How long did Buttigieg work at McKinsey? Not all that long. Why did he leave? Because he realized that this was not the career that suited his abundant talents.
He is at his core a person who is always learning and a person who wants to serve.
70
At McKinsey the junior staff ("business analysts" after undergrad and "associates" after grad school) are assigned client work by their "staffers" based on available supply of junior staff labor vs client demand for such labor. There is minimal input that a jr team member has to his assignments. At this jr level they do not hold their own client rosters nor solicit new client business.
Management consulting firms are built as apprenticeships - first you learn analytical skills, then team/project management skills, then client service/relationship skills - roughly 2 years per skill segment.
In fact, most McKinsey consultants don't specialize or affiliate with an industry sector for 2-4 years, as their job as juniors is to provide general analytical support & learn general business principles. His path to the Afghanistan/Iraq projects speaks more to the lack of supply of junior McKinsey staffers with the language skills for those types of projects than his own ability to influence his client roster and project focus areas.
Mayor Pete no doubt learned those analytical skills at an accelerated rate in the McKinsey environment, and then moved on as his heart dictated.
With the rare exception of the few who have known what they want to do in their career from childhood, most of us try a variety of jobs as we build skills and learn more about ourselves and our values.
That's normal and healthy & often leads to later career choices more in-line with our values.
60
Why are Buttigieg’s duties and projects at McKinnsey kept secret?
If he wants to be our president, then I want to know what his previous works experience has been.
4
Having worked at McKinsey does not make Pete Buttigieg some kind of Josef Mengele.
It doesn’t even make him some kind of Jeffrey Skilling.
21
Gasp!! I had no idea Mayor Pete worked for McKinsey in his early twenties. Word on the street is also that he once baked xmas cookies with non-organic quinoa flour, too. Another reason that he can obviously not be trusted is that he is too gay to get traction with black and latino folk but not gay enough for the LGBT community. My guess is the Democrats will hand 2020 to DJT since there just wasn’t anyone worthy to compete.
73
Are you ok there Michael? Sound a little confused. That sweet German wine does it each time. Good stuff that JJ Prüm!
2
"What's in a name?" Shakespearian indeed. The young Buttigieg has actual experience in one of Capitalist America's most prestigious Corporate Consulting Machines. Whilst VP Biden's totally inexperienced son sat on the Corporate Boards of firms in Ukraine and China drawing $50,000 minimum, as he fights to keep his financial records from being made public in paternity litigation. Politics makes for strange bedfellows.
21
He’s a young, bright man who, like many, chose consulting to launch their career out of college. I must ask - So what?
75
He worked at a "plum consulting job" and chucked it all to join the military and then run for Mayor in his hometown?
Sorry, but this guy's got nothing to apologize for.
Democrats need to get over their obsession with "purity". Nobody is going to have lead a perfect life before running for President. Accept that and get behind the flawed person who has the best chance of delivering a fair and just America with good healthcare for all.
88
@Barbara T
No one who has supported him will stop doing so because of this. That’s a straw man.
11
He is very likable and intelligent and the time he spent as a consultant when he was so young is not going to make a difference to voters.
36
This strikes me as reminiscent of the recurrent criticism of Cory Booker which is "he took Pharma money". It's something HE NO LONGER DOES. Mayor Pete NO LONGER WORKS at McKinsey. But Americans have to get their entertainment from somewhere.
42
I’m not a fan of Buttigieg. However, I don’t think a young person who works for a company such as this for just a few years is a problem. It’s not the same thing as the CEO of Goldman Sachs becoming the Treasury Secretary or someone else at one of these shady companies serving in a senior role in the government. There’s a difference between working at a company like this for a few years out of college and spending much of your career there.
That said, I certainly disagree that working for one of these companies serves as any sort of preparation or provides a necessary perspective for a leadership role in government. Clinton and Obama are very intelligent people and they never worked at any prestigious consulting or financial firms.
18
Mr Buttigieg accepted a Rhodes Scholarship. Which was created by a racist British capitalist who exploited poor disenfranchised blacks in segregated South Africa to establish a monopolistic cartel to control the diamond trade.
Haven't heard a peep about that.
12
@Mark
I wrote about it. I also wrote about who ran McKinsey — a felon who just got out of jail called Rajat Gupta and who worked there before running Enron to the ground and himself to jail, Jeffrey Skilling.
I also wrote about Pete volunteering to serve in an unjust war in Afghanistan (the only one going on since the Iraq war was not there to sign up for)
I also wrote that his best buddy is Mark Zuckerberg, a real Bond Villain.
So my friend, the Times is not interested in the truth. It is just interested in maximizing ROE.
6
@Mark So did Corey Booker. Where's the outrage for him? Only a handful of ultra-radicals think being a Rhodes Scholar is negative.
14
Per Buzzfeed Pete "shared limited details about his duties there in a late Friday statement from his campaign."
The release did not disclose the names of clients but reflected what he felt comfortable sharing without violating a nondisclosure agreement.
2007 - work in Michigan, served a nonprofit health insurance provider for approximately three months, undertaking on-the-job training and performing analytical work as part of a team identifying savings in administration and overhead costs.”
2008 - work for a grocery and retail chain in Toronto, “analyzing the effects of price cuts on various combinations of items across their hundreds of stores”
2008 in Chicago, working for a consumer goods retail chain “on a project to investigate opportunities for selling more energy-efficient home products in their stores.”
2008 and in 2009, he worked “mostly in Connecticut … on a project co-sponsored by a group that included the EPA the Department of Energy, the Natural Resources Defense Council, other nonprofit groups, and several utility companies, to research opportunities to combat climate change through energy efficiency.”
Also in 2009 California “served an environmental nonprofit group on a study to research opportunities in energy efficiency and renewable energy.” And in Washington, “with visits to Iraq and Afghanistan, I served a U.S. Government department in a project focused on increasing employment and entrepreneurship in those countries’ economies.”
2010 last...
18
I realize many people that read this newspaper probably don't like hearing it but McKinsey prepares people for success as do other consulting firms like BCG, Bain, Deloitte etc.
Yes, there are people like Jeff Skilling, Rajat Gupta, Bobby Jindal among their alum and a few other unsavory and unethical cast off characters. But every organization of any merit has its holes. Do you want to scrutinize how many unsavory people graduated from Harvard (btw, all the named above also graduated from their business school). So shall we start sullying every graduate from Harvard ?
So rather than write Buttigieg off because he came from McKinsey - consider this :
He is a Rhodes scholar, affable, one of the youngest mayors in our political history, is liberal without being ideological, undeniably smart and brings McKinsey's management skills to bear.
I am in senior management at a Dow 30 component, work for a former associate partner from McKinsey and the head of my organization is an alum of Goldman Sachs. They are both ethical to a tee and people of extremely high personal integrity. Their smartness and ability to lead people with charm, integrity and passion is undeniable. It was also enabled by not just who they are but also where they trained.
So please do not stigmatize good talent because of perceptions we have about the workplace. Embrace talent when you see it. American politics does not, unfortunately, have an abundance of it.
72
@Plato
Pretty sure the government could use a few more public state school graduates than Harvard consulting types.
The Harvard consulting types are excellent,brilliant people - at enriching themselves and their pals. Public service? Not so much.
9
@Viv:
Really?
Please expand on your statement with clear and unambiguous examples.
We'll wait . . .
9
@Plato
W Bush and Trump both attended Ivy League MBA programs. They have both been horrible Presidents. Having a background in business at any prestigious consulting or financial services firm is not preparation for success in running the country. As your comment demonstrates, it’s simply preparation for money and power. Having a high IQ and a business background is useless to most Americans if those qualities are used to protect wealthy and powerful interests and divide the country. People who have spent 20-30 years in business leadership do not seek to lead the country because they suddenly became concerned about public service. To be clear, however, I think there is a difference where one works at such a company for just a few years out of college.
7
This guy is 37. I don't care how brilliant you are, at 37 you don't have enough living experience to know much that can't be found in a book. He is the poster boy for white, male privileged who gets no traction with African Americans, a necessary group of voters for any Democratic campaign.
Has having a crooked buffoon in office blinded us to the need for actual experience beyond a term as mayor of a medium sized city in the middle of pretty safe terrain? Let me ask, what are his governing accomplishments? Has he, as Bernie did while mayor of Burlington, been named one of the best mayors in the country?
Has he faced the type of obstruction that he will face in congressional Republicans? That isn't a technical issue. That's an experience issue, and it is critical.
20
@nora m
The bar is extremely low right now because of Trump, and centrist candidates are lying to people by saying they can unite the country and Congress. That’s what allows a 37 year old to be in this position. People are easily manipulated.
10
I hate to bring values into any debate about politics as it's nebulous but when a young guy returns to the US as a Rhodes scholar he has the world at his feet and can literally write his own resume for the next stage of life. This guy decided to become a management consultant, that should ring alarm bells. Also, let's not pretend that McKinsey's rep has only been tarnished in the last few years, it's had a terrible reputation as anti worker, anti environment, friend of oligarchs, dictator and despots for as long as the company has been around.
Pete may be may be the brightest kid at the top of the class but if he has a rigidly conservative world view and loves the status quo as much as he seems to, including his utterly banal servant of power performance as mayor, well, we can do better.
12
McKinsey has clients in every conceivable type of enterprise. Given that, what exactly is the ‘what” here?
15
Pete's statement:
"I am asking McKinsey to do the right thing in the name of transparency," Buttigieg said in a statement calling on the firm to release the clients’ names.
“Much of my work at McKinsey, including the names of clients served, is covered under a confidentiality agreement that I signed when I joined the firm,” Buttigieg said. “In June, my campaign inquired about the scope of this confidentiality agreement. Last month, my campaign reached out again, not only about the scope of the agreement, but also with a request to be released from the confidentiality agreement in full, given the importance of transparency for presidential candidates. To date, the company has not agreed.”
"I understand why some are calling on me to break the agreement. But, it's important to me to keep my word and commitments,” Buttigieg said in the statement, adding that he asks “McKinsey to do the right thing in the name of transparency” and release the names of the clients he worked on behalf of."
3
@Mike C
McKinsey would not take the negative publicity hit from suing a prominent rising presidential candidate. Pete knows that as well as anyone who has worked at the firm.
Like his mayoral tenure in South Bend, he's not doing the right thing because his allegiance lies elsewhere than with the voters.
2
@Viv Please!
6
I don’t care one whit about this. Mayor Pete has my vote!
37
"Woke" politics is a playbook to winning a battle and losing the war. On paper aspiring "woke" policymakers are correct in their assumptions that the pathway to national prosperity runs through progressive politics. The problem is that national elections require buy-in from a plethora of voters with proclivities that run across a spectrum from conservative to liberal. Alienating a majority of voters is a sure-fire recipe for disaster.
As Martin Sheen's character said in the West Wing: "They want to win. So do we. The only thing we want more is to be right. I wonder if you can't do both."
6
@Steve:
With our current electorate nearly evenly divided 50/50, your thesis would appear to be essentially moot . . .
Many of our former presidents, First Ladies and current candidates, have attended or even taught at prestigious institutions with not exactly squeaky clean pasts. Are they to be held accountable for all the sins of the institutions with which they are affiliated? As an alumna, I think I can fairly say that Senator (and former Professor) Warren certainly does not have to personally answer for any controversy not of her making while teaching at Harvard Law, an affiliation far more substantial (and personally profitable) than a three-year stint at a consulting firm.
13
Let's see, Pete Buttigieg, while gainfully and legally employed to a prestigous opportunity due to his intelligence, signs a NDI but most come clean, whereas Trump can skirt every known precedent long established for candidate and presidential openness and the Republican Party simply could not care less. Did I get that right? This is the obvious weakness in the Democratic Party. We have to play by rules, but Republicans don't. We have to have plans detailed to the nth degree before Iowa, but Republicans need only enumerate Democratic plans they wish to repeal and not replace. Did I get this right?
25
@David:
More or less, yes, you've gotten this right, excepting one key facet: the Democrats **choose** to play be the rules, whilst the GOP regards them as optional, at best, when and if convenient.
4
Is it better to have a president with experience in a business consultancy, the military, and executive government positions
or decades in the senate?
or academia?
I'm with Pete.
30
They are the people who studied and know math and to make money and nothing about the humanities. Why the N.D.A. if it is all about good business?
2
McKinsey must let him out of the NDA.
1
The clients are the ones who will have to approve of allowing this info out. Not McKinsey alone.
4
re. Buttigieg’s first job out of college, all 3 years of it: In the infamous words of Melania’s Jacket, I really don’t care, do u?
Pete 2020!
23
Yet more proof that the Democrats quest for an immaculately conceived candidate is little more than tilting at windmills.
18
@Mark
There’s probably no one who has supported him who will stop doing so as a result of this. Enough with the straw men.
7
Mayor Buttigieg has not tarnished himself because he worked for McKinsey. And he is bound by a contractual agreement. He has publicly declared the types of industries that he has not worked with. Yes, some of McKinsey's clients are despicable. Similarly, many top-of-the-line law firms also represent corrupt litigants. But Mayor Buttigieg does not have to be painted by the same broad brush. His high-level organizational experience and aptitude are incredibly valuable assets. This article shows a clear bias against Mayor Buttigieg.
23
I hired McKinsey many times in my career, and the "firm" even invested in one of my ventures. They are a great group of guys (and gals) and were very helpful. But my experience was not typical. The typical "engagement" and especially the kind young associates like the candidate here Mr. Buttegieg, was exposed to, involved working for large public companies with traded stock, and CEO's who hired them, with large stock options. McKinsey was tasked with raising stock prices. Their usual method? Cut costs by firing employees and "outsourcing" as much as possible to China, India, Mexico, S. Korea and other developing countries. McKinsey would charge usually $1-3 million for each of the these exercises and I knew of many partners generating fees from downsizing and outsourcing projects topping $100 million. The company does over $4 Billion a year in such business. In this regard, Mr. Buttegieg is really no different than Mitt Romney when he worked at Bain. Bain was notorious for stripping, downsizing, outsourcing and in many cases destroying companies and the jobs that went with them, all to save money for the CEOs and their stock options. Buttegieg's home state is an example and he appears utterly ignorant of the problem in his own back yard: the US musical instrument sector in his area was destroyed by outsourcing to China, and exactly the kind of work he did at McKinsey. I would take a pass on this candidate who also knows very little about the real world of work.
10
@Matt Andersson This is complete nonsense. Buttigieg was a lowly analyst at McKinsey; Romney was in charge of Bain Capital.
11
@Matt Andersson
While I don’t support Buttigieg’s candidacy, I think there is a big difference between working at a place like McKinsey for a few years after college and spending much of one’s career there.
9
Pete Buttigieg is obviously more than qualified to be President, the question is can he be elected? The first job of any president is to win, something that Hillary took for granted.
Many conservatives will be sitting out the 2020 election out of disgust at Trump's behaviour. Only the fanatic evangelicals, out of all Christians, are sticking with him. But the sight of the Democratic candidate kissing his husband on stage will get many of them off the sideline and voting purely out of a cultural war issue.
Do you seriously think Fox News and all aren't going to use this to motivate the GOP base? They will argue that electing him will encourage your children to be gay, no matter how pathetic, hateful, inaccurate, petty and bigoted their arguments are. If homophobia helps them win the election, so be it. Meanwhile they will excuse pedophilia and multiple sexual assault allegations and extreme misogyny from their own candidates but when did hypocrisy ever bother them before?
And no, I'm not comparing a loving relationship between two people, regardless of gender with sexual misconduct, and neither will the GOP. They will demonise a consenting same sex couple, while excusing sexual non-consensual sexual behaviour on their own side.
The question for Democrat voters is do you want to be right or do you want to win?
11
Pete has an incredible resume and nothing wrong with landing a great job based on merit. But to win this, Pete needs to get a smart successful African American woman on his ticket. Calling, and holding out very little hope, Michelle Obama.
7
@AAA
Pete/Stacey Abrams would be a good ticket
8
If Mayor Pete had come from a senior level position out of McKinsey, I would have a real problem with his reticence.
As remarked in this article McKinsey's work product is often not very impressive, as opposed to their billing rates, which are extremely impressive. I would have concerns about a former McKinsey senior executive as President, as their stock in trade is government contacts and influence.
But as a junior member of the firm Mayor Pete's involvement seems innocent enough. In fact his experience at McKinsey may serve him well, as long as his time at McKinsey, helps him avoid allowing actors like McKinsey from exploiting their insider influence within his government.
16
I won't vote for him for president for a slew of reasons. But one won't be because he worked at McKinsey. We are now demonizing people for being entry level employees in well know, prestigious ccompanies. I'm a lot more impressed with his resume than former president Obama's. I'll take a consultant over a community organizer any day.
18
A lot of commenters seem to suggest that these three years don't matter much because the guy was young. But I see the scrutiny as part of the bargain: I'll accept that your brilliance exempts you from needing another decade of experience to bring to the table, but that means that the experience that you do have is going to count for more. If you want to be Alexander Hamilton, you don't have gap years.
6
I don’t accept the premise of his brilliance just based on his schooling and pedigree. Unless we are IQ testing candidates it can’t be presumed, despite being repeated over and over by media figures. And it certainly doesn’t preclude obviate the need for experience in any case.
1
@Barbara
I would say that this experience does not matter and he clearly lacks the experience to lead the country.
1
My fear is that 45 will do ANYTHING to be re-elected, and apparently already has begun if I understand the impeachment query. I'm very doubtful that we can vote him out. His base revels in his scoffing at the impeachment process. They love him for dissing everything and everyone, and behaving like the brat he is (on the world stage!). We cannot restore them to act in their own interest. They've lost hope. So when Trump continues to fail miserably at improving their lives, jobs, humanity, and realistic hopes for the future, they find comfort and company in their misery. However, the one chance I'm relying on is putting up a Dem with the ability to debate and show the world we made a mistake; to show voters Mr. Trump for what he is: foremost a soulless, empty vessel just trying to make a buck. Mr. Trump is not schooled in debate. Mayor Pete thinks on his feet, has relevant experience and is decidedly a breath of fresh air standout in the midst of the glorious Democrat wannabes. He's got my vote.
22
If Pete Buttigieg wins the Democratic primary, it will be because news sources gave him so much free publicity.
The way the media has responded to Buttigieg is curious, if not unsurprising. I keep thinking about his foreign policy argument with Tulsi Gabbard during the last debate, and imagining how differently the media would have reacted had a female mayor who served eight years in the military and seven months abroad talked down to a four-term congressman, who served twice as long and completed two tours, the way that Buttigieg talked down to Gabbard. Rather than praising the mayor's political genius, we would be hearing about how she was a disrespectful little kid that needed to learn her place. For all the talk of diversity and intersectionality, leftist news sources are still willing to overlook the obvious double-standards that have been staring us in the face since the very beginning.
11
@Autumn - Women can't get fired from a job yet gay men can. Tulsi has had it a LOT easier than Mayor Pete ever has. Did Tulsi feel the need to hide the fact that she is a woman just to survive in this country?
10
@Autumn
Buttgieg's treatment of Gabbard on the debate stage just serves to confirm what plenty of women know about certain stripe of gay men: they're unapologetic and blatant misogynists.
7
No worries, he will not win the Democratic primary. He could have won the Republican primary though. Too bad.
7
A consideration:
In what ways is what you-anyone- did, or didn’t do,
THEN,
given who you were,as well as weren’t, and
were yet to BEcome, in conditions,
internal and external ones, reasonable as
guidelines, NOW, and in a near and more distant
future, within realities’ ever-present, interacting
dimensions of uncertainties? Unpredictabilities?
Random events and happenings; unexpected outcomes.
The lack of total control notwithstanding one’s efforts;
timely or not?
Mckinsey is so overrated- not a synonym for intelligence.
7
That’s why perhaps as they say it keeps its work closed. The less they know the more special it seems!! When it’s all really mambo jambo old school corruption and greed!!!
1
I would love to have him as our President, whatever he did at Mckinsey...
28
December 6, 2019
Michael Frosythe clearly knows what it takes for making America Great giving the facts about Pete Buttigieg - we have a winner for 2020 Presidential election. So goodbye DJT!
7
McKinsey has ruined more good companies and cost workers many, many good paying jobs just so they,McKinsey, could make millions. Bad for America
6
McKinsey would be crazy to sue a candidate who they would love to in the White House. Buttegieg surely understands this, so what sort of underhanded dealings did he engage in for them that he wants to hide?
4
@Ed Watters
Did you read the article? Writing a bogus report for $18 million while "serving" in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Did you read his book? His grocery store pricing gig in Toronto was work for the nations' biggest grocery chains to price fix bread and gouge consumers. Nobody was prosecuted for that, by the way. No class action lawsuits were allowed to proceed.
And oh, the president of McKinsey (and long time executive for the firm since 1997) is now Canada's ambassador to China.
6
@Ed Watters
So it is ok he breaks a contract just because McKinsey probably would not sue?
2
@Viv
Neither the article nor his book say what you think they do. Reading comprehension is a gift that has not been bestowed on you.
7
Another Organization Man, carefully winning friends and influencing people, excellent at "problem-solving"—no matter the problems or the repercussions of the solutions. Let's not kid ourselves: That's what life in the "consulting" world means. Ethics, selflessness, sacrifice, teamwork, and so on—all these virtues and more are expended on one motive: the profit motive. And Americans' ongoing amour fou with capitalism, the American Dream in which "the world is yours," makes us slaver like Pavlov's pup when "success" grins modestly—or snarls. Well, we already have a predatory capitalist in the WH. So let's round it off and enable, as we always do, the "moderates" whose metric relies on the fact that you can always depend on vanilla to sell—while calculating their "way," aided and abetted by the Great American Wannabe that simply loves the thing they'll never be: "successful."
11
Better Pete than Trump any day.
26
I’m not really sure why everyone is upset over this. The man worked at a job for a few years in his 20s, and then left and went into public service. Many of us have had jobs in the past that were not in line with our true beliefs and goals and Pete Buttigieg is no different. No one is perfect and it’s silly to think that any candidate will have the perfect resume.
43
Unfortunately in todays world, it is not intelligence or even the ability to solve political problems, it is money, our new or maybe old god. The huge money source is always behind the scene, never in the open.
4
This is a nothing burger. I trust Pete, more than any other politician in my lifetime (60 years), that is why I will go to his town halls, caucus for him, and support him financially.
33
Why?
1
we hardly even know the guy! I'm just inclined to suggest a few more years in the public sphere before handing over the keys
1
Just he fact that he was smart enough to get a job at McKinsey...and chose to leave it despite the money (and prestige and entry into the elite) for public service demonstrates a strength of character we desperately need in Washington.
47
Liz Warren is blowing smoke, a sure sign of growing desperation. A wiz kid in his 20s working at “The Firm” doesn’t get to decide which clients he works on. And if some of those clients don’t meet Liz’s approval, so what? The fact is, Mayor Pete is moving up in the polls because he’s the best candidate in the field. He’s a whole lot smarter and more capable than anyone else, and I consider his relative youth to be a plus. Liz blew it with Medicare for All, and her strident tone is a turn off (same for Bernie). She’s on her way down while Mayor Pete is ascendant.
34
To all those arguing that it would be horrific for Pete to violate the NDA. Just hypothetically speaking what if part of his support for Iraq/Afghanistan included supporting war crimes, not something I think actually happened, but not having to speak about it because there’s an NDA???
3
@Ben
It would be unenforceable against public policy
I'm sure you made the same argument in 2016, and argued that Hillary's failure to produce her 30k missing emails was fatal to her candidacy because those emails might have evidence of war crimes. Right?
2
Digging up Mayor Pete's work long ago and holding it against him in 2019 sounds like digging up Elizabeth Warren's work for large corporations when she first graduated from law school. Both are examples of letting the perfect destroy the good.
The good in both cases is that they are candidates who are knowledgeable of the inner workings of these large corporate enterprises which would definitely be helpful when serving as President.
I believe the early work of both candidates should be viewed as a plus as Presidential candidates. What we should be on the lookout for in Presidential candidates who are phonies in their current work, such as refusing to release one's tax returns or demonstrating a lack of sympathy for the poor, the homeless, and the immigrants who ask for asylum at our boarders.
I see both Buttigieg and Warren to be top notch candidates for President of the United States of America. We are lucky that they have offered to serve the people of the USA.
42
The people who are aghast that Buttigieg worked for McKinsey and believe that he must therefore be shunned are causing me to like him more than I did before.
38
Does “aghast” include choosing to live in, and BEing
passively-complacent about or choosing to BE actively complicit
in enabling a toxic, WE-THEY daily violating culture and nation?
2
Reading the comments and surprised that some Buttigieg fans view this as a hit piece.
It is actually music to the ears of corporate America and the National Security establishment: it demonstrates that Buttigieg shares the fundamental premises behind US neoliberal finance capitalism and Neo-colonialism.
I wouldn't be surprised if this story was floated by the Buttigieg campaign.
10
I agree wholeheartedly. how is this a hit piece?? he's being put on the pedestal by corporate america
We personally know VCs (as in venture or vulture capitalist) types with liberal leanings fueling mayor Pete’s election bid. Simply follow the money trail. It’s not a mystery Wall Street Silicon Valley VCs are funding mayor Pete. Not us tiny donors.
10
What a tempest in a teapot! The training he received and his experience at McKinsey were priceless. Criticizing Warren for representing "corporate" clients is likewise foolish. I'm sure she learned a lot that makes her who she is today. I judge them both on who they are today.
The current occupant would never have been hired, let alone recruited, at McKinsey and would never have moonlighted in the corporate world while teaching at Harvard. These are accolades--experience we want in our President.
We also want an honest President. He signed a NDA. It would be dishonest and a betrayal for him to breach it, especially for political gain. Anyone who thinks he should breach it probably doesn't think Trump should be impeached for his dishonesty and betrayal of his oath of office.
What nits people pick.
20
Not sure what’s more interesting, the majority of Times Picks that consider corporate duplicity a positive or the revelation that the higher one is in the academic food chain, the more sought after one is to duplicitously betray dignity and common purpose. I guess that tells us all we need to know.
4
After reading this article, I'm more impressed by Buttigieg than I already was. Go Pete!
31
Trump's spin machine will use everything it can invent to use that McKinsey experience to smear Mayor Pete- never mind Trump's own cabinet of corporate stooges. Never mind the Trump organization's history.
6
Trump and his organization created and made people sign several NDAs. So he (again) should talk.
1
He's obviously very intelligent and thoughtful and I am not worried about a post collegiate stint. But I am still not sure what he stands for and his agenda remains unclear. I know he has to do this, but the more he knocks Sanders/Warren as 'pie in the sky' the more he undermines the progress we have made on pushing public discourse to the left. I also find him arrogant---from mayor of a small town to president?? That's really what I don't like about him.
6
The hubris of writing an "Autobiography" at the age of 30 is astounding, especially if you consider the fact that he can not (will not) comment on seemingly over half of his work experience (McKinsey). I am sorry but this kid seems good but not a candidate for the highest elected office in the world. Someone snarkier than I made the comment "The biggest Social Impact Issue in South Bend, Indiana is where to park the cars at Notre Dame home football games". Perhaps "Mayor Pete" should run to become "Governor Pete", "Senator Pete", "Cabinet Secretary Pete"... You can not run before you can walk.
15
@ Todd (who hired whiz kids like the ones who make it to McKinsey and is suggesting to elect Pete Buttigieg president to increase the intelligence level at the White House)
Jeff Skilling an alumni of Harvard (just an MBA) and McKinsey is just out of jail and available. I would have suggested Rajat Gupta who ran the joint for a while and is also just out of jail (HBS graduate with the highest honors too) but he was born in India.
5
@Blunt
That is some stellar logic. There was a woman named Elizabeth Borden who killed her husband with an axe. Should we vote against Elizabeth Warren because of the propensity of those named Elizabeth to kill people?
