| Good morning. America's two most important newspapers – The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times – consumed a forest of newsprint and a small ocean of ink this weekend taking down two of the world's most iconic global businesses – GE and McKinsey. If you have a spare hour, you can read the full stories here and here. If you don't, I'll give you a handy shortcut: the most damning part of the Times story on McKinsey is in the first five paragraphs; the killer quote from the Journal epic is in the last five paragraphs. The Journal story takes the prize for length and depth, filling most of the Saturday paper's second section. That's a rarity in the age of Murdoch, who despises long stories, but a testament to editor Matt Murray's career-long interest in the industrial conglomerate. The story chronicles the demise of GE over the last two decades, and ends with this quote from ex-CEO Jack Welch about his hand-picked successor, Jeff Immelt: "I'm terribly disappointed. I expected so much more… I made the best choice I thought I could make, and it didn't turn out right." Welch gives himself an A for his own running of the company, and an F for his choice of a successor. The Times put its piece smack in the center of the front page, and begins with a stunning anecdote: Earlier this year, McKinsey held its lush China retreat, complete with desert tents and camel rides, in the Silk Road city of Kashgar, just four miles away from an internment camp holding thousands of ethnic Uighurs for reeducation. What were they thinking? The remainder of the story recounts McKinsey's work in various authoritarian countries – Russia, China, Saudi Arabia – but acknowledges "there is no indication that McKinsey has violated American sanctions" … or other laws. CEO Daily invites readers to give their thoughts on either or both stories; I'll print selected responses later this week. More news below. |
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