of public health, 99(2), 221–227. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2007.131714 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pdPrQFjo2o&t=486s https://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/09/us/cancer-painkillers-pose-new-abuse-threat.html https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2622774/#bib1 https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rates https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33121867/ https://www.jec.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/democrats/2022/9/the-economic-toll-of-the-opioid-crisis-reached-nearly-1-5-trillion-in-2020 Mazzucato, M. (2023). The big con: How the consulting industry weakens our businesses, infantilizes our governments, and warps our economies. https://www.ft.com/content/e12e305c-2363-11ea-b8a1-584213ee7b2b Graeber, D. (2019). Bullshit jobs : a theory. UK: Penguin Books. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0kjgp4jr5yo https://www.consultancy.in/news/4168/young-mckinsey-consultant-commits-suicide-due-to-work-pressure My favourite PowerPoints from the UCFS Document repository: ‘Pockets of growth’: https://www.industrydocuments.ucsf.edu/opioids/docs/#id=ngjj0269 ‘Turbocharge opioid sales’ (with The Apprentice graphics): https://www.industrydocuments.ucsf.edu/opioids/docs/#id=fjpn0256 Funny e-mail in which Martin Elling proposes to Arnab Ghatak to delete all of their opioid work documents after they got cold feet (also the subject line is ‘howdy’ lol): https://www.industrydocuments.ucsf.edu/opioids/docs/#id=fxlp0255 Also, here’s the link to the whole McKinsey Opioid documents - it would be lovely if you participated in a little investigation, as there are 114922 documents in there and I couldn’t read all of them, so there’s definitely some more gold nuggets to be found in there. If you find something cool please comment it under this video or dm it to me on instagram (@boomers.hate.this.trick)! All of McKinsey’s opioid documents: https://www.industrydocuments.ucsf.edu/opioids/results/#q=collection%3A%22McKinsey%20Documents%22&col=%5B%22mck%22%5D&h=%7B%22hideDuplicates%22%3Afalse%2C%22hideFolders%22%3Afalse%2C%22hidePrivileged%22%3Afalse%2C%22hideConfidential%22%3Afalse%2C%22hideCopyright%22%3Afalse%7D&subsite=opioids&cache=true&count=114922 Also a must-watch: McKinsey’s CEO Bob Sternfels’ responses to Senator Hawley’s interrogation about the opioid crisis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McDnq4F1qxk (it’s hilarious!) Lil Peep track: https://open.spotify.com/track/1B2pIMTCOl4zPGAxe3pqu0?si=_ix2wSzGSBu_NGnMq81exw Audio processing and mix for this video by Joe London: https://joe.london