2
There was a sad fellow called George Moog. He thought he was related to the famous synthesizer fellow. Are you guys related perhaps? Makes as much sense as Liz Borden invoking Liz Warren or vice versa in your mind. And what a mind it should be!
3
If Pete is elected President he can tell in detail what he did while he was at McKinsey regardless of the NDA. The President can do anything he wants according to the president holder of the office.
To all those suggesting Pete “release” the NDA I don’t think you ever worked in corporate America. I’ve signed NDAs generally you don’t receive your own copy. If McKinsey wants to publish their NDA that might be helpful to the “Doubting Thomas” crowd. But honestly most NDA are boiler plate. There’s nothing to see here.
5
Partisan purity is what gave us the modern Republican party. No stepping out of line, no holding independent views, no 'alternate' experiences allowed. I would rather get rid of folks like those on the Editorial Board who publish absurd opinion pieces calling for a candidate to break a contractual obligation than keep Buttigieg from the Presidential primary.
10
The desperate red-faced rush to rationalise Buttigieg and McKinsey among his fans is comical - 'it was only 3 years!', 'he was a kid at the time', 'so what if smart people do bad things, he didn't inhale!' - and misses what matters.
Buttigieg went to McKinsey to learn what McKinsey/corporate America does....
If you want value for money/private sector efficiency blah blah blah in your public service then that's great. If you want someone to be an advocate for a political ideology that may actually mean something in an unfair world than that's bad news!
4
One does not negate the other. Streamlining ideological outcomes like universal healthcare is a good thing. Inefficiency can kill progress quicker than anything!
3
@Sm77 well luckily for you politics in the US is saturated with people 'streaming ideological outcomes'...
They're called economists, and while being able to say neo-endogenous growth with a straight face isn't nothing they generally know as much about ethics as a sock puppet.
We all have to learn to live with them but y'know maybe don't let arch-capitalist technocrats drive the bus is all I'm saying.
3
Looks like the knives are out for Buttigieg. I wonder who will be left. Biden and Warren are falling on their own swords. Sanders? Hmm. Let's check the heart monitor before answering that one. Hillary? Nah, no fooling thrice. Michelle? Watch out for the Durham drop on the Obama insider group. That will not work well for Michelle. Everyone else is in the low single digits. Even Bloomberg knows that Trump will "eat them up." The billionaire opening was in 2016. Steyer and Bloomberg are late to the party. Gabbard and Klobachar are barely floating, though plausible. Booker is basically saying the Dems are racist because he is so weak, and Harris too. Buttigieg is about it, as far as I can tell, unless Bernie gets born again, or Gabbard breaks out in NH. Buttigieg better have learned some tricks from his McKinsey stint.
3
Let's say he worked on some inhumane projects when he was there. (and there is no evidence yet that he did) And let's say he realized that they were inhumane and thought - "I need to get out of this line of work. It's stinky. I don't like it" Would that be such a problem? Are people allowed to learn and grow, or are we forever to be victims of our former naivete or errors?
7
I’m having trouble understanding the what and the whys of this NY Times fishing expedition. References to “the firm” are clear invocations of the dark side of the Grisham novel.
12
All politicians are horribly corrupt. Trump is just more open about it. Good for him. I'd rather 10 Trumps to one Mayor Pete, cloaked in phony righteousness, while hiding all manner of shenanigans. I remember another guy like Mayor Pete; his name was Jim McGreevey. Look him up if you don't remember.
4
@ commenters who are deeply impressed with McKinsey. A few well known facts about it for them.
Rajat Gupta. Ran the place for a long time. Just got out of jail. He wasn’t there for reciting Spinoza’s Ethics in public.
Great that you have respect for them. Enron too I bet. Jeff Skilling just got if jail too. I bet he had lots of respect for McKinsey too. He worked there after his Harvard MBA. Same as Gupta.
10
@Blunt So every organization is to be judged by its worst members, and all employees/members bear equal guilt/culpability regardless or role? Are you trying to be inflammatory?
4
Rajat Gupta ran McKinsey. For many years.
5
Read my comment again.
1
"Smart enough to get in. Wise enough to get out"
This is an expression used about many elite, high-pressure organizations:
*white shoe law firms
*the Foreign Service
*Fancy consultancy firms like BCG and McKinsey
Smart people who make it hrough the hoops to get into these outfits and who demonstrate the grit and perseverance to perform well in them ….. these are the people who often go in to do great things in "the real world"
Good for Pete that he got in.
Better for Pete that he got out.
10
Seemingly a stellar mind, good & thoughtful human being,
but is he the perfect TROJAN HORSE?
2
From my experience as an exec (though an acquisition) with one of these international consulting firms, new hires are often dazzled with the fact they got a job there. Their job is to watch and learn and then where possible, contribute to the deliverable.
Shaping an offering or managing a contract that cuts corners or pushes the limits is left to higher level staff.
New hires that like that environment stay, those that don't leave. Good for Pete.
6
If Pete Buttigieg is telling the truth about the NDA then he should release the actual NDA for the public.
If the NDA includes a requirement to not show the NDA to anyone he should publicly state that.
In addition he should publicly list exactly what he would like to be free to disclose in an open letter to the Mckinsey company, such as:
"I would like to disclose who all my clients were, and during which dates, as well as what general area I worked for them in".
He should request a public response to his open request and they would be in a position to have a very bad public relations nightmare if they refused.
I suspect there is a tacit agreement that even if he did technically request release from the NDA. The knowing wink and nod says "I am only making this request to cover my but, and am actually quite happy for you to you say no".
Anyway if Pete does the two suggestions I made of publishing the NDA, and an open letter to Mckinsey it would show good faith.
At this point his actions have given very little reason to give him the benefit of the doubt on the matter.
4
@Al
Well, as someone who actually works with these sorts of documents....like, just today.....the documents also say that the party can't disclose the terms.
So merely saying, "The NDA says I can't show you the NDA" might be a violation.
Moreover, in the agreement a violation may bring a large liquidated damages claim from a secret, privately owned arbitration panel.
Whatever else Michael Avanatti did, his getting Daniels out of her NDA was an amazing feat. I would have bet money she was going to end up bankrupt when she first violated it.
@Yeah Sure for a Joe Blow. But a major presidential candidate with a dozen billionaires in his pocket who could cause untold problems for Mckinsey just by railing against them in public?
There is zero chance he is actually scared of legal action. In addition they cannot bring legal action for him publicly listing the information he wants to disclose in a format like 1. Who were my clients and when? 2. I want to publish the NDA. 3. What type of project was I involved with for the client. Etc. If the NDA also has a prohibition against publishing the NDA he should say so and also publicly list publishing the NDA as one of his requests in an open letter.
Pete does not wan't attention on this issue and ducks and avoids repeatedly. There is no way he isn't thanking his lucky stars for the NDA excuse, and there is no way if he really wanted to disclose stuff he couldn't find a way to do it.
I agree about the Stormy Daniels stuff, but she was a gnat facing the full power of the federal government, a president who openly owns the justice department with his personal appointed stooge etc.
2
@Al Without naming the clients he has done what you ask. And whether or not he would actually be sued, violating the NDA is breach of contract.
2
The basic problem with Pete Buttigieg's candidacy for President may be that he's over-qualified for the job. Compared to the current occupant, he certainly has an astonishing variety and depth of experience and credentials, especially for such a young person.
10
@Jared
He has no foreign policy experience within the government. Being a junior employee and being assigned to Iraq and Afghanistan don't quite cut it. He also has no experience working with Congress, meaning he doesn't know the levers to push or pull to get what he wants.
He would have been much better served winning a statewide office as a governor or senator, and getting that type of experience before making a presidential bid. Of course being a gay man from the same state that elected Mike Pence governor and senator probably precluded that, so his calculus was simply skipped that and try to impress upon the public he's the 21st incarnation of JFK, minus Jackie of course.
2
In Pete Buttigeig Democrats have a candidate who is articulate, bright, highly educated, has proven himself as a good debater , likeable, has an interesting story to tell, and is polling very well.In short someone who is highly electable as a Democrat , will have crossover appeal to moderate Republicans and already a favorite among Independents
As expected the Democrat base do what they do best their knee jerk reaction is of course to tear him down, rip him apart, fret about something that may or not have even been.
Its as though the Democrat base to the Left of Butigieg want to have Trump win a second term . They insist upon ideological purity its Healthcare For All , with no room for any discussion or dissent .
To the Bernie or Bust crowd , well a wake up call as of today 12/6/2019 , Bernie is not even a member of the Democratic Party. So explain to me why as a registered Democrat I should support him over Pete Buttigieg a lifelong party member.
11
You need to mention Cory Booker's Rhodes Scholarship too. There's more than one Rhodes Scholar running. We need to hear more about Cory's Rhodes Scholarship.
4
@KCulver
The majority of Democrats have decided to push Corey to the side. He's lacking a certain "it" factor in terms of charisma and the fact he's black works against him.
Many Democrats feel a white candidate is a safer choice, especially of they want to try to appeal to independents and other potential voters who voted for Trump on 2016 that they are trying to appeal to.
1
In his interactions with Beto O'Rourke during the debates it was obvious that Pete Buttigieg is, in a psychological Myers-Briggs sense, a very high thinking person while O'Rourke was the opposite, very high feeling. This is a major liability as the reference to former, tragic "whiz kid" Robert McNamara indicates. It's an extremely serious limitation as we've seen with Donald Trump who is neither high thinking nor, due to his extreme narcissism, capable of any empathy at all. For all his stumbling, this is one of Joe Biden's great strengths; he's clearly both high feeling and has the political and life experience to relate to others and solve their problems. It's not all math (and I was a math major); it's not all statistics (and I taught research methods and analyzed data); it's dealing with human emotions and working to heal wounds. And under Donald Trump, there are more wounds to heal from environmental catastrophes with immense human consequences to health care than at any time I can remember and I'm 79. As a lifelong Democrat, the country can little afford at this perilous moment to put such a person so limited in experience and personality like Pete Buttigieg in charge of the nation.
4
McKinsey hire the best and the brightest. It should be a resume-enhancer and not something he has to apologize for and explain.
And I’m a Trump supporting Republican.
4
ZOMG - He was a consultant not a war lord. Consultants read research reports and make decks and diagrams and spreadsheets. They are experts in selling business strategy. They know a lot about frequent flyer miles and the best hotel chain gyms. They care a lot about frequent flyer miles. What would we do with the names of brands/corporations he worked on? This is not news. Move on.
13
As a current corporate drone myself, who sees powerpoints and spreadsheets day and night and could care less about the work but has a mortgage and a child on the way, I admire that he came, he saw, he did his best work and then he managed to get out on his own terms.
21
"Mr. Buttigeg's mission was similar: identify small and medium-size businesses to nurture so that they could employ Afghans, providing an attractive alternative to joining the Taliban while fueling economic growth."
WHY no one or corporation does that here in America for our youth of all races and religions?
4
I actually enjoyed the article. It shows Buttigieg is so smart, capable and not at all lured by money and the corporate world. He was there to learn, to gain experience. And the article showed Pete has very pertinent foreign experience. I came away feeling pretty positive about his 3 years there.
McKinsey has terrible reputation but Pete has nothing to do with that.
19
He's obviously an ethical guy with principles. That's why he got out of the consulting game rather shoot for the top ranks there where he would have made millions annually or gone on to I-Banking, an even more unethical calling, where he could have made/stolen even more. That's why he joined the military.
Further, his technical experience and business exposure at McKinsey should serve him well. Data-driven analytical skills and real world business experience combined with a good ethical compass is hard to beat no matter what any ignorant liberal tells you.
I say all this as a Harvard MBA who chose not to go into consulting nor I-Banking (as 2/3 of the class does, btw) and who practiced M&A work on a strictly ethical basis as a corporate principal (not a private equity player).
9
Elizabeth Warren worked as a summer associate at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft.
In 1979, Hillary Rodham became the first woman to be made a full partner in Rose Law Firm.
5
I appreciate Pete Buttigieg’s intelligence, credentials and articulate commentary on the issues.
Buttigieg clearly has a bright future on the national stage, and I have no doubt that he would perform capably as president.
But (and there is a but): I feel that it is too soon for Buttigieg to play this role. His sole political experience as mayor of South Bend warrants bolstering. Time as a governor, member of the House or Senate, or as a Cabinet member would better prepare him for the presidency.
In addition, I am concerned about the considerable corporate support behind Buttigieg. Yes, he’ll govern capably, but I suspect that he’ll do little to challenge the status quo, continuing the erosion of the 99% on behalf of the 1%.
There’s a reason that big money has flocked to Buttigieg, and it’s not necessarily good for most Americans.
9
Having hired a number of junior consultants out of consulting firms like McKinsey, I think it offers an excellent training program to these "whiz kids" giving them problem solving, management, presentation, and other skills applicable in business or the public sector throughout their careers. To me this experience is nothing but a positive for Buttigieg, and a big positive at that. The White House desperately needs an intelligence boost.
29
Oh boy. Jeff Skilling an alumni of Harvard (just an MBA) and McKinsey is just out of jail and available. I would have suggested Rajat Gupta who ran the joint for a while and is also just out of jail (HBS graduate with the highest honors too) but he was born in India.
3
@Blunt Thanks for bringing up that many people who have gone to college are criminals, because that means we shouldn't elect anyone with a college degree. Or a high school degree.
You know something else in Pete's background? He's an American. Lots of criminals in America. Let's not chance it; vote for a poorly educated foreigner.
6
@Blunt I worked at McDonalds during high school, am I responsible for the obesity epidemic in this country? Are you suggesting that every person who ever worked for that company should be considered guilty of some wrongdoing because of the criminal activity those 2 men?
4
It seems to me that the only reason anyone even cares about this is that, at his age, there is just not enough past to endlessly scrutinize.
Which is fair in a way, since Biden et al. are called out on every past mistake, and everything they ever did or said is (sometimes unfairly) judged by today's standards...
But a three-year stint at McKinsey? I promise you that everybody at any top-ten graduate school, almost no matter the subject, is at some point approached by McKinsey. You don't have to be a Rhodes scholar at Oxford... And they buy really nice lunches. And they will make working for them sound *very* attractive. And I believe that they are a fully valid option for anyone who doesn't want to waste time, but also doesn't know quite yet where they're going.
So the thing that really counts, to me, is what he did next, once he made up his mind. I say judge the guy on that.
12
I don't like him hiding behind the NDA. If he's scared of an NDA, is he even qualified to be president?
2
"If he's scared of an NDA, is he even qualified to be president?"
Being "scared" is irrelevant. Presumably, Buttigieg would be sued for breach of contract if he said more than he has.
Do you want a President who doesn't honor his commitments and who is perpetually being taken to court?
7
@DCW
An NDA is a contract.
One need not be scared of a contract to understand that one has a legal obligation to honor the terms of any contract one signs in good faith.
I would worry about a president who walks away from contracts.
And we have such a President today!
8
Many corporations require NDAs. It is a common practice. Clients want their information protected. It’s a good practice.
1
The only people finding negatives in Buttigieg's stint at McKinsey are far-left ideologues who constantly bash business, corporations, the donor class, etc. IOW, the Bernie and Liz brigade, who have their reflexive targets the same way the Trumpers believe all of our problems can be laid at the feet of immigrants and, well, people who love Liz and Bernie.
All consultants are con men? Way to demonize an entire profession, without presenting actual evidence to support such an accusation. Much like "Mexicans bring crime and are rapists."
IMO the first two paragraphs of this column could not be a higher recommendation for someone seeking to lead this country out of the very dark and complex mess Trump has created.
Buttigieg is young and certainly has his flaws, but he is intelligent and humble enough to know what he doesn't know. He also has natural political talent, which I think is the main reason the other candidates, who lack that talent, dislike him.
The Dems may want to remember that when they run natural, likable politicians like Bill Clinton and Obama, they win. No one--no one--cares about McKinsey except the far left, who seems determined to hand the election to Trump.
21
@Patricia
I suppose you didn’t read the part of the article about McKinsey’s role in the opiod epidemic, denying asylum seekers soap and building concentration camps in China?
If I care that makes me “far left”?
5
@Patricia He's not likable. Humble? He comes off as exceedingly arrogant and elitist--More than any of them--I don't how he could possibly appeal to a wide array f voters in the midwest.
1
@Corbin And what does that have to do with Buttigieg? Should you be held accountable for everything your employer-- and former employers--do? That kind of rigidity in thought is a mark of ideologues.
2
So the short version of typical McKinsey advice is to off shore your manufacturing, take the savings and pay your management and subsequently McKinsey more money. So everyone does this and suddenly there is no differentiation anymore between any competing business-they all essentially are pursuing the same McKinsey led strategy.
What would be interesting is a list of companies that have never used them.
The US government really paid McKinsey to recommend to them to cut spending on food and medical for detainees? This just proves that the biggest reason consultants exist is to give business and now government leaders someone to blame if strategies don't go well.
3
Easily the highest upside of the candidates.
2
Buttigieg is a cipher. It's hard to tell who is bankrolling his campaign or what is behind his campaign. I wouldn't vote for him.
8
Mark Zuckerberg. Bond Villain par excellence. The most loved CEO in the US of A. And Cruella Sandberg the most charming COO in the continent.
3
It’s odd that you say you know nothing about him but rather than look for information to enlighten a decision you choose to disregard him. It seems this is a common affliction of Americans today.
5
How is this news? I've known tons of people who have worked for McKinsey, some to pay off student debt, others to get a foot in the door to business or law school. This is a total non-issue.
14
Speaks volumes that Buttigieg could excel in corporate America and that chasing the brass ring wasn't something that necessarily drives him. As the article points out, he's the fastest mind in almost any room and it's apparent when he's on stage with the other candidates. Only Warren seems better schooled on the particulars. I'm leaning Buttigieg, but do think he needs to connect better with minorities and people of color. I don't think he'll be our nominee if he doesn't.
12
Trump loves the Democratic Party. He doesn't need to lift a hand for the Democrats to destroy any chance we have of getting rid of Trump. We are doing it ourselves. Those who are demanding that Buttigieg violate his non disclosure agreement are advocating and encouraging dishonesty in a Democratic Candidate.
9
So what? It only proves that the best business consulting firm in the world considered to be a highly successful individual. And as a consultant, he learned to listen to the clients to understand their problems and used his skills to solved THEIR problems, not demonstrate or sellHIS aganda. That us exactly what a good presidnet needs to do. He/she should not have a preconceived agenda and solutions without listening to people. Tht is what is wrong wit Bernie and Elizabeth. Situations change, problems change and he/she most use his.her skills to develop solutions and sell them to people, his/her customers. This is from a 82 year old democrat with a Ph.D. in a highly technical fiend, worled in academic and corporate world and then as a consultant to the Federal and international government and corporations.
6
I can't see a reason for such a fuss about McKinsey employment. What's wrong to start one's career at prestigious firm and then move on to public service?
8
A 3-year stint for a mid-twenty-something at McKinsey sounds innocuous. The bulk of his work was probably collecting data, making spreadsheets, making slides, and traveling to non glamorous locations like a dust-belt city.
I wouldn't hold this against him. If McKinsey is an issue at all, I'm more curious to know why he left. Recall it was around the great recession when B2C meant back-to-consulting. So was it as simple as the 3-year contract was up? Or did he see things that disillusioned him?
During the late 90's I was a grunt at a Wall Street firm. Seeing how coldly financiers were dealing with the Asian Financial Crisis, where people and livelihoods were being destroyed, was a major reason I left.
1
Am I the only person who remembers the 1970s, when "whiz kid" mean't the people , hired by JFK as the sharpest tools in the shed, who despite being smart brought us Vietnam and Cambodia ?
whiz kid was, most certainly, not a positive term back then
3
I'm a Republican and unlikely to ever vote for 'Mayor Pete.'
But I think it shows increadible chutzpah for Elizabeth Warren--whose legal work helped Big Insurance Companies mitigate asbestos liability ping a guy who worked for McKinsey for three years in his mid-20s.
So, he was a junior consultant at a big firm. He wasn't an overpriced professor--driving up student debt--while getting insurance scofflaws off the hook.
And Bernie? Has the man ever had a non-government job in his life?
16
@Liberty hound
Warren was working to ensure payouts for victims in the complex bankruptcy case you reference. She wasn't "getting insurance scofflaws off the hook". Follow the link below for full details from FactCheck:
https://www.factcheck.org/2012/10/warrens-role-in-asbestos-case/
4
@Liberty hound
So would you vote for Trump over Pete? If so, why?
2
This is a NON story. None of what is reported here speaks negatively about any of Pete's experience.
This is not the first Buttigieg piece that reads like it was written by a Warren or other dem candidate supporter who is grasping at straws to find a skeleton in his closet. It is embarrassing to read.
21
McKinsey: the ultimate in sleazy white privilege operations. No thanks.
11
@Bx
If you were smart enough to earn an offer from McKinsey, Bx, you could say "no thanks".
2
This may not exactly be a hit piece, but it sounds to me like a brilliant young man needed a job and took what would have seemed like a good one. He was there for 3 years as a junior consultant. Those folks don't make decisions. Certainly, we want to know as much as we can about these candidates, but we also could use a brilliant president to get us out of the current disaster. Apparently, Dems only want a Mother Teresa, promising legislation that they can't deliver, and free stuff that nobody pays for. I loved Obama for his intellect. Pete wins hands down on that count.
This article and the preceding editorial seem like coordinated efforts to raise questions with no damaging answers. Not sure I see the point.
29
Buttigieg: '"... without getting in trouble with the N.D.A."'
Obvious question: Can Buttigieg release the NDA itself?
2
Almost certainly no.
3
@LSF I'd be shocked if the NDA did not include the terms of the NDA as one of the things that can't be disclosed.
Wow... this goes into the same category as Obama-wore-a-brow-suit-in-the-Oval-Office scandal.
Looking forward to having a president that saturates the news media with this kind of scandalous information.
NYT, thanks for making me feel so nostalgic.
22
This is one of the more annoying pieces of NYT reporting I've seen in a while. Can someone point to word one in this piece that helps me understand Mr. Buttigieg's policy stance?
He worked at McKinsey as a Jr. Analyst. Big deal. He got a great job out of college where he did a good job. Is there a scandal here?
Honestly, this piece falls into the category of wasted time.
29
This article - or I should say, fishing expedition - hits its lowest point with the absurd observation "nearly a 10th of his adult life." What utter silliness. Yes, the 24 yr old Rhodes scholar, up to no good at a junior position consulting job at McKinsey. Please, NYT, stop trying to turn this into a "story." There are more than enough real stories at the moment to keep us all busy.
30
The first time I hear Buttigieg speak I was very impressed with his calm intelligence, ability to articulate complex situations, and extensive knowledge about those situations. This is not a put on. It is who he is.
Sometimes I think progressives like to take him down personally because he is not ‘progressive’ enough for them, and in that he threatens both Warren and the old prophet - Bernie Sanders.
But the fact remains that this is still a basically conservative country, and wise politicians don’t get ahead of public opinion. FDR was a master of this, Lincoln as well. FDR waited a long time to get into the fight against the Nazis, although he knew we had to, because the ‘America Firsters’ ruled the day. Instead he took little known steps to supply Britain, and George Marshall started beefing up our pitifully poor military defense system on his orders.
Lincoln was also a master of ‘saying just enough’ and then acting boldly when the time was right. He purposely passed the Thirteenth Amendment at the last minute, before the South came back into the Union, because he knew he had the votes then.
You can have all the progressive ideas in the world, but if you don’t get elected, they are all for naught. Wisdom dictates not saying ‘everything’ you want to do, while still being honest about the general direction.
12
@Gwen Vilen
It's fine that he's conservative, and he is entitled to his beliefs about proper governance.
The thing is conservatives already have a party, and it's not the Democratic party. Like they did with Mitt Romney, I'm sure they would more than welcome him into the fold.
If you want to run a city like you run McKinsey - and that's what he did as mayor of South Bend - then you shouldn't feel entitled to Democratic votes.
Instead of calling other people extreme, why not just go to the party whose philosophy most closely matches your own?
7
I am surprised and disappointed at the ignorance exhibited by many NYT readers of how professional organizations like McKinsey work. As a junior consultant, Buttigieg was told which clients to work for, put in 80-hour work weeks while traveling weekly, and was not privy to any key decision-making. In the meantime, he was getting an excellent non-academic education into critical thinking, problem-solving skills, professional relationships, etc., all with some of the brightest minds in the world.
As to allegations of corporate greed, my business school classmates and I were fully aware that if money was the objective, investment banking or private equity were the way to go, not management consulting, which offers a far more modest compensation (that is, until one becomes partner).
I also once was a junior consultant at a top competing consulting firm. McKinsey's missteps (starting with the former head Rajat Gupta's insider trading, scandals in South Africa, etc.) are concerning. But they should not be laid at Buttigieg's feet.
NYT, aren't you better (in both senses of the word - intellectually and ethically) than this?
29
@SYJ
SYJ is one of the few commenters who actually knows what outfits like McKinsey and Boston Consulting actually do.
His perspective is a constructive lens through which to interpret this story
3
I’m all in for Pete. He reminds me of the best of the best that worked with me.
13
Are we still looking for a "perfect" candidate? What a good way to shoot ourselves in the foot! (NYTimes, I'm looking at you.)
14
Why do you have to report on this. Leave him alone. He had a good job whoever his clients were. Joe Biden ducked the military saying he had asthma. Mayor Pete volunteered. He's a man of character.
20
"He knew this wasn’t his calling."
End of story.
18
I always thought he was too young. Now I think he's a republican scammer just like Bloomberg.
5
I have heard a (supposedly) legit journalist* call Pete Buttigieg “the McKinsey candidate”. God forbid we all claim the nomenclature of our post college years! I’d hate to introduce myself as “shoe shop assistant” for the rest of my life.
Seriously though, how many people have worked jobs after university to pay bills? (See above.) Why is Buttigieg being asked to atone for just three years of post college employment? Buttigieg is not from a wealthy or highly connected background. I’m sure this job was a great way to earn money to help pay down his debts while learning how our system of capitalism works before he went on to his true calling of public servant.
*her husband works on the Warren campaign.
14
I forgot to add that as someone who went to Oxford and saw a number of my friends go off to work at places like McKinsey and others like them there is something that this story fails to mention and this is it: Pete walked away from a very healthy salary after just three years. Many haven’t or wouldn’t. Buttigieg could have kept pulling in the big bucks and continued his political career later on (after making bigger & better connections in the business world). To walk away from lots of money into an uncertain future takes guts and dare I say it: integrity.
7
Probably any other likely candidate for the presidency would be an improvement over Donald Trump. But Mr Buttigieg is unlikely to have much more understanding of the bottom 25% of working and retired Americans. After a lifetime of working their butts off, to contribute to the nation's GDP, and enhancing the bottom line for their own countrymen, are cast aside like so much collateral damage, and left to die in abject poverty.
4
I guess you have not been reading about how older folks enthusiastically support Mayor Pete and also coincidentally like his Gray New Deal.
3
This piece and the accompanying editorial are just plain silly. I worry that anyone younger than my kids is ready to be President, but if this is all you can come up with to criticize Mayor Buttigieg, why bother?
13
The negative Buttigieg hit pieces are getting comical.
This publication is like the child at the dinner table who forever screams at their parents that they aren't going to eat their vegetables.
Grow up, already. Trump is the one who brought politics down to the playground level. The media was happy to follow. Buttigieg is trying to keep us out of it.
18
The one question I would ask all the candidates is:
If you are not chosen to be the POTUS nominee what other Executive staff position would you see yourself in in the next administration?
It speaks to strengths and commitment to public service.
