Recent revelations have subjected consulting giant McKinsey to awkward scrutiny. Its leader describes what could change at the influential and secretive firm.
KEVIN SNEADER, A 52-YEAR-OLD Glaswegian and 30-year veteran of McKinsey & Co., became the firm’s global managing partner in July. He spoke by phone on March 6 with Fortune about the firm’s very public spate of controversies, from charges of conflicts of interest in its bankruptcy advisory business to embarrassing entanglements from Saudi Arabia to South Africa and beyond. The conversation has been edited for clarity and space; you can read the full transcript at fortune.com.
FORTUNE: You live in Hong Kong, have visited San Francisco and New York recently, and are in Europe today. How many airline miles did you log last year?
KEVIN SNEADER: I prefer my wife not find that out. British Airways had this wonderful idea at the end of the year, which is to send an email that shows all the places you’ve been and the number of times you’ve been around the world. I stayed away from it.
We’ll mark you down as evasive for a legitimate reason on that one. Let’s discuss McKinsey’s public issues, starting on the topic of transparency. What were McKinsey’s 2018 revenues and profits?
Our revenue is running about 10 billion U.S. dollars.
And profitability?
As a private partnership, it’s not one of the things we talk about.
How about the top five revenue producing clients?
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