We are not hiring one person, we will be hiring a team.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-trump-administration/the-cabinet/
1
does this article explain what "mckinsey" is?
Google it.
Hint: Rajat Gupta who ran it for a long time just got out of jail. He wasn’t there for for reciting Spinoza’s Ethics in public I am told.
1
Pete disapproved of the invasion of Afghanistan, but joined the military to "make sure it all came out right." Sure, Pete. After 1945, there were no Nazis anywhere in Germany, and those who had worn Hitler's uniform apparently had grave misgivings about having done so. It's easy to say that you disapproved of a lost war that everyone now disapproves. When these wars in the Middle East got underway, there was public enthusiasm for them (remember freedom fries?) , prudent politicians voted for them, and careerists climbed aboard the bandwagon. Pete was a bandwagon careerist then, and he's still saying whatever goes over most easily. He is not trustworthy. Bernie is!
5
@Ivan Light
Like the article notes, his "service" in Afghanistan and Iraq wasn't to make sure that the war turned out all right. It was to defraud the US taxpayer to the tune of $18 million for a 50 page bogus report, never having encountered a single local employer they were tasked to evaluate.
3
Oh please...if you want to cut out some pork, how about dropping the Defense budget? We spend more on Defense than the next 7 largest military budgets. Maybe cuts to their budget would stop $18 million reports like this. $18 million is nothing...we’ve spent $109 million on Trump going golfing...so far.
These articles from the NY Times are grasping at straws. With such great investigative talent, I would hope there are more worth topics. Even his record with African Americans would be more enlightening, and I say this as a staunch Buttigieg supporter. Geesh. Ridiculous.
11
Two anti-Buttigieg pieces on the same day? Wow. (And an anti-socialism article from David Brooks at the same time just for good measure!) The NYT sure is trying hard to make everything good about this guy look bad. Same goes for recent pieces on Warren and Sanders. Every time I see one of these not-so-subtle efforts in this paper to make Biden look like a "centrist" - rather than the closet Republican that he really is - by virtue of comparing him to his rivals - who are actually progressive - I get that much closer to canceling my subscription and giving that money to Buttigieg, instead.
P.S. 1.5 is not 1/10th of 24. Nice try, though.
10
@Rob
it is hard to know what the NYT is saying here.
It says one tenth of his "adult life". Since 1.5 is one tenth of 15, and 24 minus 15 is 9, this means the NYT became an adult at age 9.
Perhaps he did.
Count me in!
I guess Chelsea Clinton needs to take notes on this...
7
I have had the honor of working with McKinsey consultants, one a senior partner, on three separate projects. Another was a relatively junior consultant like Pete who stayed at the firm a bit longer that he did, then went on to become the leading business expert of the entire global fashion business in the space of a year. I also applied for a job in corporate communications there, and was turned down. They took me out for an expensive lunch and gave me the news so gently I felt like I'd won the lotto. My three work experiences with them were similarly memorable and pleasant.
As the media tries to collect dirt on Mayor Pete to test his worthiness, even if the NDA is released, they are going to find absolutely no there there. To try to pin what might seem like nefarious acts committed by the firm to him by association aren't going to stick.
A consultancy at that level is a lot like a law firm. Everyone deserves representation regardless of their actions; you cannot blame the lawyer for the deeds of the client. If a government or a corporation asks "what is the best way to improve XYZ problem?" McKinsey will find it and recommend it. There is nothing immoral about this in a capitalist society. And, no, their famous offsites aren't some sinister secret society gathering.
As I said months ago, "I hope Pete wins and stack his entire cabinet with McKinsey consultants." It's the most effective recommendation after what we've gone through. They're brilliant, affable geeks.
18
@James
The business world is not a court of law. No one is owed representation by consultants to ram down policy implementation that management is too cowardly to own up to themselves.
If McKinsey's work is so excellent, why are they a constant presence in US government auditor reports as grossly overbilling and under-delivering on their contracts?
3
Rajat Gupta. Ran the place for a long time. Just got out of jail. He wasn’t there for reciting Spinoza’s Ethics in public.
Great that you have respect for them. Enron too I bet. Jeff Skilling just got if jail too. I bet he had lots of respect for McKinsey too. He worked there after his Harvard MBA. Same as Gupta.
1
I don't even know if I support Mr. Buttigieg but it troubles me our system is so misguided that we are worrying about his first job. Even if he worked for interests at McKinsey I disagree with, I think he gets the benefit of the doubt. He has "blue blood" credentials but it doesn't appear he didn't work for them.
9
I do detect that Pete somehow has to undergo a test of perfection that some other candidates in the club of rich white men in politics do not experience. The latter wouldn't dream of scrutinizing their members already accepted as wealthy, socially connected, and dependable to exhibit a particular set of values. The mayor is an outsider to those cliques, perhaps just for superficial reasons. His age of 37 nears the lower limit of 35 for U.S. presidents, and he presumably has the least amount of money among the candidates. His participation in overseas wars and his valuing a career in 'public service' makes him different from the draft dodgers and grifters in the elected government offices.
8
No corporate Manchurian candidates permitted. Financiers are not "capitalists" in any meaningful sense as they create nothing and take value without providing value. Rather like "Wall Street Pete's" candidacy. All talk, no walk. Come back in a couple of decades after you have done something you can talk about.
6
I have a comment below describing my experience with Accenture consultants, but BLUF: new hires/junior associates are data and information collectors who create reports on their findings. Ultimately, their reports are pushed up the chain of command, and it is their superiors that make the decisions and determine whether or not the the findings are actionable.
It seems that during Mayor Pete's time at McK, he was able to synthesize aggregate data into much more elevated and meaningful reports to present to his superiors because of his analytical skills. I know McK is infamous for their dubious activity, but it is highly unlikely it would have been at his level.
Like what many other commenters have stated, it is unfair to judge him for his first job out of college. Gen-X and subsequent generations have been job hoppers to really carve out a path... no one stays in one place. I can speak for myself as well... first job out of college was with a big law firm (stayed for about 2.5 years), but in public service ever since. I've worked at city, state, and federal levels. There was hefty money to be made in private industry, but not worth it in the grand scheme of things. Maybe he did not like the way his superiors were handling the information he collected? Maybe he did not like future projects he was going to be assigned to? There are an infinite number of reasons why someone would leave such a lucrative career path. I get it... I've been there and I got the heck out of dodge.
6
If you haven’t worked a private sector job it should be automatically disqualifying.
3
I’ve worked with McKinsey consultants at prior employers on matters protected by an NDA.
I can say this; they were a bunch of over eager young adults with no experience at anything. They believed whatever we told them and wrote exactly what we hoped they would.
I found McKensey to be mostly empty suits. I find Pete’s work there neither a plus nor a minus.
8
The comments in support of Pete are heartening. We all have to serve The Man from time to time. The only people who don't know by what name The Man actually goes by.
5
Lately, my progressive friends have taken to demonizing Buttigieg. They could equally criticize Biden's support of Iraq, Warren's corporate record, and Bernie's involvement in the Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jet program, but instead, they have made Pete their target.There are plenty of good reasons not to support Mayor Pete (inexperience and electability being two), but none of these candidates is perfect. This purity-testing nonsense will get Trump re-elected.
8
"Yet Mr. Buttigieg’s time at the world’s most prestigious management-consulting company is one piece of his meticulously programmed biography"
Going to Harvard, Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, serving your country in warm and working at McKinsey isn't "a meticulously programmed biography". It's an amazing and inspiring list of the accomplishments of what was (and is) obviously a very driven young man. In stark contrast to people always chasing the next higher office like, say, Kamala Harris.
9
@Mike
I think, in truth, that the Harvard/Oxford/War service/McKinsey/Mayor sequence qualifies as both:
a) meticulously crafter and
b) spectacular
Well played, Pete.... on both scores.
1
@John B
Meticulously crafted is a motive. Accomplishments like that aren’t motives, they’re goals.
I like the guy I really do and I would vote for him if he becomes the chosen one. Although with so many in the USA being conservative to the extreme how is he being gay going to give him a win? Americans still can't even get a woman to be President. On another note, one person's comments about him not being a Socialist, but a Patriot, smells like they are trying to say other Democratic candidates are Socialists which they are not. They are Social Democrats. People, please learn the definition of Socialism. Also, he is a patriot. All the candidates that are running are patriots even if they did not join the military.
3
Buttigieg's background includes a father who was a Notre Dame professor; a Catholic prep school; Harvard; Rhodes Scholar/Oxford; and McKinsey. But my money says Buttigieg's greatest education came from being slaughtered in the 2010 election for Indiana state treasurer, by a guy who graduated from a public school and one "Defiance College" and whose highest academic achievement is a masters in geology.
I want to know how Buttigieg plans to appeal to the roughly 67% of Americans over the age of 26, often of color, who lack even a bachelor's degree and who scrunch their eyes up and rightly say, "Huh?" when they hear about Harvard, high SAT scores and the rest of Buttigieg's sweatless, short-term problem-solving, resumé-building background.
4
Up until Obama all Democratic presidents had a similar resume to Buttigieg. i.e white, educated, middle class. Most were much wealthier or had spent more time in business or politics. Unlike the rest, but like Obama, Buttigieg is a member of a often maligned minority. This is important and makes him stand out from the pack: he understands what if feels like to have his rights on the line.
4
Pete Buttigieg:
Harvard University (AB), Pembroke College, Oxford (BA), on a Rhodes Scholarship.
Cohen Group consultant, 2004-2005
McKinsey & Company consultant, 2007-2010
From 2009 to 2017, he was an intelligence officer in the United States Navy Reserve, attaining the rank of lieutenant and deploying to Afghanistan in 2014.
In 2010, lost his only statewide election: Indiana State Treasurer by 24% (Buttigieg’s 38% to Republican 62%).
Mayor (lame-duck) of South Bend, Indiana, fourth largest city in Indiana. Last Republican mayor of South Bend was 1964. South Bend is a college town - home of Notre Dame. At age 29, became youngest mayor of city with >100K residents. Won first term with total of 11K votes (74%). Won second term with 8.5K votes (80%). Chose not to run for third term.
Wall Street heavy hitters, Silicon Valley CEOs, Big Pharma, Big Insurance, Washington lobbyists love Mayor Pete and have donated to his campaign (lobbyist money was later returned). He is winning the money race from the corporate/billionaire donations.
Buttigieg (AZ 5%, FL 5%, MI 3%, NC 1%, PA 4%, WI 5%) is well behind Biden, Warren and Sanders in swing state polls.
He has 0% support with SC African Americans.
So if you want a very smart, slick politician, who has never won a statewide election, who has never won in a Republican area, who has virtually no support with African Americans, who is owned by corporations/billionaires, then Mayor Pete is your guy.
Hope you enjoy another 4 years of Trump.
9
Does our first job define us? No!
3
Is there no end date on his NDA?
Isn’t it non-competes (not NDAs) that have end dates?
@Suzanne Stroh
correct!
Is the idea now that anyone who ever takes a high-paying job to pay back their student loans can't run for president???????
9
I fail to see what Buttigieg's tenure at McKinsey has to do with anything. This, and other articles, make McKinsey sound akin to some top secret skulduggery operation. They're not. Non-disclosures are a common business practice, worldwide. And if Buttigieg signed a non-disclosure he would have to be released by McKinnsey.
9
McKinsey alumni? Automatic disqualifier. (McKinsey equivalent to for-profit CIA.)
1
@Qxt63
Both McKinsey and the analytic side of the CIA hire smart people.
Other than that, no similarities of consequence.
@John B
I suppose for you, being a paid assassin is the same as being an U.S. Army sharp shooter. Both are talented in the use of special weapons.
I'm not looking for perfection. Those people aren't politicians. I'm just looking for someone who is not a sociopath. And you know the deadenders who voted for the current occupant of the White House, can't even spell that word or define it.
Mayor Pete is a cynical empty suit who stands for nothing. He is by far the worst of the 2020 Democratic hopefuls.
7
For once I agree with the top comments. This article is news, but it's also absurd.
2
If we are to punish everyone who has worked at Goldman Sachs, McKinsey, Bain, or a venture funded startup, we would dramatically reduce the brain trust that goes into public service. This does not make them inherently bad people.
Knowing how economic systems work is a must for managing complex domestic and international relationships. That does not mean they are better suited than academics, politicians, or activists, but we must be cognizant that the capitalist system is what drives the world's economy.
487
@Mark Arizmendi
Except, they aren't working.
The faux humility of ceding judgement to "those who know better" is cultivated by their ridiculous, ersatz, and self-serving merit system. Time to do away with it.
Spoken like a true victim.
20
@Mark Arizmendi When these people are unable to criticize their former employees and we as voters cannot differentiate their policy vs private interest lobbying - we should absolutely "punish" them by not voting for them and investigating their work, NDA or not.
They also chose a private firm vs civil service, their choice is clear.
21
@Mark Arizmendi exactly. Pete was smart enough to get the job and smart enough to leave! The ones who stay I can do without.
42
Read Pete's book, "Shortest Way Home" in which he writes about his work at McKinsey and then realized the corporate culture was not to his liking. He needed to learn about the business world to round out his education. He served his country and fought in a war. I would call that a man worthy of becoming President and for the first time in almost 3 years Americans would have a president to be proud of. Pete speaks many languages, he has a quick mind and the wit to respond in a thoughtful learned manner and not with trash talk that we are so used to with Trump and his cronies and lap dogs. We need a president to be proud of and not ashamed of - we have suffered enough with the Trump family and their open hands waiting for any handout they can bully people to give them covertly or out in the open such as the what happened with Trump Jr. and his recent 'best seller'.
5
He was doing grunt work as a junior employee. Looking at data and compiling powerpoint presentations. He had very little impact or influence. this is just the other Dem candidates making a mountain out of a mole hill and the press looking to print articles.
Stuff like this makes the Dem primary a total mess more than it already is. Trump will win.
7
If Pete Buttigeig has seen from the inside the craven, sometimes cowardly, often predatory and always self-serving practices of global management consultancies then he is surely well placed to undermine their shenanigans in the long term, in my opinion.
3
From the outside - but definitely looking in...
while I cannot vote of course, if I could my vote would be for Mayor Pete. He is so bright, so interested in public service, served over seas...there is nothing not to vote for!
Hesitation over age and experience?
That holds no water or can explain how Trump would ever be elected then.
Oh how I see a democratic neighbouring nation with a President Elect Mayor Pete. He could fix all that Trump has broken. He would be a proud example of all the US stands for.
If Trump reelected the whole world will have to reconcile that the US is not our democratic strong ally any longer. Trump would be King and our fine neighbours to the south will be living in a banana republic....
3
Every smart, over-educated and ambitious millennial I know found themselves in a morally dubious job in their early twenties. Many stayed. Pete learned what he could, bled the empire, got out, and entered public service.
How is this a story of anything other than moral clarity?
8
Do we all agree that there are probably more interesting tidbits from a single year of Donald Trump’s tax returns vs three years of documents (and even video footage) from Pete Buttigieg’s activities at McKinsey?
4
He's smart, with conservative instincts in his head and soft feelings in his heart for people who are having a rough time of it.
Plus he is a fresh face.
What more could we ask for?
10
Make that:
Plus he is a Rhodes Scholar, a veteran, a Mayor, a Midwesterner, speaks in crisp,clear American sentences employing subject, verb and predicate and is a fresh face.
5
Let's not forget that our socialist friend Bernie Sanders voted consistently with the gun lobby before he got religion (i.e. running for president). He supported and voted for the law that insulated gun manufacturers from law suits resulting from the many mass shootings we've had. Not much different from the NRA there, but he is the socialist darling.....
3
I like people who have good minds; people who can engage in conversation/debate without resorting to specious argument, distraction, half-truth and name calling. (sound familiar).
I like people who can debate by first asking 'what do you mean, when you say (fill in the blank: climate change, gun control, easing the deficit, right to . . . whatever).
Last night, Joe Biden, in response to a question about his age and fitness for office, responded by challenging the questioner to a push-up contest and an IQ test competition.
I don't believe Pete Buttigieg would have had such a juvenile response.
9
It’s interesting that Buttigieg worked for McKinsey, but he was there for less than three years. I wouldn’t look for deep meaning in that fact...or things to taint him. I know several McKinsey alumni. The firm is considered a resume builder for highly ambitious people like this candidate, and people like him tend to pass through and go into other things. McKinsey is a place to get (a specific kind of) professional training, and do lot of high-level networking. And then you feature that plum stint on your resume and move on. Yes, Mckinsey is certainly not a promoter of liberal policy or values. I think it is a repugnant organization, and they are considered an evil entity by many. But maybe Buttigieg was just using them as a stepping stone, as so many do. Chelsea Clinton worked there (that was a case off mutual using, I think). She didn’t stay long, either. I’ve never seen any criticism of her — daughter of a Democrat ex-prez and Democrat senator, and probable future Democrat candidate herself — choosing to work at McKinsey. The news stories at the time were all laudatory. So what’s the point of homing in on Buttigieg? It’s disingenuous to feign surprise over his ambitiousness.
5
@Passion for Peaches
No idea why Chelsea Clinton's stint -- or anyone else's -- at McKinsey would have anything to do to Pete Buttigieg's time there. Buttigieg's employment at McKinsey is part of his campaign resume; there's nothing wrong with voters asking what he did and how that experience informs his vision and policy ideas for the presidency.
1
I was interested in the criticism of Buttigieg's handling of racial issues in South Bend, so I looked up articles in the local newspaper. I particularly remember one leader's comment in regards to the problems with the police force: Buttigieg had legal constraints he had to work under from state and federal law.
We need a President who upholds the rule of law, not the rule of organized crime: Everything is legal as long as you don't get caught...or convicted...or sent to jail.
2
Stop the madness. As others note, whoever is near the top, the Times bashes (for what, this?!). It's not only damaging now, in the run to the primary, but if he's our nominee, you've tarnished him not only for us Dems but for any independents and Repubs who might have been on the fence and considering alternatives to voting for dear Leader.
10
Revolutions devour their children.
3
Pete is my top choice for POTUS.
7
Pete Buttigieg is smart, has travelled, has served his country, has worked in business consulting, and has served several years as mayor of a midwestern US city of 320,000 people. He's young, no doubt, but this is a serious man. On top of that, he is calm, well-informed, and extremely well-spoken. I like him.
22
@Tom Webster
In 2010, lost his only statewide election: Indiana State Treasurer by 24% (Buttigieg’s 38% to Republican 62%).
Mayor (lame-duck) of South Bend, Indiana, fourth largest city in Indiana. Last Republican mayor of South Bend was 1964. South Bend is a college town - home of Notre Dame. At age 29, became youngest mayor of city with >100K residents. Won first term with total of 11K votes (74%). Won second term with 8.5K votes (80%). Chose not to run for third term since he believes he is ready to be President.
Wall Street heavy hitters, Silicon Valley CEOs, Big Pharma, Big Insurance, Washington lobbyists love Mayor Pete and have donated to his campaign (lobbyist money was later returned). He is winning the money race from the corporate/billionaire donations.
Buttigieg (AZ 5%, FL 5%, MI 3%, NC 1%, PA 4%, WI 5%) is well behind Biden, Warren and Sanders in swing state polls.
He has 0% support with SC African Americans.
2
The fact that Mayor Pete had the credentials to land a job at a firm like McKinsey should be a positive for a President.
Although capitalism and many of the companies that make up our system are deservedly looked at with a jaundiced eye these days, capitalism has been responsible for much of improvement in human's condition over the past few centuries.
To acquaint a junior employee of a decade ago with transgressions of senior people recently is unfair to say the least. More important, would be to know how Mayor Pete's time at McKinsey shapes his present thinking on how social responsibility can be required of capitalistic firms.
509
@kirk
Words of wisdom from Montana. Remember, there are smart people all over this country, not just in San Francisco, New York, Boston, and Washington, DC.
23
@kirk so he gets the benefit of having worked there but none of the blame? I agree that it can transform someone's thinking about the world we live in for the better, but don't exactly think I can trust them (i guess the Mayor in this instance) with the presidency, especially given the increasing dominance of faceless corporate firms in this country and the world over. Not to mention his policy positions largely leave the working class out to dry.
2
I initially thought Mayor Pete seemed like a viable candidate. After a while, though I realized he appears packaged, focus group tested and too slick by half. He has never seen a camera he doesn't want to get in front of. If he becomes the nominee he is almost sure to hand Trump another four years. This article just strengthened my opinion. A real test would be for him to run for Governor, Congressman, or Senator in Indiana. If he is victorious in that red state and shows he can govern, then we can take him seriously. He isn't running in Indiana though because he knows he has a slim chance of winning there. There are likely not enough people with graduate degrees throughout the country to propel him to Presidential victory.
12
The more I think about the the more disturbing it becomes.
Farfetched as it may be, a nondisclosure agreement would potentially be an issue of national security. How would the military and our intelligence agencies approach the issue?
3
Action by the current administration show that all rules and fear of blackmail are now gone, out the window. What could any “foreign government “ or military personnel do that hasn’t already been done, with full knowledge of the Senate.
Unless there are certain tapes.....
This and the op-ed are simply hit jobs. I have had a number of my PhD students go to work for McKinsey and other consulting firms. They reported that they had no input into the work they were assigned; they were just there to do the analytics or - occasionally - to sit at the table with clients and look bright-eyed and bushy-tailed while the senior members of the team made the pitch. All of those who went to large consulting firms reported that the job was not nearly as interesting as it had seemed when they were hired and that the money did not compensate. Most of them left as soon as they could. None of them were free to talk with me about specifics of their work, including who the clients were. Some of them did not even know who the clients were - they were just handed a data-analysis task and told to do it. And the idea that Harvard, a Rhodes Scholarship, and Oxford are not signs of a stellar intellect is absurd: Buttigieg is not a man who had connections or family wealth. I spent a year working at Oxford I can tell you that they are not impressed with American connection and wealth: the portraits hanging in the dining halls are not of rich donors, they are of British Prime Ministers.
26
A lot of the commentary on this article from those on the Left of the Democrat Party brings to mind a common and annoying assumption that Republicans also make.
They assume that they speak for the majority of Democrats in much the same way that Republicans believe they speak for The American People’
It bears keeping in mind that Pete Buttigieg ideas and policies are more representative of the majority of Democrats and Independents than those of his opponents to his left.
And by the way we vote , we don’t sit home sulking because our candidate did not win the primary . Or worse switch sides as many Bernie supporters did in 2016 and voted for Trump.
20
Its quite amusing you start by talking about annoying assumptions and then go on to assumptions about Bernie supporters. I was ror Bernie then and am for Bernie now, but I still voted for Hillary (in PA, a state where it actually mattered) despite having serious reservations about here as a candidate.
3
@frankiepeanuts I am not assuming anything, when you see a comment end with 'like the rest of us', it is not going out on a limb to assume that the individual believes he speaks for the majority. Furthermore I am happy that back in 2016 you had the common sense to appreciate that Hilary although not your first preference was a better option than Trump, a significant number of Bernie's supporters thought otherwise. You should try Googling this I think you may be in for an unpleasant surprise.
2
I am impressed by Buttigieg - especially his ability to articulate complex arguments simply. I have nothing against his having worked at McKinsey. What concerns me is an element of hype - that he's a concert pianist, when in fact he plays a little bit on an elementary level. That he's fluently multilingual - when he has, in fact, a smattering of phrases from several languages. As a gay man, I recognize the pressure he felt to overachieve - it's compensatory for the low self-esteem most of us feel in our adolescence and early adulthood. I'm happy that he seems to have worked this out and do not doubt that he is capable. He just needs to relax a bit and develop into the world-class leader he no doubt will be.
7
Impressive. He worked in consulting for five years before becoming mayor of a small town. I'd vote for him... for district representative.
6
McKinsey consulting must be understood in context: doing what the client wants - which is going to have to be efficiency or other cost-effective measures that will ideally pay for themselves after paying McKinsey to crunch the numbers.
Just as Obama was an ideal president because of his international experience starting at an early age, Pete brings critical actual on-the-ground international and military experience to the table, as well as understanding the fierce competitive pressures businesses face.
I wish he was 47 rather than 37, but he seems to me a sensible and appropriately experienced person I can support. The various western governors (B, H and I) competed well on these qualities but sadly it seems the Dems couldn't see the electability mertis of a moderate, sensible and business-oriented government executive...all, like Pete, would take the US as far into actual 21st century solutions as the public would support.
Everybody wants "economic development." We need US global business competitiveness via sustainable practices. We need sensible solutions to inequality. Far left activists: get real! Stop the circular firing squad bit. "Socialists" ain't electable.
8
I was a part-time Walgreens cashier during high school and this article has me wondering if I'm unelectable due to my work ties to big pharma.
26
Seems like Buttigieg's front runner status is inviting scrutiny as it should. Beyond Iowa there is uncertainty. Why should he jeopardize his chances of once again working in private sector. Do voters who may or may not vote for Buttigieg really need more information about his work for the consulting firm McKinsey when they don't seem to too worried about Hunter Biden's work for Burisma or is it a criminal offense to ask for investigation because the Bidens are untouchable.
Personally as an independent voter, I don't care what Buttigieg did for McKinsey as long as he did not park his millions in tax havens and hid it from the IRS. He is not pushing a tax hike on Americans earning less than 100,000 or medicare for all ages or abolishing private insurance or other extreme ideas. Leave him alone. Is Butti answerable to voters who may not vote for him?
3
You are not an independent voter.
I hit the link to the Special Inspector General's Report on Afghanistan, and noted that the real agenda was PRIVATIZATION:
"leverage private-sector-oriented economic development to stabilize Afghanistan and other unstable regions."
Buttigieg was a corporate tool pursuing a right wing Neoliberal finance capitalist imperial model.
Disqualifying.
And I now need to read his Harvard senior thesis, because it sounds an awful lot like a blarney attempt as historical revisionism to claim noble US purposes in Vietnam.
1
If you want Trump out of office, Pete is the guy. There is no way Trump can beat this guy in a debate. Pete is too smart and well spoken. With Sanders and Warren, all Trump has to say is socialist and the game is over and believe me he will say it hundreds of times.
Who cares what he did at McKinsey as his first “real” job. How many people define the rest of their life based on their first job or two out of college. It’s not like he worked there for years as an executive. He worked as a low level hire and decided he didn’t want to waste his time working there any longer. This story has no relevance.
11
@Alex
As I recall, Trump didn’t beat Hillary in any of the debates.
@Kally
Sadly, Kally is right.
19th century elections were won in debates.
21st century elections can be won by tongue-tied illiterates.
@Alex
This is so unfounded and jargony that your motivations and goals are suspect.
Basically, not a Russian asset as we now have, and too lightweight unqualified for the top chair of the Executive Branch as we had with the 2016 Dem presidential candidate.
Come back, young ambitious Mr. Buttigieg, with some legislative, foreign and domestic national governance experience. We don't need yet another flavor of the month identity politics young charmer that needs 8 years of on the job training, as was the case in 2008.
Oh, this is great.
A quant/nerd/analyst is being lambasted for a job he had for a few years and probably never once attended any important meeting or was asked his opinion on strategy, other than, as he said "math."
7
Wow three years of work in your early 20s when you aren't totally sure what you want to do with your life. But sure, lets make him the villain. To be clear, he had no role in the recently uncovered unethical projects with McKinsey.
11
Anyone else not really understand the angle of this article? A presidential candidate worked for a top consulting firm where he gained experience and knowledge about what he wanted to do with his life?
The democratic party need to relax on the end-less pursuit to tear candidates down. This article implies possible shady dealings because McKinsey has been linked to such in the past. He was in his 20's trying to figure out his way!
18
" The idea was to provide employment for men who might otherwise join the insurgency against the American-led occupation."
Dog knows we wouldn't want to spend money like this in America, on jobs for young men who might otherwise join a gang.
3
A few things I'd like anti-Butti's to read before posting:
The article points out Buttigieg started at McKinsey BEFORE they had run-in's with the more nefarious clients - Purdue Pharma, Saudi Arabia, etc. So I think its safe to assume he had nothing to do with those caess.
Secondly, the article also points out that he is trying to get out of his non-disclosure agreement, a very legal document, so he can discuss his experience with more transparency.
16
Buttigieg’s climate advisor is David Victor whose research is funded by BP and the Electric Power Research Institute, a nonprofit representing the interests of energy companies.
Buttigieg calls small donor money "pocket change." He blitzed Iowans with millions of dollars of TV ads funded by special interest money attacking Bernie and Warren on their healthcare policies, and now he's doing the same on college education.
The Partnership for America's Health Care Future, a coalition of insurers, bought half of all political advertising in Iowa over the summer and ran the same message as Buttigieg. They spent $300,000 on targeted ads on Facebook. They have been writing opinion pieces for Republicans AND Democrats.
We will never make progress on anything - guns, healthcare, climate change, college education - if politicians are beholden to special interests. Buttigieg equals business-as-usual.
This is the first time in modern history that we have a real shot at getting someone in the White House who isn’t beholden to corporate interests or billionaires.
7
Mayor Pete had the rare ability to put ambiguous things together and make sense of it. That is clearly what we need in our commander-in-chief during these volatile and complex times in our country and the world. He is highly intelligent, calm, centered and ethical - literally the complete opposite of what we have now in the White House. That’s what I take home for this article. Mayor Pete will make an awesome president.
9
I worked as a part-time cashier at Walgreens in high school. This article has me wondering if I'm unelectable due to my professional ties to big pharma.
10
My issue with Pete is that he doesn't have depth of experience ANYWHERE. He's spent his life going from one prestigious platform to the next amassing accolades, fueling his own ambitions. He serves others so long as it serves him. His shallow understanding of nearly everything is deeply troubling. On the trail, he's been "quoting" Yang, Biden, and frankly, GOP talking points. He's highly efficient at gaming the system to his advantage. There is something so condescending and disingenuous about him that if he were to become elected, I hope that the voters understand the bargain they're striking. He's in this to help himself. However much that helps the nation, so be it, but the primary goal is to further his own agenda for money and power. After the presidency, I will guarantee that he'll try to become a billionaire philanthropist and rub elbows with the Davos crowd. In his heart, he truly believes that he is better than us all and will do better than we can for ourselves. Like he quoted, Innocence is a bell-less leper. He is counting on am army of us lepers to buy into his story and get him elected. "Walk with crowds and not lose your virtue, Talk with kings nor lose the common touch..." I'll bet he memorized that one too. At the end of the day, Mayor Pete may not be a bad choice, we just have to be clear-eyed about what the bargain we're striking: An elitist elite who aims to become more elite...by serving the people.
5
So smart he was recruited by McKinsey, yet it took him three years to figure out that they weren’t such good guys? I graduated in the 1980s and we all knew what it was like then.
5
@TEB
I graduated in the 1960's. I don't know, tell me.
1
Where is the "there" here? Seems to me all the experiences listed are net positives. And isn't the real story the one you buried in the last two paragraphs? That through working for the dark side (or the "will-be-much-darker-10-years-later" side), Buttigieg came to understand "There's has got to be a higher standard"? I'd rather a president who asks that than our current White House occupant whose leading question is "how much lower can we go?"
6
Criticizing Buttigieg or any candidate for taking steps to reach a goal is . . . weird. Which of our good/great presidents did not do that? Look at FDR's path. Or Teddy Roosevelt's. Or Lincoln's. Or Washington's. Which rungs up the ladder should they have skipped?
9
This is just a silly issue - the man was in his 20s when he worked at McKinsey. He was not a partner/leader and was allocated to assignments presumably based on availability. How does knowing the “details” of assignments and clients during his 3 year stint as a “new consultant” impact his ability to be a candidate for President?
500
@PB What if one of those clients was Blackwater? What if his assignments were counter-intuitive to the progressive movement? They matter.
10
@LH Explain how and why they matter. First of all, they weren't "his" clients, they were McKinsey's clients. He was a junior level analyst, not a partner, not a rainmaker, not someone bringing in "his" own clients. He worked on the assignments he was told to work on. So if one of those clients was Blackwater, and he did a PowerPoint presentation for them, what difference does that make?
24
@PB Buttigieg is only 37 years old. If he was 70, this stint out of college might be something we could overlook. As it is, it's necessarily a huge part of his (scanty) record. It is one the few jobs he has ever had.
5
As soon as candidates start moving up in the "polls" the newspapers have to plunge into their backgrounds harder. Maybe this is a given, maybe it's just the bloodsport of being a candidate. Having read most of the comments I'd say people are looking up to and at Pete Buttigieg as a nuanced, very intelligent man who will attract very intelligent, stable people who read, are well educated, and think for themselves should he be elected. I'm delighted to see him move ahead. All the hand wringing about whether he'll get the African-American and other blocks to vote for him is yet to be seen. He is a stellar choice, thoughtful, a good listener - something in very short supply these days - I hope he keeps surging ahead. And I don't think it's just because ABT is the prime factor in 2020.
14
I certainly hope McKinsey waives the NDA or lightens it up a lot, given that this is a unique circumstance for an ex-employee.
That being said, it's interesting to see many of the pieces of Buttigieg's story come together in all the interviews, town halls, and other appearances this millennial candidate has made. I first learned about his trip to Somalia from an interview with Cosmopolitan. When asked who his best friend was, he said that politically, you're always supposed to say your spouse, and of course lovingly praised Chasten, but that he thought most people didn't really use "best friend" to mean their spouse. Instead, he named Nathaniel, who was his best man at the wedding, and recounted that Nathaniel had convinced him to go to Somalia on travel and a bit about their trip. Nathaniel is the co-author with Pete on the powerful piece about Somaliland that's included in a link in this article.
4
not that anyone asked, but Sanders has much more support from military oriented folks than any other candidate (even Trumpo). I believe it is because they know the horror that war is for the people of the world and want a candidate who is committed to ending those wars and who has not (ever) given in to doing the bidding that politicians and corporations set us up to do.
7
@eeeeee
Sanders brought a multibillion (if not trillion) dollar F-35 fighter jet program to Vermont. He was certainly "doing the bidding" of Lockheed Martin and the war machine. Bernie wanted to bring jobs to Vermont, so I can't fault him for that. I just wish his supporters would give him the same scrutiny they do everyone else.
1
@ajbown that's fair. I can't claim to know everything about his life and career, although I am an ardent supporter. I guess I just wish he got more notoriety for sticking around (or rather leading the largest movement in the field) in a political climate that is increasingly conservative and hostile to the working class
"I had protested the Iraq War."
Two weeks ago I printed out Pete's wiki-bio. I hadn't before because Warren is my choice. Reason? Her experience and her plans.
What I found on Pete's bio was a narrow slice of events.
Worse? Those specific events were about 'a mile wide and an inch deep', as the expression goes.
Education? Two BS's, nothing higher.
Afghanistan? He was the driver of a car for a commander.
He is supposed to be a linguist, yet the bio stated that no one knows how deep that goes. (Wouldn't that be easy to check?)
In South Bend he had an unclear record of accomplishments.
He was begged to not allow another (7th) anti-abortion 'clinic' to open next door to the only abortion facility, and he did not: He allowed them to open across the street. He may be gung-ho for LGBTQ, but, boy, is he weak on the "W's".
His involvement with black policies was tense, a case of 'let's fiddle with this and that' and improve on the hierarchical structure, there, that should work. But it didn't and now he has moved on.
I have no doubt that Pete is savvy on power structure, but, so far, the light beaming out from his bio is a solid 25-watts.
Dig deeper and I'm sure that that $18 million dollar report from McKinsey might contain one footnote attributed to Pete.
This is thin gruel.
And, no.
There was no reference to Pete ever having been a protester of the Iraq War.
Please find it.
11
I think it's great that Buttigieg got a look at the insides of the McKinsey machine...and then got out to do public service. The more information a candidate has, the better chance he or she has to do things that will benefit the public good.
658
@Lissa: Although you haven't noted it explicitly, Lissa, the contrast with the incumbent is striking. There is a man whose knowledge of the world seems to be limited to how to lose (his father's) millions, and he has the gall to suggest that his experience is in some way superior. Why would anyone choose Corporal Bonespurs over someone with relevant experience?
15
@Lissa the more practice a candidate has doing stuff that benefits shareholders only, the better chance he or she will be a truly awful politician...
3
@BjG2017
You say this without any knowledge as to who his clients were.
8
That South Bend, Indiana is a "midsize" city seems quite a stretch to me. At 102,000, it is not vastly larger than the outer suburb of Austin I live in, currently estimated above 71,000.
8
@Thomas McClendon
The definition of a city is relative to its location in the country.
So if, for example, you were to compare NYC (at to 8.7 million) to Austin (at barely a million) Austin would qualify as a town.
Lakeland, Florida is considered a city and it has a population around 100,000.
The capital of Maine, the city of Augusta, has a population of around 18,500 and the entire state a population of around 1.7 million.
So as I said, the definition of a "city" varies relative to its location.
Just FYI.
1
I’m a McKinsey alumnus who joined right out college and spent the next 4.5 years working with clients in various industries. During my time there I never witnessed anything unethical and was deeply impressed by my colleagues who were not only talented but fundamentally decent and interesting people. I don’t know what’s happened to McKinsey over the last 10 or 20 years but it is disturbing and contrasts sharply with the organization and culture I remember. Perhaps I was simply naive but then again I was only in my 20s and not exactly in the “room where it happens” - much like Mayor Pete. The idea that Pete Buttigieg is somehow tainted by McKinsey’s recent misdeeds is absurd. He was a young man who spent a few years at a highly respected firm before embarking on a career of public service. There is truly nothing to see here beyond an attempt to smear the guy.
45
People like Pete Buttigieg and Barack Obama could have taken their intellect and educational credentials and worked their entire careers for some large corporation, consulting firm, of law firm, and made millions of dollars, likely before the age of 40. Instead, they chose their idealism (while they still had it) over the practicality of financial opportunism. For that, they have earned my respect.
35
At times I feel like this piece is trying to craft a narrative of impropriety surrounding Mr. Buttigieg and his work at McKinsey. Can we keep things in perspective? The guy worked at a top consulting firm for a few years out of college, and then moved on. That change of career is what's interesting to me, the move to the public sphere. What are his aspirations? I feel like he has made those very clear.
18
Although I am old enough to Pete Buttigieg's dad, my life mirrors his in reverse. And, I have now happily reached retirement age.
About 45 years ago in a land not far away, I was a very bright, eager and highly intelligent young man. That was not my own impression of myself back then. That is what everyone around me thought of me. I was among the top 1000 individuals in the entire country in so far as high school academic achievements was concerned. I was a very naive and impresionable 17 years old gay man. I was granted a full scholarship to attend university in the USA through a scholarship program paid for by a foreign government. In my case, petrodollars.
Just like me, Pete is the result of the very best educational and military training oportunities that any man or woman is capable of attaining in the USA. Period. It also just happens that he is also gay.
All my memories of the time when I was Pete's age is that I had to be very tough physically and inntellectually, to be able to survive and thrive despite the very worst of homophobic behavior I had to endure 45 years ago. Despite all those handicaps, and obstacles, I was able to complete my training and led a successful career on the strength of my intellect.
I already know as much as I need to know (Rhodes Scholar, Military, Industry) to be certain in my mind that Pete Buttigieg is the smartest and toughest man in the field of Democratic Candidates: Male, Female, Straight or Gay.
20
I too am a gay man who grew up in the 60s and 70s. Not much is said or written about the “homophobic culture soup”we all lived in that served as just another obstacle to self worth and thriving. Back then it was in-your-face, now it’s less direct perhaps and more subtle and micro-aggressive. Pete while younger has still had to navigate some of those obstacles, amazingly but not surprising, from his own LGBT community, that have made him a strong and empathetic person.
4
unfortunately it sounds too much like "i can't release my taxes because i'm under audit".
6
Then you are not an attorney and don’t understand that a nondisclosure agreement is a legal document which prohibits the person who signs from discussing any details of the agreement or his prior employment. If s/he breaches the agreement, s/he can be sued. It’s a contract.
5
@RCT no I'm not an attorney but I have a feeling that politics doesn't work like that. Mr. Trump will simply point to his inability to disclose his past work and say he feels the same way about his taxes. then what?
1
Bloomberg company that has large investments in China and is owned by Michael Bloomberg, an outspoken pro-china Democratic presidential candidate. Bloomberg and his ilk will sell America completely out to the Chinese if he is elected.
I like this guy and if he makes the D. nominee..I'd vote Democrat. I believe there are more people like me out there and his biggest hurdle may be getting the nomination. I think people on the R side would vote for him.
8
@wallace Agreed. I'm in SW Ohio, he would be very popular here.
4
so we should disqualify the best & brightest in favor of what-a twitter warrior who claims to be pure in every way but is probably awful in every way.
Social media warriors are killing this country
21
Buttigieg has my vote!
8
This is interesting, but not like working for Alex Jones. What this does show is why it's impossible for us to have health care for all, why we punish the poor much more for their mistakes, why a good education is out of reach for so many, and so on. Beginning with Reagan, we stopped caring about anything but profit. Not all developed economies are like this, and we have to turn this around.
6
During my career with a large global financial institution, McKinsey was hired twice...once in the late 90's and again in the early 2000's. They brought in their so-called "whiz kids" who were very impressive with their academic knowledge and extroverted confidence. Their task was to determine an optimal reorg of certain areas of our corporate finance and investment banking operations. The investigative lead-up to their project conclusion was suspect from the beginning in that they did not actually delve sufficiently into the nuances of the actual work that each employee performed. Instead, the interviews they conducted seemed more like an attempt to show how much they knew...which actually revealed how much they did not know. When one tried to explain why their views didn't really apply to the work we were actually doing they sort of went blank. At the end of the day in both cases my firm did not adopt any of McKinsey's recommendations...but it cost the firm a lot of money.
10
@joe Experts in nothing except name recognition, which is what lots of consulting firms rely on, and companies are way too eager to outsource business strategy.
4
What I care about Pete is what he says not what he may or may not have been asked to work on when in the private sector.
"Let he who is without sin cast the first stone".
and I am not even Christian...
2
It's interesting to read the different comments on this article. My impression is that it shows a very ambitious young man who may be smart, but may not realize how little a man in his 20's knows.
I have a problem trusting young people who think they know it all. Why? I was once one of those young people and now at age 62 I understand what I didn't know then....
On the other hand, I believe Buttigieg knew then more than Trump ever knew....
15
Not that much different from Trump's background.
3
Aside from the military experience, actual business, education, intellect and morality, sure sounds exactly like Trump /s
1
Except that he didn't start with a massive silver spoon and actually entered plublic service years ago in an unflashy/news worthy way.
1
Purely a guess: he will be released from the NDA, because the “suppressed content” is a complete nothingburger and what this most junior of employees did is next to meaningless to McKinsey. And then anyone who still cares will be shown that all this was hot air.
6
@Jamie Probably not. McKinsey would lose clients.
The only worrying thing to me (I really don't hold working at McK against him), is that being a management consultant is one of the accepted finishing schools for a prestigious public service career. Why is this kind of training so valued? Can we ever undo the now-accepted wisdom that everything should be run like it's in the private sector? (And even that management model has fundamentally changed in the last 50 years -- the shareholder wasn't always the only priority).
6
Ouch! What a glaring omission from you, Michael Forsythe! Nearly blinded me!
"On the way...he ticked all the boxes. Harvard. Rhodes scholar, War veteran. Elected mayor..before the age of 30."
You missed the biggest box of all: that he is an avowed Christian!
One doesn't have to be a Harvard graduate (Yale will do!) to be elected POTUS. Nor a war veteran, Rhodes scholar, or an elected official. But in the US of A, one MUST be - or at least, pretend to be - 'religious'. And by 'religious" I mean in the limited American context; ie, Christian.
Australia, in 2010, elected Julia Gillard as its Prime Minister. Not only was she a woman - and still is - but she was "living in sin" with her boyfriend in Kirribilly House (Australia's equivalent of the White House). As well, she was an avowed atheist!
It could be another 100 years before Americans would allow the same to happen in the US.
So, yes, to omit such a critical 'box' is very poor reporting. Just sayin', NYT.
5
Someday “so help me God” will be removed from the Oath of Office, something that forces hypocrisy and untruthfulness and does nothing to ensure the integrity of the person being sworn in.
3
@kim mills
Former altar boy is a negative, as is his proselytizing - especially to women.
1
Hi Maggie,
I'm not sure what you're saying, but I would never hold a child negatively responsible for something he did as...well, a child. If what you are saying is that his Christianity is a negative, are you are you saying that it is negatively affecting his chances or that you, yourself, are adversely affected by it?
Personally, as should be obvious from my original comment, I find it abhorrent that religion and the necessity that POTUS wannabes have to display their religion [and it has to be the Christian one!] play any part in a Presidential election at all.
As to Buttigieg's "proselytizing", I guess I haven't heard him speak enough [nor have I read his book] to have noticed that which you're referring to. Can you give me references?
PS: I find prostelytizing religious beliefs to ANYONE repugnant.
1
Other than learning Pete has early political aspirations this article was useless
7
This profile is the today's analogy of "Hillary's emails." I myself am a Warren supporter but I admire Buttigieg's intelligence and determination, as well as his commitment to public service. Please, NYT, let's not sink Democratic candidates with such critiques that are questionable at best. Especially at the time when GOP is going more rogue every day - in terms of their moral depravity and their disdain for the rule of law.
12
Why do I get the impression that everything in Mr. Buttigieg’s career is the product of calculation? Checking all the boxes - Rhodes scholar, military service, corporate ties, defense contracting, mayor...
If you were going to design a presidential candidate bot, that’s the kind of profile you’d want to craft. (Or a standard centrist corporate democrat.)
He looks like his strategy is to be all things to all people. Didn’t we have enough of that with Clintonian triangulation? His criticism of the Democratic Party on fiscal matters is a straight GOP talking point. Is he sincere, or is he angling for the Big Money vote scared of the progressives in the race?
His NDA’s make him a black box - we really need to know what’s hidden away in there.
12
There's likely nothing sinister there. But yes, he's a complete careerist. And an institutionalist, if that matters to you. His ability to think out of the box and/or "get" people from outside the ivory tower may be lacking.
7
Sorry, there is nothing “checking the box” about being a Rhode Scholar...it’s extremely selective and quite an honor
2
This is a non-story. An NDA is an NDA. If McKinsey won't release the information, Buttigieg has no control over them. Also, if they are indeed advising Trump et al. regarding dirty tricks, it is unlikely they will feel the urge to release Buttigieg's client list since that would help Buttigieg's campaign.
If the NYTimes isn't going to hammer Trump's extraordinary obfuscation regarding taxes and health, then I'm not too interested in hearing about how obstinate others are being. Trump survives via attrition, so we must hammer back at him. Granted, Trump's true base doesn't care about anything, regardless of the lie, but some Republican voters somewhere must care about this stuff.
12
He's a corporate sellout, completely out of touch with the rest of us.
9
Patently untrue.
15
Please use a proper pronoun. "He" is confusing - It's easier if you simply said "Trump" or "The President"
So how did Pete match up against the other recruits at McKinsey?
“One contender stood out that year: a 24-year-old Rhodes scholar named Pete Buttigieg. He was the only one who put all the pieces together. He was very good at taking this ambiguous thing that he literally had no background on and making sense of it. That is rare for anyone at any level.”
Exactly what we’ve seen in the Dem debates so far ... and exactly what’s needed in the role of President.
29
Yeah, except that the debates are a very poor place to push candidates on their understanding of the larger themes facing the country, due both to the paucity of time allowed each candidate to speak and the modus operandi of the debate moderators. Andrew Yang would rip Mayor Pete apart on most issues having to do with the economy and technology, if given sufficient time to speak.
These people who come stealthily out of nowhere really antagonize me. I don't know who this this guy is, but the fact that he is not "open" and with a history like Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren or even Joe Biden makes me discount Buttigieg.
Someone is backing him, and he has a background and beliefs and a political and economic constituency somewhere that he is hiding and not telling us about. Essentially to me that is the same as lying.
9
Let's take a step back: Why is Buttigieg still considered a viable candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination? In any other advanced industrialized capitalist democracy, Warren and Sanders would be considered mainstream political moderates or center-leftists and Buttigieg would be seen as a conservative.
The U.S. is in crisis. Republican politicians elected to statewide office or congressional districts in states like Mississippi, South Carolina, Kansas, and also Indiana tend to espouse the most extreme, reactionary policies you can imagine such as the following:
Irredeemable hostility to labor unions and the right of non-rich working people to strike in order to secure higher wages and better workplace conditions, the borderline endorsement of bombing Planned Parenthood facilities and abortion clinics, completely entrusting the provision of health care and insurance to blood-sucking private sector for-profit entities, a warmongering annihilationist foreign policy that would involve using nuclear weapons against Iran and North Korea, the removal of all regulatory oversight related to the purchasing and possession of firearms, and so forth.
Buttigieg is in the race precisely because he is seen as somebody who could actually garner the votes of people who support the policies in the above paragraph. It's not really his fault, but his continued presence in the race is a symptom of deep, serious problems with right-wing political extremism in the United States.
8
Please remember that there are over 300M Americans which means there are over 300M separate points of view - no two of which will ever match. I know many people who voted for Trump (I preferred Bernie but I happily voted for Hillary) but none of them completely support all of the deep right wing nonsense you listed. Hillary ran a bad campaign - that it, nothing else. Trump did an amazing job making her look like she's out of touch and that he is Everyman - completely untrue yet he pulled it off. Heck, I couldn't believe how many votes the Green party recieved, lots of liberals who didn't want to vote for Hillary as well.
I'm not justifying Trump supporters, just explaining what happened. Many of these people are worried about putting food on the table and don't have time nor energy to worry about social issues. Trump is out there calming them down and telling them that everything is going to be fine but the Democrats will wreck everything. Yes, I know they are lies and he's really hurting his supporters behind their backs but when you are holding down 2 jobs trying to make ends meet you don't have time to sift through it all. Trump went through the Republican primaries unscathed - he did a better job of punching back. Meanwhile the Dems are out there tearing each apart over silly nonsense that most of us don't care about.
NDA with McKinsey? Simple. You can't be President. Please go home.
7
Buttigieg can't win in the general.
His connection to McKinsey gives discredits all the best arguments against Trump. He cannot credibly run on human rights, the border, or healthcare because voters will never be sure where he really stands on these issues. Claims about Trump's coziness with authoritarian dictators will be met with (unanswerable) questions about what he did at McKinsey, and Trump will have no qualms about taking him to the woodshed on Purdue Pharma's role in the opiod crisis.
If you're committed to Mayor Pete, that's your prerogative, but if you care about beating Trump--and his increasingly conspiratorial Republican party--you should vote for an open-book like Bernie.
5
@-brian - because he was a junior grunt crunching numbers at McKinsey for three years out of college? PLEASE.
10
@DRS - Good luck making that argument against Trump when you have no access to the facts of what he actually did at McKinsey.
You must have alotta faith in Donald Trump's integrity and intellectual honesty...
@DRS - Transparency matters. It's a really bad idea to run a candidate who can't speak honestly about his past because he has an NDA with a controversial firm.
Pick Mayor Pete, and "McKinsey" will be 2020 for "but her emails"
one of the reasons why i left my country of origin -france- is that your first job out of an elite "grande école" usually determines your entire subsequent career. in some other countries, thankfully, you can change, you can live and learn.
buttigieg started in consulting much as i started in investment banking many years ago. fresh out of oxford or in my case cambridge, these jobs were much sought after as intellectually and financially rewarding. most recruits stuck it out and built careers (most of them perfectly honourable, incidentally) in consulting, on wall street and/or in the city of london.
on the other hand, a few left to pursue other interests, objectives or even ideals, as i'm glad i did. and i can see why buttigieg did too - good for him: he didn't sell out.
9
Mayor Pete....... smart, civic minded, business savvy, been through boot camp to serve when others don't serve. Awful young, but when I listen to old Joe Biden I say, go for it Pete. This is coming from a 73 year old Navy Vet with a disgraceful MBA degree.
21
So young, but the more I see of him the more I like him, and I think he could stand up to the unorthodox (childish) Trump. His 3 years at McKinsey gave him a taste for this side of life - and he rejected it, so no story here.
19
Buttigieg wasn't a young innocent who stumbled into McKinsey and then found public service. He himself made clear during his recruitment by McKinsey that it was not his destination, as he was already focused on his chosen path to politics. There is nothing accidental about this candidate. He is both exceptionally smart and exceptionally calculated. McKinsey would be an expected part of a Republican candidate's resume and it seems so strange for a Democratic candidate.
7
NDAs can be used to veil the unsavory acts of people or organizations to limit the potential embarrassment or legal jeopardy associated with such activities. But NDAs can also serve legitimate purposes to protect a company’s trade secrets, intellectual property or public security.
As such, being bound to an NDA itself isn’t scandalous. This isn’t the newsworthy story that should be reported. The fact that Pete Buttigieg upholds his legal commitments to a previous employer shows his strength of character, not the evidence of scandalous misconduct.
If the media persists in reporting Pete Buttigieg’s NDA as headline news, it seems aimed at creating public gossip for clickbait, generating ad revenue or increasing circulation statistics. His virtue of honoring an NDA isn’t scandalous.
If his previous employer engaged in some unpopular activities, it doesn’t disparage his personal reputation or devalue his candidacy for the next election. However, the media has the power to create a false narrative an impugn a person’s character if this power is misused.
Perhaps it’s my own wishful thinking, but I’d like see our news media help to heal our national discord. Stories like this fuel divisiveness by creating an emotive dialog that’s not actually newsworthy. Let’s try to get newsworthy reporting which serves public objectives back on track.
4
Three years at McKinsey is no big deal. I was an analyst/ junior level manager at a prestigious management consultancy for a couple years, and while that time was excellent to learn how to think clearly, make data-based decisions, and work with people, it’s also making PowerPoint slides and building excel models until 4am. Trust me, Pete would have been just another drone. Until the Principal/ partner level you don’t make decisions, you don’t woo clients, and you hardly have any say in what projects you’re assigned to. I think it’s a real mark in Pete’s favor that he left after 3 years. It shows he wanted to do more with his life than just have a prestigious name on his CV. He wanted more than just number crunching and being a drone. Give it up, NYTimes. Nothing to see here.
16
He’s a good kid. Let him be.
3
@Mark
He is not a kid, he has been an adult male for nearly 20 years. No one would say that about a 37-year-old female -who, as Amy Klobucharr rightly noted, would never be the trophy lifted aloft to skip up the electoral ladder.
1
@Maggie,
I'm afraid you lost me.
First of all, I'm a 61-year African American male. To me, Mayor Pete is a kid.
He's also intelligent and would make an excellent President, in my opinion, as would Amy Klobuchar, I have no doubt.
Second, I am sorry to say, as much as gender bias exists in society and the media, complaining about it gets a democratic candidate nowhere in 2020 politics. Donald Trump has cornered the market on identity politics and grievance.
Barack Obama would have lost respect if he complained about racism when he was down in the polls. As much as Buttigieg is facing challenges around his youth and being gay, I have not seen him complain about it. I suspect he knows that expressing theses grievances is counterproductive.
The New York Times reported issues with how Klobuchar treats her staff back in February (see https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/22/us/politics/amy-klobuchar-staff.html). To me, the article suggests a management style that is lacking and a tendency to blame others for her failings.
I felt her treatment in that article was a bit harsh and perhaps unfair. But, her current behavior isn't helping.
2
Put simply: I find it interesting McKinsey thought Pete a sufficient cultural fit to bring him onboard. Makes me question what specific attributes those were...
4
@Guest - why? Because everyone who works there is necessarily some evil person working for other evil people? Do you hear yourself? Maybe, just maybe, they were looking for smart, dedicated people willing to work hard for their clients?
2
Not all of us can get a job as a director of a local non profit to satisfy some muckraker later on if we go into politics. This is real low-life digging. Welcome to the boggy bottom Mr. Forsythe!
7
New York Times: I know that in your milieu, the work of consultants at a place like McKinsey is well-known. The rest of us need a basic primer: what exactly do these 24-year-old "consultants" do? Why do companies hire them? Honestly, this is a Northeast thing and your national readers need more info.
2
@Kelly Wilke
I worked with Accenture consultants during the initial Medicaid expansion, and I was on the government side. They were contracted by the state to do several things... modernize the eligibility system (it was still operating on a DOS system in 2013, and eventually moved to Cloud based computing), seek out the challenges and difficulties that exist in the legacy system, and seek out ways to improve training and management of state employees who determine eligibility for public benefits.
Basically, the junior consultants (1-3 years in the job) conducted interviews to understand current state agency policies, pros and cons of current operations, and what employees would like to see in the future. This was not a one time thing, but an on going project. We would have weekly meetings going back and forth to see how things are being implemented and provide end-user (state employee) feedback. I don't remember exactly how long Accenture was contracted for, I left my state position to go federal, but I worked with the same group of consultants during my time on this modernization project. It appeared that junior consultants are assigned until a contract is expired.
While consulting firms have had a notorious reputation, this particular experience is relatively mundane. Accenture was hired to ensure that the state was compliant with Federal guidelines for Expansion Medicaid.
1
Apparently, Mr. Forsythe is searching for a reason to question the legitimacy of Buttigieg's run for the presidency. I say that this country needs someone like him -- one who can take "a business under siege," and "put all the pieces together ... and make sense of it."
Don't hold him to standards you do not require of other politicians.
4
I am not a Buttigieg supporter, but I don't fault him for having worked at McKinsey for a few years shortly after college. It'd be unfair to fault someone for trying out consulting; after all, it is a good place to learn businesses and how they work.
I do fault him for having done little to alleviate the concerns of black people South Bend. Firing a police chief who was being targeted by the white officers who claimed it would be great when "all whites are in charge again" and firing the only other person who heard the recordings of these white officers is a bad look. He distanced himself from this scandal instead of confronting it, and this is a good indication of how he'd preside if elected.
2
Good heavens, do you think this is an expose? One’s first job out of school Is often a learning experience. What’s more, you all are old enough to know that the way you are presenting Mr. Buttigieg is ageist to the core. The line about 1/10 of his adult life was brazenly so.
7
This is such a non-story!! The NYT really has it in for McKinsey, and keeps publishing piece after ill-informed piece on the firm. I’m no apologist for McKinsey, but the vast majority of the work mainly consists of looking at the right kinds of data - both quantitative and qualitative - and coming up with what are more or less commonsensical recommendations once the data has been properly analyzed. Is there a bit of false sense of security in the data? Sure - but you could argue that some facts are better than no facts, as long we acknowledge we don’t have ALL the facts. None of this work is rocket science; it’s not particularly sinister; there are no deep ulterior motives at stake, and clients (generally senior management with the mandate and the budget to hire McKinsey) will usually ignore what doesn’t fit their worldview anyway. It’s very hard to change people’s minds as a consultant!
And yes, McKinsey is probably the best place in the world to get a couple of years of training in structured problem-solving, which is useful in innumerable ways in work and in life, whether in the for-profit or in the non-profit world. If we had more structured thinkers in public or private service, things wouldn’t be such a mess! But none of this is even particularly interesting. So Pete was at McKinsey - so were lots of people. Yes, they like Oxford and Ivy-League trained people, but so what? So do lots of employers. It’s only a signaling mechanism. Big deal. Grow up, NYT!!!
6
Donald Trump is president and the NYT is wringing its hands over a smart guy working at a consulting firm? Kindly get over yourselves, please.
11
I want this young man for President. All this article does for me is strengthen my views on his capacity for knowledge and integrity.
18
Doesn't anyone seem to understand that an obviously dedicated public servant who has experienced the machinations of the corporate world first hand might use this experience to help find ways to control their egregious behavior? Everyone seems out to "blame" Mr. Buttigieg by this association.I don't buy it. And by the way, an NDA is often required in the corporate world, not just to hide misdeeds but to protect the intellectual property and innovations of the company. I don't like McKinsey & Co and have been at the losing end of some of their corporate consulting. This isn't to excuse them at all. I just thing the hyperventilation over Mr. Buttigieg's brief stint with McKinsey is probably overblown.
14
Call it "experience," which is so necessary when people are young adults and carving out a life for themselves.
When young, what did I know about how large and small organizations actually functioned? I worked for some wonderful and terrible bosses and organizations. I felt like Alice in Wonderland, eager to learn about the "real world," but sometimes puzzled and even shocked by what I observed.
Several of the best teachers and professors I had in high school and universities gave the same advice about working and the some difficulties we would likely encounter in the adult world:
You can learn just as much, if not more, by working for a bad organization or boss as working for effective organizations and bosses. Hopefully, you learn the hard way what not to do if you are ever in charge as a leader or teacher.
Besides learning how imperfect things can operate in the real world, these bad experiences are not worthless, but put you to the test. You learn to recognize how things seldom function as good or bad but involve nuance and shades of gray, and you learn that your morality can be sorely challenged. Are you going to go along to get along, or are you going to stand up for what is ethical and fair? And if it is the latter, how are you going to do that without destroying your opportunities for better and subsequent jobs?
The young Buttigieg has had more diverse experiences than old rich-boy Trump, and he shows the character and dignity that Trump never developed
10
Sanders supporters keep telling us which jobs are disqualifying, and turns out, they all are.....except for being a politician and writing a book, because that's the sum total of Sanders's resume. It seems that Sanders's early adulthood in unemployed penury is better than actually working.
I'm pretty suspicious when I see criteria tailored like a coat to fit a particular person rather than reflect a principle.
9
@Yeah
"Bernie Sanders Didn’t Make a Paycheck Until He Turned 40
Despite a prestigious degree Sanders failed to earn a living, even as an adult. It took him 40 years to collect his first steady paycheck as Mayor of Burlington.
The only thing he was good at was talking … non-stop … about socialism and how the rich were ripping everybody off. "
Bernie had praise for Fidel Castro and also the Sandinistas.
3
This puts a new slant on things for me. Look at the variations in his work, overseas experiences, training. That's all a plus.
7
There is this concept, alien to most Americans, called "Responsible Capitalism," that Mr. Buttigieg may actually subscribe to. That puts him, in my mind, well above Mr. Biden's "I'm a great guy and champion of the credit card industrial complex which you'll notice is mostly headquartered in Delaware, where I was a Senator for thirty six years, and where I made certain their corporate welfare life was as unhindered by taxation and regulation as possible."
Okay, Jolt-less Joe never said that, but that's what he did.
Of the 'moderates,' I'm leaning toward Buttigieg now. His work at McKinsey may have soured him on this 'unfettered vulture capitalism' thing we have going on this country. I'd like him to tell us more. He can certainly tell us what he thinks about the work consultants like McKinsey & Company do and still maintain his NDA.
The attraction of centrist Democrats and "Never Trump" Republicans like Bill Kristol, Joe Scarborough and Jennifer Rubin to Pete Buttigieg's McKinsey & Company stint and his "Republican-lite" economic prescriptions is telling. He is yet another Third Way Democrat who believes there is always a policy that can simultaneously serve both the people and the powerful, that we can navigate a path between corporate and quotidien interests so that we never have to answer labor's classic question of "whose side are you on?" That is exactly the path Democrats have tried to trod since the Reagan landslides, and where did it lead us? An historic, polarizing wealth gap that has stoked racial and ethnic tensions, literally eaten away our democracy like termites, and made a President Donald Trump not just possible, but inevitable.
Another Democratic president who appeases the corporate lobby by avoiding fights over wages, union rights, and monopoly power in the name of "unity" and avoiding "divisiveness" will be another four years marked by more crushing poverty that wipes out entire communities and further shrinks the middle class. Such a dispiriting, disillusioning presidency would drive the country even further to the right, to another authoritarian who would likely be much smarter and more politically savy than Trump who would lock in the oligarchy of Wall Street and the one per cent that is actually ruling us for good.
7
I guess I need to keep posting this until it sinks in .
My fellow Democrats if we want to beat Trump we do not need to have the Perfect , but we do need the Best candidate.
Please think this through . The alternative is another four years of Trump.
7
@Britl
I have been posting this, it seems like forever, but I'll post it again: Trump is merely a nasty symptom of our problems, not their cause. Our real problem is that, thanks to an historic wealth gap, the two major parties, our government and our democracy have been hijacked by a coterie of Wall Street and the one per cent who govern strictly for themselves, not for the rest of us. Voting for a Democrat backed by them doesn't solve anything and merely entrenches the situation. A choice between the oligarchy's useful idiot and the oligarchy's faithful servant is not an election -- it is simply herd management by a small elite whom George Carlin correctly identified as "the owners of this country." Not Just Any Dem will Do.
1
Mr Buttigieg- I’m not buying it. I came out of a prestigious business program in the late 90s, a full decade before you. McKinsey was no different then than it is today. Their mantra isn’t really about making companies successful, it’s about controlling the conversation while they found new and ingenious ways of making the rich wealthier at the expense of the rest. Please don’t tell me it was somehow different when you were there.
9
Pretty most of his supporters already know this and simply don’t care. Their contempt for the non-privileged is palpable.
I'm disappointed by the NYT's coverage of this issue. I know people at big name consultancies, McKinsey included, and they really do hold their employees to these NDAs.
Additionally, as other commenters have pointed out, Buttigieg was there for 3 years, when he was still fresh out of school and starting his career. He was not in management and he did not stick around long. Using his time there against him seems unfair given all of this. Are we really going to start shaming talented, private sector employees because they decided they'd rather be in public service early in their careers?
It's also a bit annoying that, with all the lawyers who are routinely candidates, so few questions are raised about the work they've done with their clients. Of course, that work is also probably secret, buried by attorney-client privilege. Consulting for a Fortune 500 company is often the same way. This feels like the Times trying to capitalize on its recent exposes about McKinsey rather than trying to satisfy the needs of the public.
11
Just because Mayor Pete worked for McKinsey for 3 years does not mean that he agrees with the many nefarious uses of data they have espoused. Like President Obama, Pete has given up lucrative career options to pursue public service. Why, then, is every beating up on him for something he did for 3 years a long time ago? The double standard continues...
9
He left a $200K+ per year job for public service. How many people with his skill set and intellect would choose to do the same?
If you have the smarts and abilities to find yourself in these type of positions, it is very hard to turn against the system and to me it is impressive that he was able to do so. Maybe this is partially a reflection of his parent's wealth (and ability to catch him in a worst case scenario) but it still reflects positively on him.
It would be wonderful to have a more diverse candidate from a different class to support, but at this point I would proudly back a Labrador.
4
I often say my golden retriever would make a better president than the current one, if only because she vastly exceeds him in humanity.
1
@AJ I bet she vastly exceeds him in many respects - with the exception of fetching when Putin is throwing the stick.
Who is going to make progress on climate change, healthcare, and closing the wealth gap? These are the only things that matter.
1
Maybe Buttigieg's experience with McKinsey made him more aware of the issues he wanted to deal with in politics.
He was a young man in his 20s getting real world experience, for gosh sakes.
Who could completely justify every place they worked at that age?
2
Who cares what he did there.
It's hardly plausible that anything he did would be disqualifying.
"Hush-hush" consulting firms of the ilk that he worked for are more mystique than substance. They hire really bright, overly credentialed people to justify their obscenely high fees when they send them out on glorified boondoggles.
"Consulting" is one of the biggest inside jokes in capitalism.
1
Spare us another"brilliant" (academically successful) politician who lacks wisdom--they have led us to our various wars, to our surveillance state, and to economic regulations that fatten the rich.
2
McKinsey has always been a plum job coming out of college for the very brightest in every college. It is where the best and brightest go to solve problems. It is also a mark of being one of the best and brightest, like a Rhodes scholarship. Buttigieg was given these two opportunities because he showed he had a superior intellect and had intellectual accomplishments. To then hold McKinsey against him because he worked there for 3 years is beyond ridiculous.
6
The ideal candidate will live a genderless life devoid of identity while practicing complete altruism. They cannot experience and learn like us. Their greatness must be inherent and hold up to tomorrow’s morals. They must be representative of everyone and no one. I think IBM, Apple, and Google are collaborating on this.
2
The " wisdom" of the establishment liberals is that we need a Clinton or Obama liberal . So we have Biden , we have Pete and we have Bloomberg. Anyone other than those scary lefties. One problem they forget is that Obama was perceived as progressive by virtue of the color of his skin. So he won with lots of progressives voted . Hilary even though more progressive than Obama lost -- I suspect because misogyny is even stronger than racism. To some extent the same is going on with Pete. He is gay so he must be a progressive but really he is died in the wool corporate player. Will homophobia sink his candidacy either for the nomination or general election ? It is an interesting question but one I would prefer not test . I do think progressives are more suspicious after Obama . Hence Bernie and even Warren's popularity. However with all the worry about the middle vote people fail to remember that no democrat wins without the progressive vote
3
Have one of these "whiz kids" in my extended family. No real world or work experience. Smarmy know it all with an Ivy league MBA. Insufferable Mckinsey cult member providing no useful contributions to our civilization. Always happy to see them getting some negative press.
6
"The work he did in his first year and a half at the firm — nearly a 10th of his adult life"
This is an A-plus time-space voodoo shot at Mayor Pete. Not even one tenth but "nearly" one tenth. Not his whole life but his "adult life".
I have condiments in my fridge that have been there longer than Mayor Pete worked at McKinsey. Maybe I should get them out to put on this nothing-burger of criticism.
8
One of my long term closest friend's first job out of grad school, Columbia, engineering, was at American Can (his undergrad was at Duke). That didn't disqualify him from starting South Coast Terminals in TX, a large and successful business in the petroleum industry. He was a visiting lecturer at Harvard Business school. Having made enough he sold South Coast Terminals to buy a sailboat company in the red, not the usual retirement project. He brought Hobby Cat America back from the brink. besides sailing he spent his life giving away his hard earned cash.
To the point: did my friend's time selling cans disqualify him from being a successful CEO, twice over? No.
We need successful people in our government like Mayor Pete and not -- how many times bankrupt -- people who fail at business and have aspirations to be America's first dictator (Donald Trump).
2
A politician who knows how to keep his mouth shut when legally bound to do so. No whining, no excuses, no 'back door' disclosures.
How refreshing.
4
Working for McKinsey & Company should be fatal black mark for the political ambitions of anyone pretending to represent the interests of the 99%. I’m sure McKinsey & Company is delighted to have one if their own in a presidential race.
4
As a former management consultant, NDA’s and confidentiality related to what you do or did for specific clients is not uncommon.
Often, this was specifically based on contractual language between the consultancy and the client in both the form of a NDA and confidentiality language in the MSA. At times, the consultancy will attempt to get a client to speak in their behalf as a reference, or display their name on the website or be used in marketing efforts to attract new clients with similar use cases.
I can’t imagine that McKinsey is doing anything dramatically different than other large management consulting and accounting firms.
That said, he should be able to outline his work or expertise or specific practice on LinkedIn or in a resume without mentioning specific clients. THAT should not be controversial. The only exception would be politically sensitive (likely) or national security matters. Still, he should be able to mention his specific capabilities and in general, the type of work conducted.
2
Here’s a smart guy who listens and is able to think in the abstract. He is also a strategic thinker with a good heart, good values and a moderate political platform. For me this is a very attractive package. Politics is a game of intelligent bunts and singles. Every home run has it’s nasty backlash.
Some may say “but he worked at that evil McKinsey”! What about those of us who worked in pharma, energy, chemicals, coal, the auto industry etc. ? Aren’t they all tarnished in some way as polluters, purveyors of unhealthy or addictive substances etc. etc. ? Almost all facets of capitalism have their warts if left unfettered and unbridled. Human greed and cronyism sets in like a virus.
Can we blame that on Pete without looking in the mirror? You have to look at the entirety of the package.
609
Well, it does depend on exactly what he did. But given that we’re the country—yes, WE, not just six guys in Washington—invaded Iraq and continues to chew up the lion’s share of the world’s resources, well, we’d likely do well not to get real sanctimonious.
9
@WoodyTX
Stalin, Pol Pot and Mao were all Socialists/Communists.
They didn't believe in capitalism either.
Capitalism must have rules and competition.
I agree with your assessment completely.
6
@WoodyTX, As far as I know, none of the other candidates worked in the industries you mention. Neither did Donald Trump. And as far as I'm concerned both Trump and mayor Pete are soiled merchandise. And I don't look in the mirror to help me select a candidate to support.
4
Firms like McKinsey have been especially responsible for many of the miserable conditions of working life in America. Not that he had anything to with that, but rising to the top involves filters where they discard people who will forgo profit for compassion or question their doctrine of limitless growth potential. Were he not just a few years away from such conditioning or were he fully aware of it, I might be able to accept. But he strikes me as especially oblivious of this fact, though as any good ex McKinsey man would be, hyper aware that it could be a liability among the plebs.
1
He can join the Clintons' support group for would-be Democratic stars who sold out to Goldman Sachs/Wall street and delude themselves that they can conceal from the electorate the gory details and still get elected.
Newsflash Mr. Buttigieg: Clinton's shiftiness and shadiness in this area on this didn't work and helped lose an election.
Oh, maybe I'm muddling things. It all did work for the original Clinton (at least him personally, the rest of us aside), but the public learned its lesson. It still remembered in 2016, and remembers still. "Fool me once..."
3
"Ticked the boxes." That's just a derisive way of saying he was extraordinarily successful in many aspects of his life. Isn' this type of thinking what we want in our president?
4
So what? I also worked in a consulting firm when I graduated from college. Is that a crime now? Being some lowly (and I mean lowly) research analyst, crunching numbers and working late nights is now somehow a deep dark secret?!Please. At least he had ambition and drive and worked hard. Would love a Bloomberg/Buttigieg ticket for 2020. I'll be the first in line to vote.
2
McKinsey and Company reportedly has 27,000 employees worldwide. In the 90's, I worked for a consulting company that was a subsidiary of a much larger corporation. From that perspective it is unlikely that Pete Buttigeig was even aware of all the things that company was doing, let alone had any responsibility for them. Was he in upper management? Unlikely if he was on the ground in Baghdad and "analyzing Canadian grocery prices". It was a just-out-of-college job. He was recruited. He spent 3 years there. The likelihood of this amounting to anything of import that isn't pretty much manufactured "scandal" seems extremely small from my perspective.
3
The writing suggests that there is something nefarious about the NDA and McKinsey's apparent unwillingness to release Mr. Buttlgieg from the NDA.
Most companies that retain consulting firms such as McKinsey impose a requirement that the firm does not disclose or advertise the relationship. It is highly likely that the NDA requirements come from the the clients.
Many contracts with federal and state government departments and agencies have a "no advertising" clause.
The NDA issue is a tempest in a teapot.
15
@Thomas Burke Exactly, the NDA may come from McKinsey, but the impetus for the NDA comes from their clients. So it's not as simple as McKinsey being ok with releasing him from the NDA, when that NDA was a requisite of a contract agreement with a client.
2
I count Pete's time with McKinsey as a valuable learning experience---one more that gives him the edge. Knowing what the enemy looks like from the inside is priceless. If he had liked the McKinsey life he would have stayed and he did not. He went into public service.
62
@Janet Clark The staying power of old wisdom is its truth. “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” - Sun Tzu (544 BC - 496 BC)
Pete Buttigieg is a really slick guy - is that what we want?
I'm not at all sure that slick plus smart, is any better than slick plus dumb. Potentially, it's even worse.
The ideal candidate, would be smart plus really concerned - like Obama.
7
@Peter Zenger Pete Buttigieg is the closest to candidate to Obama in just about every way, since Obama.
He is lock step with Obama in his pragmatic progessivism. Obama is the one who will tell you that the country isnt ready for Universal Healthcare, that a public option is a feasible accomplishment at this point in time, even though, down the road Universal Healthcare is the goal. That's identical to Pete's stance. In fact, I'd love for you to show me where Pete differs with Obama at all.
As far as beng concerned? He seems extremely concerned, and it rings true because he'll actually be around to reap what Trump has sown(unlike his top 3 competitors who will all be dead by the time I turn 40).
Slick plus smart not better than slick plus dumb? Please show me all these "dumb" people who are also "slick". In my experience, a slick dumb person is only slightly easier to find than bigfoot. Slick plus amoral, now that's a scourge that touches every corner of the earth.
1
Slick? It was his first job out of college! One many—perhaps thousands—of grads and MBAs covet. He fairly quickly determined it was not his calling, and pivoted to become, by most accounts, a caring public servant. Voters lament “We want a business guy” or “we want people who care about public service”. This candidate has the best of both worlds, and still gets lots of flack. Candidates who look perfect, rarely are. But at least Buttigieg owns his past and his mistakes.
1
Why is dumb better than smart?
There's a false equivalence of a candidate having something to hide when a job in their 20s is questioned.
Major media have so much criminal dirt on Trump and his family and associates that they're looking for questionable issues on other candidates to give the appearance of being balanced.
It isn't necessary.
Nothing in the Biden or Buttigieg family or Sanders group is even remotely comparable to Donald's grifting.
55
So this very liberal candidate has real world international business experience? Off with his head! We can't tolerate anyone who collaborated with our sworn enemy, private enterprise!
45
Touche! Well put.
2
Buttigieg is clearly smart, ambitious, and fair-minded. However, he does not have much of track of record to be scrutinized, and this is a central question for his candidancy as the president. The fact that he decided to throw himself into the presidential race at his age and with his lack of experience or track of record is quite interesting in itself.
10
I agree. Someone might be a brilliant policy wonk but not necessarily ready to be POTUS. He might make a better presidential adviser, get his feet wet and come back at a later date for prez. It’s called experience.
3
But remember, almost anyone would make a better president than Trump. Even Mike Pence presumably wouldn’t be a Russian stooge or a constant national security threat. A Pence administration might still approach the dystopia of The Handmaids Tale, but its awfulness compared to Trump would at least be a slight improvement.
1
I like him more and more; but, I think he'd be a better Vice now than President.
10
@Lisa I disagree. He would be better somewhere in a Democratic admin. He is too young and inexperienced
4
How about an article about what Mike Bloomberg did with his life from age 24 to 27? Wikipedia says only that Bloomberg (born in 1942) received an MBA from Harvard in 1966, and mentions nothing else before 1973, when he became a general partner at Salomon Brothers. So what did he do in the meantime?
Also, Salomon has not exactly proven to be a beacon of integrity since Bloomberg left the firm. Where are the half-baked insinuations about that?
37
@Frank F They aren't important because no one cares about Bloomberg.
I'm a moderate Republican who has been a big fan of Buttigieg since the first time or two I heard him speak. I run a nonprofit, been a consultant for businesses, and am active in my community. I KNOW leadership when I see it and Buttigieg is someone I would follow. If you want to find fault or conspiracy in his work at McKinsey, ask questions but be honest about how you interpret his response. I don't think he is managing his relationship with the African American community well but the missteps occur when he trying to hard and gets off message.
Buttigieg can beat Trump because he has the ideas, intellect, character - and the discipline to to react to every stupid thing that Trump says or tweets. That was part of Clinton's downfall and I see most of the other candidates getting sucked into that as well.
Lastly, I was surprised that this article seemed to paint a positive picture of his experience at McKinsey. Journalism has been hurt by the need to create what has become expanded headlines designed to stir controversy. Buttigieg isn't perfect but I glad this one subject was treated fairly. Thanks NYT.
36
Pete cannot win. A large portion of the country, mainly conservatives, will not accept a gay man as president. It just will not happen, even if he is conservative himself.
1
OK. So he is intelligent. Maybe even brilliant. He knows how to problem solve. All good qualities for the POTUS.
We need a good problem solver, no doubt. But is he willing to serve the people with humility? People who need empathy, food, security and services that will help them to survive in a world that brilliant people like Mr. B have created without concern for those they have no place for in their paradigm? My concern in that he is out of touch with those who have suffered and struggled day to day. I do not see this quality in him. I respect his ability and his experience. I am sure he is a very nice guy. But I cannot connect to him as a person or a leader. We don't need a "whiz kid". We need a healer with compassion and a passion to serve. I'll pass on Mr. B.
9
So just to be clear, you're saying the guy who makes the least amount of money on stage.. the guy who is literally currently statisitically part of the middle class(150k last year between him and his partner)... the guy who could have jumped into the upper of the 1% before he turned 25 but chose not to... the one who has grown up in America as a gay man... he's the one who is out of touch with those who have suffered and struggled day to day?
So it's the career Senators who are more in touch? Give me a break. Bernie Sanders, Liz Warren, and Biden have all lived extremely comfortably for decades. And that's ok. But really makes your stance confusing. Maybe you just have a feeling deep down inside that Buttigieg is out of touch compared to other candidates, but lets not pretend your feeling is rooted in reality.
2
Trump thanks you.
1
JDH, I urge you to reconsider your reservations. You appear to believe that being intelligent, competent, well- organized, and articulate somehow implies a lack of empathy and understanding for those who are not so fortunate. Humane and compassionate values come from deep within a person and have little to do with IQ, prizes won, college attended, or socioeconomic status. To me, Mayor Pete's commitment to using his innate gifts and privileged background to pursue a life of public service lays to rest any reservations one might have about his intrinsic moral character.
2
The title should be changed to:
"Mr. Buttigieg left the firm LONG BEFORE the McKinsey engaged in reported unethical projects."
42
Oh? The McKinsey "ethic" has been reliably consistent for decades. Its modus operandi and client list comes as no surprise to anyone in business or government who has encountered their consultancy since the 1980s.
6
Wow! If only we had held the Clinton family and the Trump family to the same level of scrutiny about all of their corporate relationships....
33
@RP
ROFL.
The Clintons, both of them but especially Hillary, have been sliced and diced and served up on platters for inspection since the late 1980s.
Sorry to wake you from your lifelong slumber.
1
wow. I have never heard of this company. I never believed in "the illuminati".... but now I wonder. while red staters believe in the deep state these people are busy pulling a lot of strings...... none of which are being pulled for the benefit of the average person.
5
@coale johnson Well obviously you never worked for a large corporation otherwise you'd have heard of McKinsey. I worked for an international corporation in the 1980's and McKinsey was hired to "analyze" the corporation in regard to how to make it more profitable. It was not a secret why they were there watching us work, asking us about our jobs, why we did certain things in a certain manner. McKinsey doesn't "pull a lot of strings" they are hired by existing entities to "consult" on various issues and then present a plan of action. In the case of my company -- the result was a 10 % workforce reduction globally. There is no secret about what McKinsey does or what they are.
2
@coale johnson They're a consulting firm.... they don't "pull strings".. they hire extremely smart people and farm them out to companies for analysis and advice.
1
Again, don't think about his age, experience, skin color or sexual preference, just listen to what he says and then ask yourself, have his life experiences impacted his life and will that help him do the job of working with the congress to run the country.
I say yes.
42
"But as he gains ground in polls, his reticence about McKinsey is being tested, including by his rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination"
If he signed an NDA, wouldn't he be breaking the law if he discussed his time there? Also, what's so important about a few years of a guy's life as an entry level consultant? Is the NYT so anti-capitalist that this is somehow viewed as something sinister? Goodness.
43
Thank you to the Times for sniffing out this obviously shady, dangerous character with this article and the related Editorial.
First, Buttigieg gets a super competitive job at one of the world's most coveted institutions based on his talents and intelligence, not to mention his Harvard and Oxford diplomas and his Rhodes Scholarship. His poor mother. Every parent's worst nightmare.
And then he leaves that job and kisses away a massive paycheck in order to - gasp! - enter public office. The horror!
That part about him winning a mayoral election before his 30th birthday? Almost as awful as him voluntarily enlisting in the military.
But truly nothing is as bad as him honoring an NDA he signed a decade ago. What kind of sketchy individual respects legal documents bearing his name?
What is next for this nemesis to democracy and goodness? I can only imagine, but I pray the Times stays on him.
143
Ha! Ha! Spot on and well said. Thanks!
27
@Solaris I'm reminded of the sneering at Obama when he could have had a high powered job at Sidley and Austin but decided to become a community organizer instead.
7
I just adore this! Well done
4
I worked for a company that was #1 in the NY market. It was acquired by #2, for whom McKinsey consulted. They advised the client that we were too top heavy salary wise in our key service providers; the work could be done with less experienced people at significantly lower pay. The brain drain began....other firms were delighted to pay more for the expertise and industry respect the top people commanded. The most highly respected person was the feature of industry advertising.
The result 1 2=5th in the market. They were eventually taken over current industry leader. McKinsey seems to have good luck in the international dictator market, which has unconventional means of stifling competition.
5
This article implies that Mr. Buttigieg was doing malicious and nefarious things at McKinsey. Having been a McKinsey associate myself for three years (albeit 30 years ago), if Mr. Buttigieg's experience was like mine, it consisted of compiling data, cresting spreadsheet, doing analysis and creating slides for presentations. All of this work was given to partners and directors who did the actual advisory work.
Despite the negative press in recent years, McKinsey is an excellent training ground for learning how to structure problems, develop fact-based analysis, and drive to workable solutions. It is easy to point to McKinsey as the boogeyman for job cuts, etc., but it is often management that wants to hide from complicity by saying "the consultant made me do it!"
I suspect Mr. Buttigieg, like many of us former McKinsey associates, decided we wanted to do more than consulting. Look at the totality of his record and judge him on that. What has he done since he left McKinsey? That matters more than three years right out of school.
51
If Mayor Pete is such a whiz kid why is he going around saying that Democrats don't care and never did care about the National debt on the campaign trail? It's Democrats who reduce the debt after each Republican administration.
8
Buttigieg didn’t say “Democrats don’t care about and never did care about the National debt”.
What Buttigieg did say was “My party’s not known for worrying about the deficit or the debt too much but it’s time for us to start getting into that.” He went on to say “I believe every Presidency of my lifetime has been an example of deficits growing under Republican government and shrinking under Democratic government, but ... my party’s got to get more comfortable talking about this issue.” Buttigieg then added “And we shouldn't be afraid to demonstrate that we have the revenue to cover every cost that we incur in the investments that we’re proposing.”
This is from reporting by the Boston Globe’s Liz Goodwin who was at yesterday’s NH town hall.
2
Let us not forget that “only the very smartest people” also gave us the atomic bomb. Pete is probably smart to try and avoid discussing his three years of temptation up on the wilderness mountaintop with McKinsey.
I’m fine with having the smartest guy in the room be President. What a pleasant change that would be.
43
Warren?
1
@Tim N
I'm finer with the smartest woman in the room as president.
1
No different from Trump refusing to release his tax returns. No less dishonest.
5
@Tom Wrong. Mayor Pete is bound by a legally enforceable NDA. Nothing prevents Trump from releasing his tax returns. Pay attention to the facts.
1
@Tom Well the BIG difference is that he has a function brain
@Tom Lol no different?
Let's see. Buttigieg is withholding information that is restricted by an NDA that we have confirmed exists and is being enforced.
Trump claimed he couldn't release his tax returns because of an audit, that we know doesn't exist.
Yea totally the same.
1
Are we electing based on a string of brand names and university degrees and demographics or would it be better to look for integrity, innovative ideas, fiscal awareness and some degree of tact and honesty?
It's good to know work history - it gives a preview of how a candidate performs, how they handle stress and frustration/challenges.
Just don't tell me someone is extra qualified because of admission to a particular school or was employed by a particular employer - we've all known people who didn't live up to "recognized" early potential.
3
Recall that Buttigieg worked for McKinsey for 3 years--that's 3--when he was in his 20s--that's 20s. Not 5, 7, 10, or 15 years. Three. It was not a career. If he liked the work, he'd have become integrated in the culture and built a future there. He'd have worked his way up the ladder to a positiion where he made big decisions for the company. Apparently, he did not like the work, the culture, or the company's mission for If he did, he'd have stayed. And obviously, he didn't care about the money. But he decided to go into public service instead. That is what's important to me. Yet now I see a baseless scandal of epic proportions brewing as so-called progressives cry corporatist shill! Neoliberal! Republican lite! Sigh.
1173
@Annie 3 years--is 10% of his life experience. So, yes, 3 years is significant when it come to Pete as he has such insignificant experience to be POTUS.
17
Agreed. A short stint as a junior analyst/associate at a top consulting or IB firm was basically a rite of passage “back then” for many if not most Ivy grads, speaking as someone who is only a few years older than Mayor Pete. It’s not a defining part of anyone’s resume. This criticism of Buttigieg is very misguided.
129
@Annie So called progressives? What does that mean? The centrist establishment Democrats are definitely distinguishable from Progressives. In any case, it would not be so bad, the McKinsey period, if he had not gone onto his present attack line that often echo's Republican attacks. I really liked him at the beginning, he is a beautiful orator. Now he has taken an ugly turn. Now he is a deficit hawk! Oh really? Sorry, but I have soured on him.
20
This article is a none news. Pete is not my candidates but the journalist need to be be fair. This gentleman was in his early 20s at the time. Do you remember being that young and idealistic. Cut the guy a break why do Democrats have to be this ridiculous. At 24 years old do you think he would have been given the keys to the car at this company, come on
16
This kind of articles and news stories will doom all Democrat candidates who can beat Trump. At the end we would have left a person who has done nothing significant in life; almost a loser. Definitely loser in 2020. Media helped Hillary lose with all the attention to Benghazi and email problems.
Looking for a saint candidate is suicidal.
15
Maybe it's me, but I just fine Pete Buttigieg increasingly annoying. The endless resume building. The endless desire to please. Letting his police kill an innocent black kid and then trying to talk his way out of it. Does nobody else see an entitled, spoiled faculty brat who does what people want him to do and says that he thinks they want to hear?
5
No. I see an exceedingly talented Rhodes scholar and veteran who wants to help the country
13
Make this guy a president already!
9
What is telling here about Pete Buttigieg is in his use of language about not only what he did at McKinsey but in how he describes what needs to change in corporate and political ethics. This language is common in corporate speech--"we need to do better," "we are striving to make cleaner energy," "we care about our workers," "we're working at changing . . . this or that." The tone is positive and yet humble. "We" is often used to reflect an awareness of community, etc. But it's all marketing. The "Northstar" is sill maximizing profits for shareholders. Buttigieg himself believes the platitudes that he offers to voters. I wish he'd use some of his intellectual power to observe just how this language is a form of sophistry that allows those with the power to avoid responsibility. Talk as they say is cheap.
5
So what Buttgieg worked at McKinsey for three years as a junior staffer and is bound by an NDA? Was he a decision maker in any major McKinsey scandal? No. Then why the relentless chase down this route? This reminds me of a 2016 NYT non-story on Hillary Clinton's emails (We looked through a bunch of stuff and found nothing of significance, but we had to write this story for no good reason). Let's not vilify the private sector experience of citizens aspiring for high office, be it Pete or Liz. And please use your journalistic skills on more important stories.
8
@Giorgio O. Agreed! I also think it's noteworthy that he left after just three years.
I have no problem with any media outlet working to present information. It's my job to sort through it. One question does rise to the top, however: Where was this intense interest in the history of a candidate when Trump was was candled? Virtually no information about his education (or lack of it), and the telling dictate to Wharton not to release any information; few headlines about his disastrous business decisions and amoral machinations; just passing concentration about his absolute absence of experience ...
... and Mayor Pete is being castigated for following an impressive career path? For "only" having two terms of government experience? For pursuing a mind-blowing education? For service in Iraq and Afghanistan?
FWIW, it's going to be a while before I fall in love with a candidate, it's just too early, but so far Mayor Pete is an impressive suitor.
7
Let's see - no support from African Americans, and working in a consulting company that specializes in down Sizing. What me worry?
And Bernie is ignored... 2016 one more time.
3
@Tom And yet Pete is a Democrat. Bernie an avowed Democratic Socialist. THATS why Bernie "is ignored".
1
It's interesting how much innuendo a presidential candidate has to take.
6
So Trump can't release his tax returns because he's being audited, Hunter Biden got a job with Burisma because he's an internationally recognized expert in the Oil and Gas industry, Chelsea Clinton is on the board of Expedia because, well, she always used it to book her flights, Malia Obama got an internship with Harvey Weinstein because she watches lots of Netflix, and Mayor Pete can't tell us about his McKinsey work on Chinese surveillance systems because of his nondisclosure agreement.
Maybe we really do need to blow up the system.
2
"Mr. Buttigieg says he signed a nondisclosure agreement that keeps him from going into detail about his work there."
An NDA is a contract of silence.
They are very popular with the Catholic Church and perpetrators of sex crimes.
What exactly is McKinsey and all of it's "employees" keeping silent about?
If good work was/is being done by McKinsey and Buttigieg...one would think it acceptable to boast about such good work.
However, the only conclusion to draw is that McKinsey is the "world's most prestigious management-consulting company" because other powerful people/companies know that their nefarious activities will be kept secret if they utilize McKinsey.
2
It is customary for management consulting firms to protect the identity of clients through confidentiality agreements. There is nothing unusual about Pete’s NDA.
Well, now we know that you know zip about business and how it works.
Companies that hire consulting companies do not want it know that they are in need of consultants because it indicates that the top brass at the company doing the hiring, the guys making the big bucks, are too dumb to figure out how to "fix" their own problems. Get it.
1
Gee, New York Times, perhaps you'd like to criticize Mayor Pete for wearing a sweater from Polo Ralph Lauren in the accompanying photo? I'll bet the cotton in that sweater wasn't organic! And, it may not have been ethically sourced!
Stop the presses!
Let's put this in terms you'd understand to show ridiculous this "story" is.
Let's say that a new college graduate accepts a job as a proofreader at Fox News because she wants to pursue a career in journalism. After a couple of years, she decides that she wants to do more with her life so she quits and goes to work for a nonprofit environmental group. A few years later, she decides to run for Congress. She runs as a Democrat because, well, she was always a Democrat. It's just that Fox News had made her the best offer when she was looking for employment right out of college.
Would you demand to know which stories she worked on?
You wouldn't? Is that because you know that a proofreader doesn't set the editorial policy for the entire news organization?
Would you demand to know whether the reporters of any stories that she worked on ever revealed any of their sources to her? Would you demand to know who those sources were?
You wouldn't? Is that because you understand the role of confidentiality in those circumstances?
Perhaps the editorial board would like to run a piece demanding that the entire Democratic Party just close up shop because clearly no Democratic candidate for any office can ever pass the purity test.
18
How does an association with a corporation a decade previously have any bearing on Buttigieg’s present career, other than to have offered insight into the flaws of corporate power? This article actually took me from on the fence to avid supporter of this candidate. He seems to have been afforded a window into many of the worlds most compelling institutions and have developed a strong desire to apply the knowledge gained by that to serve his country.
34
For a bright young person with the right intellectual curiosity and work ethic - McKinsey is the place to go and learn how to analyze, craft findings & recommendations and support them with data. For that type of person, landing a job there is like a recent journalism major landing a job at, say, the NY Times. In his position, he did not build the client relationship, write the proposal, sell the the project and may not have presented to the client. To hold him in any way accountable for the firm's misdeeds is misguided and petty.
Firms like McKinsey are "up or out" environments. People leave for many reasons - some because, while they can do the work, they don't have the ability or desire to go out and generate revenue. Others leave because the constant travel and long hours are incompatible with their personal needs. Some, like Mayor Pete, see their career path leading elsewhere (in his case politics and public service).
Rather than castigate him for his choices - evaluate the whole package. Contrast Pete with Beto, who never really did anything before, during or after his stint in Congress.
18
Just as it is reasonable for to see a candidate's tax returns so too is it relevant to see and know a candidate's employment history. Particularly a history with a company like McKinsey, with a reputation for if not illegal behavior, certainly unethical and immoral conduct.
If Democrats want to cry foul when Trump fails to fully disclose they can't hide behind disclosure agreements (which are broke all the time) when one of their own is running. What's good for the goose is good for the gander.
3
If I could snap my fingers and make 3 things disappear, one would be Non-Disclosure Agreements. (The other two would be a President’s claim to Executive Privilege, and the DOJ policy on charging a President with a crime.)
5
Buttigieg looks like excellent political material. His mistake is impatience: much too soon to pursue nomination for President. I'll guess that he was not part of an evil McKinsey project but I don't think he can out from under the mud.
1
In reading this article I felt an overwhelming sense of renewed disgust at the stupidity of the Bush administration and the post 9/11 wars they initiated, the financial costs of which alone now run to $6.4 Trillion per the Watson Institute at Brown University. Right everyone, let’s destroy a country and then try to paper over the void by hiring some bright young things from an expensive consulting firm. The bizarre vignette of a McKinsey employee preparing a power point presentation in an armored convoy evokes a Sisyphean sense of futility and bad faith.
6
Oh he’s great at maximizing shareholder value alright. He’s doing it right now. I don’t even need to know what he did for McKinsey in these catastrophic war zones left behind by Bush’s mendacious wars, although he should definitely tell us. The fact that he was a McKinsey consultant is by itself disqualifying. He is such an obvious plant by the billionaire class, a false progressive-lite in the race to confuse the boomers. The rich in this country would rather see Trump win than Sanders, and they have plenty of tools to make it happen — never forget that or assume otherwise. Buttigieg is one of those tools.
6
I say there are few among us who haven’t been corporate drones at some point, turning the wheels for Mr. Big. But when we as a society get to a point where we put down really smart young people like Mr. B, who may have been trying to find his way, we have lost something special. We need more really smart and good (if not perfect) people steering the ship.
694
@Dan Why should we give him the benefit of the doubt to the extent that we make him one of the most powerful people in the world? This is not just some random job interview we're talking about. The presidency requires a higher standard.
And besides, he's shown no evidence that he feels that McKinsey represented him "losing his way."
6
@Dan I have not been a corporate drone, unless you count the summer I worked behind the counter at 7-11 giving away the old donuts meant for the dumpster to homeless kids my age.
Oh, and I worked for a decade in academia.
7
@Dan
The mission of McKinsey & company is not to help American companies but to lay off individuals, streamline operations and more or less be smarter than the people who work in the organization. I have worked with the so called bright lights and they get paid a huge contract and the company is worst off than when they arrived.
that's the reality, the NYT has done several stories about there ability to make money off of companies and around the world, and it is not a pretty picture.
5
I have nothing against Buttigieg, but I do have a problem with the way he is conducting fundraisings in secret. Why not disclose the list of his donors or open his fund aising events to the press.
5
This article is slanted toward tarnishing what, in any other context, would be an entirely admirable resume. Its account of Buttigieg's relatively brief time at McKinsey is loaded with references to controversial projects to which he had little, if any, connection. With regard to the extremely informative interview the candidate gave to New York Magazine, it cites "charges of out-of-touch elitism from some quarters" without specifying the basis or origin of those charges. And it ignores what is surely the most significant question about Buttigieg: Why would a young man of such "elitist" (sic) accomplishments run for mayor of a small, declining, unglamorous midwestern city?
21
Disappointing investigative journalism. This article provides no real in depth information as to exactly what he was doing. Yea, he went to Iraq, Afghanistan and did “something.” What exactly did he do? What was his level of authority, what impact did his individual contribution have. This reads like an effort to research what Pete’s NDA prevents him from discussing but, having failed to really find anything of substance, NYT decided they needed to publish “something” anyway.
10
I think it is a huge positive that Buttigieg interfaced with McKinsey and is not innocent of experience in the corporate world. Warren herself when she was a law professor took on work in the the interests of big firms. Should she be crucified for an experience that led her to more pro consumer conclusions later?
Buttigieg has a diverse resume of experience and accomplishments. People like to snicker at his relative youth and the brevity of his experience, but it is obvious that Buttigieg has been a quick study all his life, an exceptional quality that draws envy and scepticism initially from those of of who don't have that very rare gift.
Of all the great candidates before us, I find him to be the most down to earth, reassuring, stable, trustworthy and appealing. Sure I like the others, but we are headed into a financial quagmire caused by Trump, and we will need steady at the helm, not fancy promises.
30
So we are supposed to question why a person who has prepared for his life is prepared? It seems like we should be awfully happy to have someone who is prepared and has more than one analytical skill and is honorable enough to actually abide by his NDA while actively trying to have it lifted. Doesn’t sound like the current occupant of our people’s house or anyone in his family or his party for that matter
21
For Pete's sake - voters won't like playing second to a some silly Wall Street NDA (See Hillary '16). When will your obligation to Wall Street 'ethics' end?
2
Mayor Pete seems to have ALL the credentials ( smart, strategic, military service, leadership experience, outstanding communicator and respectful of others, lack of political / financial ickiness ) to be a top-notch candidate and President. I’ve got my fingers crossed that he can make it through the political blender/ shredder that seems to be a prerequisite for a successful presidential campaign.
19
Knowing McKinsey’s propensity for recommending draconian staffing cuts after their uninformed analysis of a companies structure I’d like to hear Mayor Pete’s thoughts on their philosophy and history of always recommending the reduction of the work force after they do a drive by analysis of businesses they have know background in.
4
An argument against the draft was someone old enough to serve couldn't vote of a higher voting age.
F Sen Eugene McCarthy once dismissed that objection by saying it could mean if one were too old to serve he/she shouldn't be permitted to vote. But one can age out of actually voting, tho still being entitled to, by mental deterioration (as was the case with our dear Mom).
But I was surprised by a family member, despite being 62. who has strong concerns over F VP Biden's possible candidacy simply on the basis that the presidency it too demanding and important a job to risk what has happened demonstrably in the case of F P Wilson and arguably 1 or 2 other former presidents.
My "bias" is I am older than Mr Biden and younger than Sen Sanders but feel - theoretically - I have the acuity to do the job and will for the next 8 years. But being too old will as in the case of our family member - and others - disqualify some.
With Mayor B, I also have 1 negative factor among the many that apply. It's young people however bright and/or experienced and articulate and persuasive, simply haven't been alive on terra firma long enough in comparison with an older candidate. This is not a motion to raise the age for seeking the presidency. And a further potential bias here, the youngest of my 3 adult children is 48.
Still, in my experience and opinion, I'll say, if asked, don't disregard "excessive youthfulness" and preliminarily at least, that's not how I'd characterize his.
“Whiz Kids” did not originate with McNamara in the Vietnam Era. When Henry Ford II took over leadership of Ford Motor Company in 1943, he hired 10 men from the Army Air Force statistical team dubbing them “whiz kids.”
2
McNamara was one of these whiz kids.This is his association with the term.
2
I would consider voting for Mr. Buttigieg because he served his country in time of war, and too he served where they work the numbers. I'm sure he knows where the buck is passed. Interesting candidate, for 2020.
9
The trajectory of "UG at Harvard, Rhodes scholar, then McKinney job stint" is fairly standard practice. It is rarefied but standard for those in that select group. Many leave McKinsey at some point and move on to bigger pursuits. It is interesting to see that Buttigieg went "all in" at McKinsey because it reveals something of his personal ambitions as a young person wanting to make a mark in the completely corporate world. That he left that trajectory for politics is also revealing. He is Very ambitious, that is for sure.
2
I'm tired of corporate-backed politicians. No matter how many languages they speak.
9
Regardless of who Pete has worked for, what schools he’s studied at or what degrees he holds, Pete is NOT my candidate. I don’t care how many articles NYT publishers. Neither NYT or NPR can force him on a demographic that does not want him.
2
Wish you had explained your demographic—evangelist, non-white, anti-elite,? Knowing if it “anti-gay” is helpful as many of us desperately look for a candidate to run against a deeply flawed president.
4
@AJ I’m not anti gay, anti-elite, evangelical, or anti-white. I’m non white. But most importantly, I don’t think Pete has the leadership skills or experience for the job. I too want a candidate to run and win against a deeply flawed candidate. I want someone who understands the issues the country faces. That’s not Pete. I support Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. People whose ideas and record we know. I don’t want the unknown. Earlier this year the NYT had a love affair with Beto O’Rourke. He also lacked experience and leadership skills. I voted for O’Rourke against Ted Cruze, but I didn’t support him as President. It’s clear that the NYT is looking for a young, white male with no experience that they can sell as JFK/Obama esq. I’m not buying it.
3
Want to live in Russia? Vote GOP
Want to live in Chile? Neoliberal centrists are standing by.
And yet we are attacking the progressives now because the American dream is "too far left".
I grew suspicious of Mayor Pete when he started attacking sensible candidates on health care - what small city mayor would not want the whole health care tangle off the books permanently? The answer is one who has been bought by corporations.
5
The photo of him looks like Mad Magazine's Alfred E Neuman, now I know he has a history to match. It looks like the guy has had a silver spoon in his mouth from the day he left for college and his military experience was not what other veterans think of as service but an extension of his kushy consultant company experience. Now why those in Fort Wayne not so pleased with their mayor makes sense. Despite his claimed moment of insight, he's running the city by numbers not people. His cold algorithms leave out the usual people unaware of the biases of the people who wrote them.
I don't want to live in a country by someone who trusts his algorithms like he seems to in South Bend.
2
With all the recent news on the borderline criminal acts McKinsey has a hand in, having worked there is disqualifying
The purity zealots don’t get it. Beat Trump back into his gold plated box. If Pete can do it, I don’t care where he worked.
11
This is actually a pretty insightful piece. I can imagine sone seeing it as a hit job but I don’t think that’s true.
One conclusion we might draw is the Silicon Valley doppelgänger for Wall street and politicians. Bright, talented and socially under educated. Worldly? Yes. Patriotic, of course. But fir a Rhodes scholar at Oxford not to recognize who and what McKinsey is is naive at best.
Bain (Mitt Romney’s firm), BCG and McKinsey are top tier consulting firms fir a couple simple reasons. Super bright, highly educated, elite students with a drive toward perfection and severely self critical. They are highly paid indentured servants. Joining these firms is lime being “made” by the mob. The difference is the mob doesn’t use NDA)s..they take you on a ride to swamp land in Jersey.
McKinsey doesn’t ralk about their work for a goid reason and some of the things which leaked out are why. Their cluents are governments...anyone who can pay.
3
Do people not realize that when you are the newbie, whiz kid or not, you are not the decision-maker? You do grunt work at whatever level. In this case, it appears to be a lot of number crunching. Often you don't even know until later what it is all for. As Pete said, it became clearer the second time around. But even so, he was an order-taker and "doer." And when he didn't like it, he left. Would you rather he stayed? Do people think that a smart college graduate would turn down an offer from a prestigious firm? It was clear to him that it was temporary - a resume builder. That tells me he was no grifter or just someone out to make a buck, but someone with purpose and a sense of who he is -- even at that young age.
I just don't get this criticism, implied or overt, at all.
820
There are plenty of ‘prestigious firms’, and if he could get hired at McKinsey, he could get hired at any of them.
He chose McKinsey. That speaks volumes.
13
@An Analyst - Really? You have a list of all his offer letters? There are a lot of firms, there are also a lot of nerds looking for jobs. How many options did he really have? How much did any of us really know about corporate life when we left academia?
39
@An Analyst
Really? Would Bain have been better?
26
It is surprising that Mayor Pete did not bring in outside consultants to develop feasible planning to address South Bend's decades-long race based problems. Not McKinsey, certainly. Too obvious a conflict of interest; no 'arm's length separation.' But "the Firm" is certainly not the only consultancy qualified for the work.
1
Being mayor of a small town, perhaps he would not have had the budget to afford hiring a consulting firm.
6
Any candidate who is secretive about their past should be highly suspect. Every detail of their life must be scrutinized because no matter what they may have done, once they're in office the only way to remove them is impeachment.
I vaguely remember how Clinton was attacked for her secret speeches to those "wall street bankers". It was a major campaign issue. She also came under fire for a legal case she had worked on 40 years before the election.
But Hillary Clinton had many years in public service open for viewing.
2
I work at an economic consulting firm. I am so tired of the apologists on here complaining that Pete should be given a break because he was a junior and didn’t have decision power.
Who cares? I’ve interviewed with numerous consulting firms, and what’s clear is that if the mayor could get hired at McKinsey, he could’ve gotten hired anywhere.
Not being senior doesn’t absolve one of the lack of conscience required to work for a company like McKinsey in the first place.
5
I‘ve carefully listened to Buttigieg and read plenty of articles about him. He’s very smart, ambitious, and focused on his political career no doubt. He says all the right things to the retirees in Iowa to get their vote. And he has hired good people to run his campaign.
However, he is very young and relatively inexperienced in any field. When he faced tough choices in the South Bend police department, he made some very bad executive decisions - on multiple occasions. He did not rise to the challenge or make amends when he must have clearly realized his mistakes.
I don’t hold his time at McKinsey against him in any way. Perhaps this job was quite helpful to him in learning how to market himself. (All politicos market themselves.) However overall, I am left with the impression of another bright politician, listening to focus groups, finding the right middle ground (wherever he’s standing) and not someone with strong convictions or a particularly good vision for the country.
2
I'll take Pete's experience working as a consultant as just another impressive accomplishment. It is good for journalsts to explore every nook and cranny of a future presidents background.
Next.
9
As a voter whose true preference is Pete I approached this article with an 'uh-oh, what are they going to slam on him?'.
So this article confirmed all the reasons I like him. He's done more in his 37 years than most people on the planet. He did nothing wrong at McKinsey, it sounds like they do shady things but nothing that can hurt Pete since he left before those questionable practices occurred. At the top of the article, his intelligence is cited. He is sticking by an NDA but trying to answer questions and trying to get that NDA lifted. I like that, too. I didn't know that he went to both Iraq and Afghanistan before his Navy service and I like that, too.
People who achieve are, in politics, sometimes criticized for doing things only for political advantage. I don't see that in Pete's life. He's accomplished a lot. I hope in 2021 he takes the oath of office. He is who I will vote for in the primary. But I will vote for whoever is the nominee to get the criminal who is currently squatting in the White House out of there. By the way, that current resident never served and probably still can't find Iraq and Afghanistan on a map.
22
How fitting that Buttigieg's primary job qualification for working at McKinsey was his ability to create the appearance of expertise where none actually existed.
He's the embodiment of our phony-meritocratic system--a system that rewards most generously precisely those actors in our economy (Wall St, private equity, Big Pharma, Silicon Valley, etc.) who are the least productive in terms of value creation in the overall economy. Instead, these vampire capitalists extract and even destroy value from the economy.
No wonder Wall Street is falling all over itself to shovel money into his campaign coffers (Buttigieg trails only Donald Trump in Wall St. donations). Far from offering "generational change," Buttigieg is a throwback to the classic neoliberal that has been running the show in this country since the late 1970s.
It is precisely because of Democrats like Buttigieg that we now have the worst economic inequality the planet has ever seen. It is precisely because of Democrats like Buttigieg that Trump sits in the White House. Buttigieg does not represent the solution to the fundamental problem (the concentration of wealth and power) threatening both our republic and our economy. Instead, he offers an almost perfect example of this problem's cause.
5
Did you ever hear him speak? Sounds like you did not. He is keenly aware of the inequities In this country, speaks of national service to make society more cohesive, speaks of constitutional amendments to make things fairer in elections. This response is by someone who’s never heard the candidate. If anything he is much like Bernie but trying to hide it so he gets the votes of the moderates.
3
This comment seems like it is from a person who has not lived outside of a major metropolitan area in their adult life. I lived in WI throughout the Scott Walker era and the 2016 election. Things are very different for voters there.
If we think strategically, given the fact of an Electoral College and Congress that do not represent the majority of voters, then we pick a candidate who will attract moderate voters. Anti-Trump voters will come out anyway (just like anti-Hillary voters did) and, with the right candidate, many potential Trump voters will stay home.
Remember the goal and the way to get there. Trump is a clear and present danger and we must remove him from office with a decisive win across the whole country.
@Sarah
I in fact grew up in an extremely rural area, and am very familiar with rural concerns. I understand the Trump voter; this is a basis for my view.
Trump is an egregious symptom of our problem -- he's not the cause. Removing Trump without addressing the underlying causes that put Trump in the White House in the first place -- and to be clear, chief among those underlying causes is our historic economic inequality, felt most dramatically in rural areas like where I grew up -- will only pave the way for an even worse GOP president in 2024 or 2028.
In fact, this is exactly what's already happened. There was a time when all we had to do was get rid of George W. Bush, since he was the worst president anyone could imagine. Well, Bush didn't last forever, but the underlying cause that put him in the White House -- economic inequality -- only grew worse under Obama, paving the way for our unthinkable current situation -- a President even worse than George W. Bush.
There is a real sense in which the so-called "moderate" position is more dangerous to the cause of justice than the position straightforwardly endorsing injustice. Martin Luther King, Jr. knew this, and we had better take his advice:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/30/opinion/ethics-moderation-politics.html?searchResultPosition=1
1
A lot of us have worked for clients in some small, long forgotten capacity.
What assignments come across your desk at a place like McKinsey don't really tell you much about a person.
7
To the credit of Mayor Pete he has real life experiences in the military and in the reality on the ground in the Middle East puzzle.He seems far better prepared to deal with these complex issues than many of his Democratic opponents and certainly than POTUS. Like others of his generation Trump used a phoney medical excuse to avoid the Vietnam war. And came to office with no understanding of the complexities of the Middle East.
8
Why are we not so suspicious where it would serve us better? Much of the suspicion seems to be aimed, willingly or not, at taking down the rising candidates. All those who have their seats secured in the politics seem to escape this level of scrutiny with the same level of persistence.
3
Am I missing something here?
The implication seems to be that he was talented enough to be recruited by a multi-national consulting firm straight out of grad school ergo he must have been calling the shots on some nefarious scheme to evict grandmothers and kill puppies?
He was a grunt not Dr. Evil. There is no story here.
9
You’re missing that he DID have decision-making power.
He could’ve gotten hired anywhere. He CHOSE McKinsey.
4
I’m not sure that you can conclude that everyone at McKinsey is diabolical simply for working there.
4
I think the real question is why do we demonize smart people in this country? I’m not a big Mayor Pete fan but it doesn’t have anything to do with where he went to school. Personally, I want our POTUS to be the smartest human in the room, because smart people know they have to surround themselves with other smart people. Also, I don’t much care where he worked for three years after he graduated, ten years ago. He was a Rhodes scholar and he was recruited by a top firm. That’s what they do. He wasn’t going to work at Best Buy. This particular firm is problematic now, a cog in the wheel of our out of control system, but that doesn’t mean that everyone who worked for them is Dr. Evil. Give it a rest.
8
And we complain about all the conspiracy theories that come out of the right wing. So NYT latches onto Pete's first job in his early twenties for a big firm he was on the bottom rung of. Pete is trying to get McKinsey to release him from the NDA. If McKinsey won't do it, all you're going to spread is disinformation against a man who can't respond without getting nailed by McKinsey.
6
Be an informed voter. Drill into the pros and cons of a candidates proposals and record. Don’t just vote on a “hunch” that it feels right. I would ask you to read this article about Pete before you vote.
https://www.currentaffairs.org/2019/03/all-about-pete
2
I did read this and it is all opinion - it’s written from the first person point-of-view about why this one guy isn’t supporting Pete.
You tell people not to vote on a hunch and be informed - and then you link to a totally subjective article written by someone who does not address any policy and just disagrees with sections of Pete’s book. Thanks for wasting my time.
NYT - what is this anti-Buttigieg campaign about, anyway? I don't get it. The articles that I've read on his time at McKinsey are much ado about nothing, unless you are trying to show his intelligence, work ethic, or commitment to public service. If the NYT is trying to take down the mayor to ensure another Democratic candidate has more support, it is failing. I feel like I'm reading the print version of Fox News.
6
Is this the same false railroading of Mayor Pete that we tragically saw on Hillary Clinton?
For shame.
2
The corporate news media wants to foment the outrageous nonsense that Buttigieg is in the "top tier", despite the inescapable fact that Buttigieg is far behind in the huge and crucial states of New York and California and has virtually zero support from black voters, which means he has no chance of surviving Super Tuesday.
Lawrence O'Donnell on MSNBC last night rightly called Buttigieg a liar. Sounds like Mayor Pete is not being honest about several things.
5
I worked for a defense subcontractor for a while - does that make me complicit? My guess is that, like my former employer, McKinsey keeps everyone in their own bubble so only a few can put the whole picture together. OTOH, a candidate with actual work experience? Awesome!
6
Trying to find some dirt on a candidate for working at a firm that has questionable moral leadership? That applies to countless American and international companies. Should we then infer that those employees are aiding and abetting illegal and immoral behavior? Are those that invest in stocks of these companies also tainted by association? Perhaps everyone then working in the US government, the Pentagon and the CIA are compromised because we often support despicable policies? If one works at an advertising agency on oil or pharmaceutical accounts, are these people then also supposed to pick and choose their employers clients? By that measure most everyone would tainted in some way or out of a job.
7
Pete's time at McKinsey is precisely why he is the favored candidate for Wall St, which is heavily funding him. Unfortunately, as much as I find him to be bright, polished and personable, Mayor Pete is a candidate for Corporate America.
7
From the article:
"In his autobiography and in an interview that has drawn charges of out-of-touch elitism from some quarters, [Pete Buttigieg] reflected on that history [Puritans 'civilizing' 'savages'/"Americans" in Vietnam] by quoting a passage from “The Quiet American” by Graham Greene: “Innocence is like a dumb leper who has lost his bell, wandering the world, meaning no harm.”
Comment:
If quoting Graham Greene is elitist, the sentiment expressed in the particular quote surely is not.
And if familiarity with the works of Graham Greene is evidence of elitism … god help us, for the power and the glory we imagine of 'ourselves' is even more of an illusion than is "The Power and the Glory" we imagine in our prayers.
8
@Thomas Murray “If quoting Graham Greene is elitist”...we need to move to a vastly more civilised country.
1
More like Pete Who’d-edge-edge. Who’d vote for a 37 year old to become President?
3
@Dad W - An intelligent person might look at the alternatives and consider it.
1
Who’d vote for a 37 year old to become president? If it meant kicking Trump out, I sure would.
He’s bright, articulate, intellectually curious, and honest; everything Trump is not.
Who would vote for a 37 year old for president? If it’s Buttigieg, I would. And I bet there’d be a long line behind me.
5
@Dad W Certainly not the people who believe that 70 is the minimum age for consideration, which leaves out supporters of Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, and Donald Trump.
1
Dems insisting on candidates' life-long purity and adherence to whatever values are currently fashionable is one reason why the GOP will sweep 2020.
Think of what is at stake in this election. Harriet
1
Readers should not have to go to Wikpedia for an explanation of what the principal subject of the article is and does. I read the paper every day and had never heard of McKinsey.
You are lucky @Adam Frank to not have come under the slash and burn approach to business structure that McKinsey recommends when they are brought in to look at a business.
2
yikes
And Mayor Pete’s background is problematic, because? Because like so many highly talented young people, when he had the opportunity after completing his education, he worked for a large, prestigious business organization or a law form? Because after he had left the company, and at organizational levels to which he had had no access, terrible decisions were made and the company got into trouble?
It is to Mayor Pete’s credit that, rather than stay in the business sector and become wealthy, he chose public service. I see nothing - zero - problematic about his having worked for McKinsey after completing his education. Or are we now accepting as presidential candidates, only those people who spent their early post-graduate years in a seminary?
34
These huge American consultancies do hire bright individuals, but they are then immediately pressed into a mould, a certain narrow way of thinking and acting. Business as usual. So they spend years there spouting jargon, mouthing sports metaphors and ticking boxes instead of thinking creatively and independently.
The really sad thing is how governments of developing countries are taken in by their big brands and big talk, and hire them for fortunes which could be put to so much better use.
10
McKinsey should publicly issue Pete a waiver.
4
I find it ironic that everyone including this publication is up in arms about the "shady" work Mayor Pete did more than a decade ago at McKinsey.
Where was the outrage four years ago about the legitimately "shady" background and dealings of the current occupant of the Oval Office?
17
@Louis Smith : From what I read in this article, he did nothing at all 'shady'. That's the takeaway. He tried it out, he knew it wasn't what he wanted in life and he moved on. I find that showing that Pete is a wise person. Not just smart. Wise. We need someone wise sitting behind the Resolute Desk after Trump's destruction.
4
I'm trying to get excited about this revelation.
4
McKinsey is smart hard working kids writing useless reports to justify something that the client hiring them wants in report format. I have new respect for Buttigieg that he found the work at McKinsey not for him. I am sure the work McKinsey did for the DoD in Afghanistan was useless. A report that never saw the light of day but a Cost Plus Fixed Fee contract with DoD that allowed billing to the Max and no one asked questions or cared. I'm sure if most former McKinsey workers were honest they would agree but bright ambitious people "play the game" their entire lives and seldom are honest.
10
Pete hasn't worked for Mckinsey for for over a decade. Any evil thing the firm has done since Pete's departure has nothing to do with Pete. Why is this even an issue?
27
Mayor Pete spent less than three years at McKinsey, hired fresh out of business school. As a new recruit, he would be working on rather mundane matters and reporting to higher ups, in order to help him develop a work ethic. To suggest, as this journalist has, that Mayor Pete was, in any way, the ringleader of some of McKinsey’s more controversial policies, such as executive pay, is misleading. Worse, it’s conjecture and harmful. Mayor Pete should be commended for abiding by the legal non-disclosure agreement he signed. He asked to be released from it, and his request was denied. During this time when he can not comment on his work at McKinsey, it’s disingenuous of this reporter to conjure up all kinds of tawdry suggestions that fly in the face of what Mayor Pete’s ambitions, actions and pronouncements actually are. It’s incumbent upon the reporter to actually find something to back up his spurious claims, lest he be labeled as a fake news promoter. This is shameful reporting.
15
Starting with wiki and following the links, it is not difficult to connect the dots.
In a nutshell, after his Rhodes Scholarship (with thesis on puritanism in American foreign policy), Buttigieg went to work for the Cohen Group headed by ex-Secretary of Defense, William Cohen. The group advises multinationals on how to expand their operations. It has a strategic alliance with DLA Piper, the third largest law firm by revenue, which handles legal work for many of these same multinationals. After that Buttigieg went to work for McKinsey while maintaining contacts with and working within the corporate Democrat establishment. The New York Times has done a number of articles on the types of clients McKinsey has advised including ENRON and the Saudi Government.
The takeaway? Simple. If Elizabeth Warren is "a capitalist to her bones" Buttigieg is a capitalist on steroids.
This is not to say that Buttitigieg was personally involved in any particular scandal or policy -- as for instance McKinsey's consulting on how to expand the oxy-contin market (see Wiki). It is to say that he is a 100% multi-national, corporation man, whose work in one way or another has benefited that "demographic." It is also to say that any pretence that Buttigieg is a populist progressive is just that.
8
If what you say is true I like him even more.
3
Double standards in America is appalling. You want to punish and penalize a young graduate working at McKinsey but you have absolutely no problem with a candidate that dodges taxes, lies openly in public and is a pseudo billionaire? Democratic candidates in the past have taken money from big corporations, have worked for big companies and that was never an issues, why now? Pete is what every American parent want their kid to be. Smart, educated, articulate and afraid.
1036
@ALN Every American parent wants their kid to be afraid?
7
@JiMcL , it was a typo. I meant "unafraid"
40
@ALN Heck, even just the fact that he can keep his mouth shut, unlike the current president, is a big selling point for me
72
Interesting that a man running as a democrat found a position with this company a ideological fit.
3
@Sean Daly Ferris - One mark of real intellect is being curious about and trying to understand (and sometimes solve) all aspects of any problem. Rathrr than say taking a position and declaring everyone else “wrong”, regardless of the merit of one’s case.
It had nothing to do with ideology. It had to do with curiosity and getting some experience. And it sounds as if he satisfied both goals - as well as being prompted by what he learnt to volunteer to serve in our military.
Actions speak louder than words.
2
@ejones apparently you don't know what this company did. He knew and decided to operate there for money. He didn't try and change they modes did he ?
Hmmm...brilliant people have learning curves...what a scandal!
Successful people have had failures and learn from them as they achieve future successes...disqualifying?
Now retired, I wonder if how messy my 1966 dorm room, how boring and revolting my first jobs were could be deployed as evidence that I was unfit for what became a relatively successful (in service and income) professional career.
There may be grounds to support other candidates, but this story isn't really one of them.
17
I don't need to know the details of his work to know I don't want anyone as POTUS whose private sector experience is limited to working for McKinsey.
As for the NDA, please. He could identify general areas and describe the tasks he performed without compromising McKinsey's ability to recruit future business. Heck, he could identify clients by name and spill all the secrets and if McKinsey dared to sue, he'd have a strong public interest defense. NDAs aren't enforceable at all times and under all circumstances. Again, I don't need to know the details of his work, everything I need to know about him is contained in his weasely "I'd love to talk, but the NDA, you know."
3
@Birdy Have you ever seen a McKinsey NDA? One skirts the edges just by saying one’s employed by McKinsey. But it’s a superb learning experience.
For me, it is simple. Secrecy, even in the face at an NDA, is disqualifying in these times of political chaos, which has brought us denial, lies, deflection, and make-belief.
3
McKinsey represents the American Dream for many young people.
Acquired wealth has long been the foundation of the American Dream leading to a life of acquiring things and people that make up ones resume of life.
Pete learned how empty that dream was at McKinsey and chose a life of service instead.
There’s hope yet for humanity!
15
I have nothing against Mayor Pete but what bothers me about this and other reporting is the status conscious focus on titles like Harvard, Oxford, and McKinsey; as if this tells us something about the candidate. Maybe what it says is the candidate was good at negotiating the system to get into the right schools and accumulate the right credentials to “impress” people. But it says less about a person’s moral leadership or ability to understand the underlying factors that led to the Presidency of Donald Trump.
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@Matthew
I think what it says is that he’s a guy who got into Harvard and Oxford because he’s smart, mature and motivated. He also doesn’t seem to need to impress anyone. People who have done what he has over his relatively young life are pretty impressive anyway.
75
@Matthew It says that he’s incredibly smart. “Negotiating the system,” is not the only skill required to gain admission to and succeed at Harvard, Oxford, and McKinsey. You also need to be brilliant intellectually- which he obviously is. It is to Mayor Pete’s credit that, rather than stay in the business sector and become wealthy, he chose public service.
98
There are lots of other reports that address his sense of ethics and morality. They also seem to be excellent.
44
Choosing to work for McKinsey knowing that the clients of that firm are mostly big corporations trying to maximize shareholder value and minimize everything for everyone else.
Choosing to volunteer for the military when all the “wars” being fought at the time were unjust and imperialistic wars like Afghanistan).
Choices. For those of us who had them after getting our shinning degrees with Latin modifiers next to them from Harvard, the question became what do we chose to do with them.
Pete Buttigieg chose the two items above.
End of story.
4
No, not end of story at all. I see it as the beginning of Pete’s story. You don’t get smart by wearing blinders
2
@Confused
You are indeed true to your name Sir. I happen to think I am smart and so did Harvard who awarded me a doctorate in applied mathematics. Perhaps I wear blinders called ethics and if so I am very proud of them. They did not prevent me from becoming a wealth man, send my daughters to Harvard and Yale, and still manage to look at myself in the mirror every morning without feeling that I have advised corrupt governments, shareholder value maximizing corrupt corporations and the like. The beginning of Pete's story should also be its end if he cannot come out clean and deserve my vote. So far he has not made the right choices. In my book fighting voluntarily in Afghanistan and working for McKinsey which was ran by Rajat Gupta, a convicted felon who just got out of jail, don't make one smart.
OK so every one of the candidates is flawed. What's new. While we're busy bickering about it, Trump is going to waltz into re-election. He doesn't need to create a distraction when voters and the media are doing it for him.
6
As I posted on fb in reply to a question by a friend on this matter, McKinsey is not a company that a youthful and progressively aware person - such as I was when I got out of college - would want to be caught dead working for, even if only in the mail room. It’s not about whether or not Pete himself actually did something for a suspect client there, or gave suspect advice. It’s simply the fact that he was there. It’s another red flag for progressives about his centrism.
8
Rhodes scholar, valued by McKinsey, army vet who served in a combat zone -- I find more to like about the guy every day. Admittedly, though, I do feel a bit strange about the next first lady being a man. But then, times change and we must adjust.
4
When are American people going to learn that they cannot not trust candidates whose political campaigns are funded by Wall Street and Corporations? It is astonishing that the people of this country who have lived through the 2008 disaster, still believe these types of politicians will represent their interests.
I hate to break it to you but all this guy will do is to make sure all the resources of this country will be directed to Wall Street and Corporations instead of its people.
123
@Barcin I lost interest in Mayor Pete when he started to represent large corporate health care interests rather than respond to the concept of single payer benefits as the kind of godsend most mayors should embrace. What small city mayor would not want to get healthcare costs off their books? One who is paid to attack it, that's who.
25
@Barcin You have no evidence for your charges. You are just trying to associate a candidate with problems that are not even closely associated with anything that he has done. I'm sensing that you are part of a larger disinformation campaign.
36
@Barcin
"...all this guy will do is to make sure all the resources of this country will be directed to Wall Street and Corporations instead of its people.
And one wonders why Obama did not demand Holder to prosecute Wall Street?
16
He has a future but he isn't ready to be President. And besides, if a woman had his EXACT attributes and qualifications, where would she be polling. Real change means electing a woman as President and we have qualified ones running- with tons more experience than Pete Buttigieg.
5
@JL I'm sorry but I am sick to death of this. Pete went from nowhere to top tier and it's not just because he is a white male. He's there because a lot of us respond to him positively for many reasons. Amy Klobuchar is resentful? Well boo hoo. Go out there and find a way to get the numbers, Amy! I'm a woman and I don't like Pete because he is a white man. It is insulting to me. And it doesn't help women candidates.
3
He's already got people believing that Warren and Sanders want to rip away private health insurance away from people who have it and forcing them to have shabby government-run healthcare (think England in 1958). All in service of gaining traction in his candidacy. It worked.
This Republican horror story aimed at scaring people by the Government taking away what they have has been great for the NRA when it comes to guns, and will now, thanks to Pete, will be great for Trump next fall with Medicare for All. And if Pete is the candidate, he’ll be accused of being a socialist anyway. I'll still vote for him, but ”Medicare For All Who Want It” is far less specific in its details than either Bernie's or Elizabeth's.
8
Warren and Sanders have both literally said (repeatedly) that they will end private insurance. So who’s being disingenuous here?
7
@Andrew
They have said a single-payer system is the goal and many people (experts included) agree with them. Neither has suggested changes happen overnight or outside the legislative process. Mr. Buttigieg specifically sought to misrepresent planning for Medicare for All. (And his alternative would require cumbersome, expensive oversight that would further complicate an unresponsive health insurance system already overweighted in bureaucratic burdens that benefit few but health insurers and their third-party contractors.)
1
@Maggie Mae
Thanks for expanding on my point. It is represented by Buttgieg , Biden (and Republicans ) that on day one private insurance will be illegal. In the real world private insurance will compete with Medicare For All. The expectation is that people will quickly realize that the government plan is better, I.e. cheaper. But no one will be forbidding you to buy private insurance, right? You can still buy Blue Cross/ Blue Shield at their price--but no one except Buttigieg, Biden and the Republicans is saying you will be forbidden from doing that. The only prohibition will be the cost. That will "end" end private insurance--not some dictum from Bernie Sanders.
Buttigieg is more a consultant than a leader.
10
I suspect Buttigieg, like many politicians before him, is trying to straddle the fence. He wants to appear to be in the little guy's corner, but also not alienate the corporate world. Hard to reconcile the two. Let him run and McKinsey should release him from the non disclosure agreement. How convenient it is to simply say 'I can't talk about that". He will do anything to avoid having to bite the hand that fed him. Kind of reminds me of all the people twisting themselves into a pretzel trying to explain their business relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. "Yeah, I worked with him. But I never really liked the guy and found him creepy.." In both of these cases, they just went their separate ways. Acting like the creepy part didn't really exist. Letting bad things happen to innocent people. And shaking their heads saying 'What a shame" when the truth comes out. The voters deserve to know the full story. Sooner rather than later. We have enough of the later with the current president.
5
All this makes no difference. Pete will not be president. He’s just taking up space. Outside of his life style, he is an empty shell. Nothing inside. He reminds me of one of those 50s corporate guys. He didn’t know that South Bend schools were segregated? Zero
10
@Doris Keyes ...
You see Pete as an "empty shell"? Honestly? That you view all his accomplishments - things you could never do yourself, from being a Rhodes scholar to speaking seven languages to serving in the Navy to running for office - suggest you have no use for guts and intellect.
The genuine "empty suit," is, unfortunately, the current occupant in our White House. Everything Trump touches dies.
The difference between these two men is stunning. One is an old, blithering liar. The other is a young, patriotic intellectual.
Pete has my vote.
6
Not impressed by McKinsey for all its hype. It strikes me as another pretentious, self-important company where the privleged bourgeois go to add a line to there c.v. Big deal.
8
Once again, the editors surge to the lead of progressive circular firing squad to investigate what a young guy did on his first job out of graduate school. A job he held for what, 3 years.
Why would they do this?
Because McKinsey & Co is a high priced consulting company that mediocre management teams rely on to figure out why they've failed in their jobs. They are unrepentant capitalists, which makes Pete Buttigieg just another privileged white guy who exploits capitalism to make the marginalized suffer. He most certainly isn't Ms Harris, or Bernie or Ms Warren who have bona fide credentials editor-approved candidates.
In the current case McKinsey & Co advised Trump's admin on ways to reduce costs associated with their disastrous border caging policies. Years after Mr Buttigieg left the firm.
That certainly implies that Mr Buttigieg must have been involved in something unethical while he was with the firm. Otherwise, why wouldn't he just spill his guts and confess?
Orwell would have smiled ruefully at the editors and their determination to shape all conversation to suit their agendas.
8
@TDurk...
"Why wouldn't he just spill his guts and confess?"
Maybe because he didn't do anything wrong.
And he signed an NDA... a real one... he is the least affluent candidate in the race... are you going to pay his legal bills?
He has requested a less restrictive NDA.
What else can he do?
He is not hiding anything... he is simply legally bound as to what he can say in public.
He has never denied working for them.
As I said before... this entire issue reminds me of the 195O's when people were being attacked because they spent a few years going to Communist Party meetings when they were young.
The fact that he walked in is less important than the fact that he also walked out again.
9
This attack on Buttigieg is intellectually dishonest.
But what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. Buttigieg has attacked Warren's plans, especially for health care, in intellectually dishonest ways. So now let him suffer in the same way.
8
My brilliant 30-something niece works in consulting. Makes good money, is charitable with her time (mentors disadvantaged young adults), travels all over the world. In other words, I know the type. I want an 'elite' smart person as our President, and Pete would fit the bill -- with more governing experience. I just don't see Pete being able to outmaneuver a Mitch McConnell like a seasoned pro (see Nancy Pelosi). At this point in our history and given the many challenges we simply MUST overcome now (guns, immigration, climate, health care), I would prefer a Democrat with a working grasp of the legislative process in Washington.
5
Having worked part of my career for a national consulting firm, I was not surprised with this quote:
"McKinsey was more than willing to play along — they were being paid extraordinary rates to keep playing,” Mr. Armstrong said.
Unfortunately, that's also how our firm viewed government entities that employed us. Even the most conscientious among us privately talked about our government partners with mocking disdain. We took their money and gave them their product, but we all felt that they had no idea what they really needed. Despite the sinister undertones in this article, his private sector experience bodes well for Mayor Pete. He's seen the government from both sides of the fence.
11
A common practice in consulting is to write quals for the work you did that do not disclose the client names. I see no reason Pete could not describe the work he did - I also don’t think it’s that relevant to the campaign unless the work he did would help him run the country better.
I bet a lot of his work was not that interesting / fascinating - it’s consulting, not rocket science. This article is definitely trying to paint him as an elitist because he worked at McKinsey, if his actual engagement work was disclosed it would probably tarnish that image because it would show how basic most consulting engagements are.
He put data in spreadsheets and made PowerPoints - let’s move on.
6
This is an interesting background piece. Thank you for the work, NYT.
A cautionary note: we really need to drop the growing resentment of smart people. It’s (literally) killing us and sending America further and further back in the world.
27
My first thought was McKinsey should release Buttigieg of his NDA stricture. After reading the article this opposite take may be accurate or not. Buttigieg likely was not involved in nefarious contract work. He certainly held little sway in any project’s mandate or execution. He was there a short time. Except for criticism of purpose and costs there are no hints here or elsewhere McKinsey was up to no good in Iraq. Further, for the sake of its client base and in order not to create a precedent for other former employees under NDAs, I suppose McKinsey is in no manner inclined to grant an exception. If it did give an exception, it would visibly loosen its standard and weaken its standing in the consulting community by causing clients to doubt its promise of propriety.
3
There are only so many diabolical things you can do when you are a 24 year old kid starting your career at a management consulting firm. Give him a break.
31
Can you imagine asking a former lawyer: “tell me who tour clients were and what you did for them.”
Businesses have confidentiality protections in place in order to do their business effectively.
Attacking buttigieg’s NDA is just breathless fear monger ing.
23
One on the most important things in life is to learn how not to live it. Do not begrudge a young man, packed with brains and devoid of life experience, who spent a few years early in his career, at a firm he did not want to continue with.
A person has to work at a place for a couple of years in order to find out how the place functions and what the positives and negatives are. No one knows the full story going in, especially with all of these nondisclosure agreements. McKinsey is one of the most prestigious consulting firms in the world. What young person would not want to give that place a try.
If Mr. Buttigieg had resigned after six months, he would have been labeled a quitter and someone who couldn't get the job done. That would have severely tarnished his resume and reduced future opportunities. So he stayed for three years and got out. He should be rewarded for that decision.
61
@Bruce Rozenblit
Asking about a candidate's significant real-world experience isn't the same as "begrudging" them anything. We're invited to celebrate the details of Mayor Buttigieg's intellectual brilliance and academic achievements. Why should we not consider how he applied his talents after he left university? Voters have a right to ask, and I hope he's working hard to get McKinsey to waive that NDA. McKinsey's prestige and corporate practices aren't relevant in whom I support in the primary. How Mr. Buttigieg manages questions about his experience might, though.
2
I have no doubt that Pete Buttigieg is the leader we need next. While his experience at McKinsey happened a long time ago, it is relevant to his candidacy because, 1) they only hire the best of the best so it shows us that Pete was in fact a “whiz kid” even then, 2) as this article points out, Pete’s creative problem solving skills have always been his superpower and that’s what we need in the White House, and 3) even though Pete can’t talk much about the work he did there, his book DOES talk about the reasons he *left* McKinsey. And those reasons are really all we need to know.
I’m proud to be on #TeamPete. This article shows us that his experience in the real world of business is one of many reasons he’ll make a great president.
45
@EHE
He's got great business skills, in terms of relating to people and especially black and Latino people, no so much. He had absolutely no interest at all in them until he he decided to run for president.
So far his efforts have been a total flop. Because of this he's not going to win the nomination, and if he does he's not going to win the election.
3
My experience when McKinsey was brought into my organization numerous times by senior management:
The McKinsey kids worked very, very hard to interview and document the company’s goals and culture.
Management and some staff were interviewed but rarely challenged with different perspectives.
McKinsey took all this information, packaged it neatly and told those who hired them exactly what they wanted to hear, self validation. If McKinsey does anything at all it is to help the company achieve their goals, whether those goals make good policy or not.
Then the company, after paying outrageous fees, points to the McKinsey study as justification of their corporate strategy.
So when people comment about McKinsey I have to contain myself. They are a reflection of those who hire them while laughing all the way to the bank.
16
@ArtM Completely agree. I had exactly the same experience with the Boston Consulting Group. A bunch of young men with Ivy League degrees who didn’t know what they didn’t know but were very sure that they knew everything.
6
Mayor Pete is whip-smart and incredibly thoughtful about the issues our country faces. What sets him apart is that he can navigate both the corporate world and the world of public service, and bring the efficiency of the former to the monstrous tangle of the latter. He also has a conscience that is largely missing in the corporate world. That is appealing to many people.
42
It seems there is an attempt to somehow cast a shadow on Buttigieg for working at McKinsey. Based on this article it appears that he did his best to solve the problems he was presented with in positive ways, did nothing unethical, realized that this kind of work was not his future and got out in order to pursue other goals. That appears to be a sound and judicious use of one's time and resources.
43
While I would not disqualify Mayor Pete for working with this company, it was called in to my company where I worked for 38 yrs. it was viewed as a joke.
My company would pretty much decide on what they wanted to do and they pay a company like this millions to come in and put their rubber stamp on it.
One of the funniest examples of this was when a consulting firm named Booze Allen was brought in to shape up the place.
I mentioned to my boss that all the Booze Allen people seem to do was hold cocktail parties with every department.
He said they were heavy on the booze not to much on the Allen.
9
McKinsey is a soulless company and Mr. Buttigieg does not want to talk about his work there for the same reason Mr. Trump does not want to talk about his taxes. People should take note that their motives are the same and become beware.
3
People are piling a lot of criticism onto Mr. Buttigieg. As far as I can see he is responding with humility and trying his hardest to respond to the criticism in a positive, constructive way. For example, he is trying diligently to listen to black leaders as well as ordinary black citizens to build relationships in that community. What I am NOT seeing from him is temper tantrums, lying and defensiveness. We are getting a preview of how he deals with difficult problems and stress.
Looks good to me.
47
Buttigieg’s climate advisor is David Victor. His research over the last decade has been funded by the British oil and gas company BP and the Electric Power Research Institute, a nonprofit representing the interests of prominent energy companies.
8
@Ed , the fans of the photogenic young man don't want to hear that. It's not like he's Clinton. He's young and cute, and corporate pals are fine as advisors to him. We're all centrists now.
2
It seems odd to me that people are taking this as a slur on the candidate. It does more to explain his job as a benign thing, is more an answer to critics of his work for a sharky company than anything else. It gives a positive account also of his time in the military, and leads with a great photo. I get the sense the NYT looks with favor on him, overall, compared to Sanders or Warren either one.
2
Good article, this is a young man who has had to hide his true self at a very young age to where I find his emotional side to be lacking. Clinically is how he looks at problems it’s how he thinks and Washington DC will nibble away at him until he borrows Melania jacket “I don’t care do you.” Life is messy and all about hues and gray areas, we need another trajectory jump, a new footing which is why I would like to see Warren or Yang as President. On another note it’s very upsetting to me to know that there are so many companies out there like McKinsey undermining the voice of the people
4
Recently, Julian Castro was asked during a campaign Q&A about the challenge to job security posed by private equity. He did not understand the question. I think that it is important that our candidates have an understanding of where the power levers in the US are actually located, and how our system works from inside (not our fictional version). This brief time at McKinsey is a plus on Mayor Peter's resume. The professional service firms are a key locus of power in the current knowledge economy, and their fluff games are legion.
He knows higher ed, has lived in England (Yes, we do have a special relationship with the UK.), understands the US military first hand. It's not the broadest resume possible, but it has the necessary variety. What's missing is a leadership position directing an organization populated by massive egos. I'd say that a stint in a university as a department head or dean (like Woodrow Wilson experienced) is a good way to round out the range of experience, or as a division head or product manager in corporate (a struggling one). He needs a direct experience of tragedy. One of LBJ's advisors looked back and realized that no one should be president without first experiencing a serious setback. No more of this "my intuition tells me" misdirection that had Bush (always failing upwards) in a thrall, and now Trump.
He'll be ready soon. Somewhere, an anvil is waiting.
8
An NDA is pretty common for a lot of customers of service companies. It may or may not hide anything nefarious. Typically, customers bring in consultants for advice and those customers don’t want there internal business disclosed.
7
Pete Buttigieg became mayor of South Bend at 29. That means what he did during his twenties accounts for about half of his adult work experience. McKinsey’s confidentiality requirements don’t bind voters or make it unreasonable to ask about Buttigieg’s consulting work. I’ll be suspending judgment on Mr. Buttigieg’s qualifications for president until I know more about him. Being brilliant is a useful quality in a president, but it isn’t enough.
5
This is irrelevant. If you know anything about the Rhodes, and anything about McKinsey, then you will know it's a rite of passage for young MPhil recipients to join the firm. Oxford is one of their recruiting targets. Chelsea Clinton joined "the Firm" after her stint at Oxford. I went on a Rhodes conference once with my wife (herself a Rhodes) and found that pretty much every other person there had taken the same career route: some prestigious undergrad program then the Rhodes, then McKinsey, then Law School. Not a few of the people I met were either in politics, or entering politics. What they did at McKinsey, of course, was undefined. They were "consultants" all of them. I was asked repeatedly which college I attended (meaning which of the colleges within Oxford). Everyone refereed to each other as "scholars".
8
Your input is quite interesting. In fact obvious as you point out. I’d not had the light bulb pop on before. Hence, by virtue of giving these elite ‘scholars’ an easy entry to a prestigious stepping stone first job it serves as both a finishing school and a hook into each of them as if a fraternal society. The NDA is a convenience not only to the employer but also the employee. Having the NDA as an excusing device but free to leverage the association thereof, thereon. Well played.
I like Pete but I'm not sure that we're ready for a 37 year old president. We're not France.
5
@MIKEinNYC No, America seems a lot more like Berlusconi's Italy just now.
5
It would be akin to a fresh spring breeze to have someone intelligent, thoughtful, honest, patriotic and someone who would put the country's needs before his own in the White House. Go Pete!
22
Youth, brains, worldly, healthy, well-educated. That would be such a welcome, no drastically-needed change. He is very easy to see as a respected President.
18
@Patrick McGowan one might have said the same thing about Cardinal Richlieu. "Worldly" and "well-educated" might be necessary conditions but they are not sufficient ones.
1
@Patrick McGowan , will he serve the needs of student debtors, masses of contingent workers, the increasing numbers of poor? Or is he a nicely packaged fellow like Bill was, or Obama at his worst, who will bend to the will of the corporate class in the end? The lack of questioning of his actual values and aims for those being crushed here and abroad is concerning. He's young and cute, and by gosh, that's what we need? An idea we could come to regret--but then, it's not like he's pretending to be a progressive.
2
This doesn’t seem like much of a story. McKinsey is a huge company, and they have a ton of clients. He was probably working with a concrete manufacturer trying to get people to buy more concrete, or something that level of evil. Half of consulting is convincing your client that they need you.
1
He could have worked for Goldman Sachs & Co. In any event, its experience and what you do with it.
2
Since I have not seen anywhere an accusation that Mr. Buttigieg established shell accounts in the Cayman Islands or in other tax or secrecy havens, I'd give him the benefit of the doubt. Going to work for a top tier consulting firm was probably one of the more benign avenues open to graduates of the top schools in the years before the Great Recession. Hardly any brain occupation got through the era untainted.
8
McKinsey issues belong to McKinsey, not Pete Buttigieg. But my experience with McKinsey is more on the scale of their young consultants sent in to clean up messy local public programs, all whip smart with lots of answers and absolutely no understanding of how things work and even more no understanding of how people work. Buttigieg is clearly a promising candidate, but for me, this part of his resume is not a plus.
172
@Nancy Lederman As someone who works with a few ex MBB employees, I cannot agree more on the topic of understanding. They may be great at looking at data but are oblivious to context and basing any decision without the latter has caused no end of troubles for us.
18
@Nancy Lederman
Ridiculous. By this standard, a candidate could not be held to answer for any experiences with an organization s/he voluntarily joined.
If Buttigieg had worked for ALEC or joined a white nationalist group after college, would you assert the organization's issues "belong to" the organization alone?
Buttigieg did not lead McKinsey. No one is is suggesting that. However, in accepting a job and working to fulfill McKinsey aims over a three year period, he certainly subscribed to McKinsey values and tactics. It's perfectly appropriate to demand he address the issue.
Trump certainly would in any debate.
10
@Nancy Lederman You wrote: "But my experience with McKinsey is more on the scale of their young consultants sent in to clean up messy local public programs, all whip smart with lots of answers and absolutely no understanding of how things work and even more no understanding of how people work."
My concern is he is still in this mode: with no understanding of how things or people work. And this is an apt description as to why he'd be a poor choice, now, to be President.
He needs more seasoning.
16
McKinsey and secrecy is about all one should need to realize that a person is probably not suitable for President. After all, imagine if Trump was actually more closed-mouthed and intelligent. He'd be truly dangerous.
12
@DKM
There is a quote: when you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back.
Mayor Pete may have worked for a truly evil company that creates a fair share of this nation’s abyss, BUT he had moral compass enough to recognize that it was wrong behavior and STOP. After that he served our country in the military, (possibly to get all that out of system).
Moral compass, self-control, and service. That is far more than you can say for the current toddler-in-chief.
7
Politics aside, McKinsey needs to come forward and state that Pete is not allowed to speak about his time there, and certainly not clients, but from their perspective he was a valued employee with the utmost of honesty. McKinsey where are you?
12
McKinsey & Company is an amoral Goldman Sachs on steroid. That said, if people are tainted by their employment in the past without holistic considerations, then millions of yesterday teenagers would be defined their time at McDonald!
11
@Bos , yep. It's not like he gave a speech for pay. Now, that would be bad.
2
Pete’s background is the stuff of which a 38-yr-old President could be made. Don’t put up Trump’s history of walking over people with money and then bankrupting, or Biden’s “experience” (as a long-time Beltway insider) as reasons for putting them ahead of him.
17
Call me cynical but I’ll never understand why brilliant young men volunteer or allow themselves to be sent to illegal or futile wars.
Why would Pete go to Iraq?
Was he afraid of lacking a military record on his resume?
Was it patriotism for helping his president?
He could have been killed and his intellect would be dead at 26.
Go figure!
5
Some people love their country and want to do their part to defend democracy or want to learn a skill (like leadership) or enjoy a structured life where honor is paramount, etc.
Others see it as beneath them or a waste, much like liberals see working class people and most of the states in the union.
Those in the military are true Americans. I’ll take a former military member as president any day because the odds of getting an honorable are far better than from those who did not serve.
6
@Jim .....I wish that military service was a guarantee of honor.
Nixon served honorably and then dishonorably as president.
George W. Bush served dishonorably in the military and questionably as president.
The list goes on.
1
Trying to turn a 3 year stint at one of the worlds most well known consulting firms into some sort of investigative piece on Pete Buttigieg is unworthy of The NY Times. Why not mention what a coveted training ground this has been historically for anyone who aspires to excel in business or public policy? That an employee of such a firm would honor its long held policy of not divulging its client roster publicly is appropriate but also not newsworthy. What’s the point of this article? How does it shed light on his candidacy?
113
Re-read the article. Read the different investigative reports on what McKinsey does. It reflects Mayor Pete's corporate, technocratic mindset and values— or, lack thereof!
2
There is no incentive for McKinsey to let him out of the NDA because there is no upside. Unless McKinsey can make money on a decision, they will not do it. That is the core of the new American-style capitalism sponsored in part by McKinsey. The goal of life is to make money no matter the body count or the damage to one's soul. This sickness has permeated the upper echelons of American culture and if it is not changed will lead to its destruction.
10
The more I read about PG, the more intrigued I become.
6
"The work he did in his first year and a half at the firm — nearly a 10th of his adult life..." When I see that phrase "nearly a 10th of his adult life," I know somebody's really stretching to make something seem Very Significant. It's thin stuff.
91
What I heard him say yesterday seems to contradict all the accounts of how intelligent and informed he is supposed to be. He said Democrats haven’t been very good at getting deficits under control. Hearing him say that made him sound to me like he bought all the Republican disinformation and propaganda with no questions.
17
@Michael
Buttigieg didn’t say “Democrats haven’t been very good at getting deficits under control”.
What Buttigieg did say was “My party’s not known for worrying about the deficit or the debt too much but it’s time for us to start getting into that.” He went on to say “I believe every Presidency of my lifetime has been an example of deficits growing under Republican government and shrinking under Democratic government, but ... my party’s got to get more comfortable talking about this issue.” Buttigieg then added “And we shouldn't be afraid to demonstrate that we have the revenue to cover every cost that we incur in the investments that we’re proposing.” This is from reporting by the Boston Globe’s Liz Goodwin who was at yesterday’s NH town hall.
5
I gave Mayor Pete money early on - just a small amount - because I thought he deserved to be heard and get to the first debate stage. I have also given money to a handful of other Democratic candidates. Those other candidates repeatedly email me asking for more money, stressing that they are relying on us - the people - for their runs. But not Mayor Pete. My only conclusion is that he must be getting his money elsewhere now - he’s not interested in the small donors, he’s got Wall Street, corporate, and establishment Dem money now. Which means I’m no longer interested in him.
18
I also donated to Pete early on, and I’ve been really impressed by his campaign’s fundraising strategy. I appreciate that they aren’t aggressive and annoying with their pleas for help, like several of the other campaigns. The Pete campaign approach to fundraising makes me feel respected and appreciated — other campaigns look desperate in comparison.
6
My experience as a small-amount donor to Pete’s campaign is different; I have been asked repeatedly to give again.
3
@JJ You're wrong. I hear from him every day, sometimes seeking money (in the neighborhood of $5-$25), sometimes just explaining positions on issues. For some reason, you're not on the list. Don't assume that because you're not he's not getting small money.
3
Feels like the media’s hiding something, but will communicate in Washington’s rather than spill the beans!
1
As a young associate at a top tier consulting firm, Buttigieg would have had little say over which projects he participated in, and within the projects he would play a junior role. The Times is insinuating that because he won't describe the work he did there in detail the work he must have been involved with one of their rare projects with an immoral government or corporation.
Two problems with that premise: 1) it's standard among all consulting firms to not discuss their clients and projects, it's unprofessional and could reveal strategy to their competition. McKinsey takes this particularly seriously and 2) McKinsey has thousands of clients, and the vast majority of the work they do raises no eyebrows. The likelihood that he was involved in one of their few shady projects is incredibly slim.
50
The first three years at McKinsey are building models, running numbers and executing assignments planned by managers and partners.
Pete or any other third-year consultant does not make policy or choose clients.
Not Times quality.
101
The first three years at McKinsey are spent being indoctrinated into it’s dubious culture, being introduced to it’s sordid web of clients and indoctrinated into it’s corporate culture, all while jockeying for position and collecting a couple hundred thousand for the effort. That’s a lot of Benjamin’s for wholly inexperienced coffee-fetching. Would the “brilliant” applicants who choose to take a “coveted” job offer from McKinsey have us believe that they had no idea what this company was all about and the things it was willing to do to keep paying highly inflated consultant salaries?
10
Smartest guy up there with a moral compass to boot. I have met very few people who can figure out systems the way the article describes PB can--one in grad school whose idea of ethics was questionable at best; he ended up on Wall Street. Frustrating to see a good brain go to waste. PB may be in it for power, notoriety, or all the feels. But he is in it to win it, and I hope he succeeds.
34
Definite V.P. potential. Mayor Pete could do so much more good for this country than Father Pence who just stands behind Trump at photo ops with that vacant, fawning look on his face.
21
Anyone who has been in a company where McKinsey was invited in can tell you they are mission-focused, ruthless, and not routinely successful. They are the Borg of the business world. A candidate’s role with them seems relevant for consideration.
13
McKinsey should be asked to make a "non-disclosure" exception for Buttigieg because he is running for president of the U.S.
Their reputation is already tarnished, as documented in this article, and they only have more to lose if they refuse.
4
My daughter has given me many reasons to be proud of her. One moment I remember with special fondness is when she was twenty-one, finishing up her B.A. (magna cum laude) at a very prestigious -- and expensive (she and my wife and me had huge loans to repay) Ivy, and facing a tough job market and the very real prospect of returning home unemployed.
She called one night to tell us she had been offered a lucrative position at Philip Morris, helping them sell cigarettes.
She said she turned them down: she said she would rather be unemployed than do their dirty work.
28
@Joe
GOOD for her.
A physician MD
6
@Joe Why did she interview with them to begin with?
5
Great story. Makes me like him!
25
I'm unclear what "all the boxes" to run for president are in this author's opinion (nested in a "news" article).
"On the way there, he ticked all the boxes. Harvard. Rhodes scholar. War veteran. Elected mayor of a midsize city before age 30."
Constitutionally, the only "boxes" are 35 years of age, a resident for 14 years, and a natural born citizen.
I think Mayor Pete is a great candidate and will make a better candidate once he's checked a few more "boxes" I would look for - executive experience of a complex organization (on the level of a state or MAYBE a city like NY, Chicago, LA) or high level federal legislative (Senator) and executive (cabinet-level official) OR having served as vice president.
Practically, the "boxes" probably entail something beyond "elected mayor of a midsize city before the age of 30."
Voters seem to agree. Who was the last president (I know, barring the Donald - let's not pretend he "ticked all the boxes") whose highest office was "elected mayor of a midsized city"?
We all have our own notion of what we prefer in a candidate. But blithely stating that he "ticked all the boxes" and then offering an opinion of what those boxes are in a "news" article shows bias. Stick with the Constitutional requirements or don't attach his thin resume to "all the boxes."
15
In 2020 the "boxes" are but one, if you ask the Democratic Party leadership, the Times, commentators to the Times, or the American intelligentsia: the candidate must be a woman. We would quickly and rightly decry anyone ever even hinting at "it must be a man," but this newspaper and commentators to these comments sites are quick and open in their demand: it must be a woman. It happens that I favor a woman - Amy Klobuchar - but the strong and incontrovertible identity bias (prejudice) of the so-called progressive elite is getting tiresome.
4
Bernie Sanders could never be considered as an analyst at these firms because he lacks the required intellectual capacity. That’s also why his legislative record is so empty.
20
Bernie Sanders in his twenties was heavily involved in labor and civil rights protests, which even involved him getting arrested. He did not work at shady companies to craft a résumé to become president. Though I am sure Pete Buttigieg is highly intelligent, it is ridiculous to pretend that you can accurately compare intelligence; saying someone is less intelligent is insignificant and almost childish. I believe that political experience and record on issues are most important to consider about candidates.
14
Mr. Buttigieg is a great candidate and being bright should not be held against him, least of all for being a star recruit at McKinsey's. At 24.
He has communicated the right values and how he would lead the country. Saying he would do it better than Trump is not much but holding his youth and his brain against him sounds like a Trumpist approach.
31
20 years ago? Who did we work for and did we approve of their philosophy or tactics, or were we trying to pay the mortgage and college? Or did we even know what the big cheeses were up to? What difference does it make to our future if we said something mean to the neighbor when we were 14 or had a car accident at 19? To become a population of wise elders we humans have lots of
7
I'm French, so I don't count ! but it seems to me PB would make a great VP to be groomed for the next job. The problem is there does seem to be so many great and compatible (dem )wannabe potuses, so stuck they are with medical issues, or selling their solutions from the 80s for diagnoses from the 90s. So why not jump a step and let PB be ?
7
In every way Buttigieg appears the antithesis to #45. Considering our last half dozen elections, the candidate most opposite the current POTUS has won the election.
I am farther left than Mayor Pete, but he has my vote; however, so do a few other candidates.
18
The fact that Mayor Pete recognizes that you can't fix our American economy one business at a time; rather, the entire system of rules must change, gives me hope for him after all.
Anyone who works with corporate America realizes the good people just can't overcome the bad system. Hate the game not the players.
18
@Mitch only its not a game.
The candidate from Wall street and Silicon valley?
9
McKinsey puts the vulture in capitalism. Bow down to them. The smartest guys in the room. Oops, where did my job go?
10
This is like a bad joke. Warren and Sanders both have accumulated wealth in the millions. Trashing him for walking away (!!) from a lucrative job is just ludicrous. If this type of antagonism catches on, I will lose a lot of faith in the Democratic Party.
34
@J
Warren and Sanders are thirty years older than Pete. At $50 K per year that is $1.5 million. Don't ask candidates how much they have, ask them how they got it.
10
Having worked for McKinsey & Company will very likely be used as a weapon against him within the extreme left among Democrats. Facts and accomplishments will not matter where blind "purity" trumps all.
The traditional circular firing squad for power between moderates across the nation and the coastal & urban extremes remains a part of the DNC culture apparently.
29
Perhaps, Mayor Pete meant more to McKinsey than McKinsey meant to him. This may in part explain why he doesn't speak much of his stint there. Of course, it's the stuff of gossip and innuendo for the media. They wouldn't sell without the appearance of scandal. They got us trumpy, and it's the best thing that happened to the media in a long time.
9
so, you will work to shame all of to shame every democratic candidate on sins direct and by association, on sins minor and major all the while knowing that trump and his republican enablers all have no shame? that’s the real story here: content clicks at all cost. interesting machinery that we’re all a part of....
31
Pete Buttigieg feels the need to distance himself in words from Big Monied Molochs, remarkably enough even from the Big Money partner he has worked for. He doesn't feel prompted to distance himself from them by deed though: the simple deed of declining to take money from them.
I can't begin to say how disappointed I am that younger hopefuls like Booker or Buttigieg haven't put their actions where their mouth is and followed the example of their elder colleagues Sanders and Warren and simply sever the ties beholding them to Big Money.
It is the tell revealing all you need to know about them though.
It's why they will never enthuse voters enough to beat Trump, should they manage to become the nominee, because too many voters by now know about this and demand a candidate who is not beholden to the Monied Riggers of Everything for them to feel moved to show up at all.
It's that simple.
Why so stubbornly not comprende?
Could it be you're in it for something else?
10
Wow, amazing timing! Just when McKinsey gets slammed for its work with ICE!
7
He'd be a great guy to hide behind. Corporate behavior is "technically legal," as he puts it, because corporations have written the laws precisely to make their most heinous behavior fit within the law's bounds. He doesn't know that already? No wonder black voters don't trust him, there is zero background in him to legitimize them in their eyes, and he sure hasn't suffered enough to otherwise justify his sweet words for them, so why waste any time with them, go flood the better targets in Iowa for the first big rail and the heck with lost-cause SC. It's a decision that would be something to expect from a corporation. I think for the same reason the blacks here in Iowa will be equally unimpressed.
12
I was, at 21, one of the youngest stockbrokers EF Hutton ever hired, and was and remained without a glass office, just a cubicle in “the bullpen.” I became disillusioned fast and left after three years to pursue graduate studies in the humanities. If at age 37 someone in my PhD program had tried to characterize me in some seminar as having my philosophy tainted by my “time on Wall Street”, I’d wouldn’t even know how to reply, I’d have been so dumbstruck. Give the guy a break and let him run for President, sheesh!!
2127
@biblioagogo
I wouldn't bother you with it because you don't have yourself paid millions for your political campaign by Big Donors, one of which you once worked for, putting yourself voluntarily and unnecessarily in the implication and collusion and suspicion zone that you still work for their interests.
I adore much of the fascinating eloquence and the perceptive reach and content of what politicians like Booker or Buttigieg are offering. Solely on the basis of that I could see myself enthusiastically support them. But they lost me by disappointingly putting their actions on a very different path than where they put their mouths.
20
@biblioagogo
I get what you're saying but there's such a well-worn path between Wall Street and the levers of political power that I think it's a legitimate question.
23
@biblioagogo
Wonderful comment.
It pains me that the NY Times would stoop to question anybody's three year stint at any honest endeavor. It's not like he worked for Trump's real estate company.
88
From this article and the inflammatory op-ed in today's paper, I learned the following: Buttigieg was brilliant enough as a very young man to be recruited by the top consulting firm in the word. He has an analytical mind that gravitates to data-driven solutions, unlike our current President, who is remarkably impervious to any evidence that does not agree with his prejudices and conspiracy theories. Buttigieg is not a socialist. He is a patriot, who chose to serve in our military. He was willing to walk away from a very lucrative career path in order to become a public servant. Both those decisions tell me he has guts, he has grit, he has character. I am liking Mayor Pete more and more. We could do a lot worse than have him as our 46th President. We are doing a lot worse right now with 45.
2892
Really? What I learned is that he is a power hungry, status chasing, restless and out of touch man. Going for the next thing, the next thing, the next thing. Exactly what is unimpressive about his resume: interesting experiences in the various halls of power but nothing he has stuck to or nurtured with maturity and patience. He should try again in a decade...
137
@Laurence Hauben I could not agree with your assessment more.
90
@Laurence Hauben I don’t call myself a socialist (I favor a more mixed economic system) and no one running today is proposing a pure socialist system. But they are proposing welfare, and the idea that running on a platform of welfare for all people makes you less of a “patriot” than Buttigieg’s opportunistic stint in the military is disturbing. The man’s entire adult life has been curated for a presidential run.
92
There is only person in this Democratic race who has been consistently honest regarding corporate America and the destruction of the middle class and that candidate is Bernie Sanders
13
agree. sanders will destroy the middle class. wait. I may have misread your comment. regrets.
9
I write this comnent as this article has 146 reviews.
My last comment was on an op-ed that had 42 reviews. It was approved many many hours later at almost 400 reviews. Who would see it?
“Excellent piece on Mayor Pete, thanks!”
3
It sounds like McKinsey is one big scam: charging clients large sums and producing nothing of value, perhaps almost nothing at all.
10
All the posts supporting Buttigieg and dismissing his time at McKinsey as no big deal are deeply troubling. It’s like what trolls do. It’s the same blindness that was pushed by trolls to ignore everything bad about Trump during 2016. There’s a very bad smell about all this. If he can’t be transparent he can’t be president.
Additionally today he was promoting the Republican talking point that Democrats blow budgets. When the truth is the last two Republican president increased the deficit by trillions whereas Clinton had balanced the budget. Why is he trading in these False Republican talking points they use to trash Democrats. Buttigieg needs to be vetted more thoroughly. He lied about our party. Something is not right with him. I bet McKinsey is involved in his campaign. NDAs do cover that.
13
Rhodes or no, it is clear that Pete was a junior guy at McKinsey doing junior guy things. A few days here. Few days there. PowerPoint here. PowerPoint there. It’s what junior guys do. Scut work. Fleshing out billable hours and fulfilling the govt contract or client requirement. Generating some semblance of a deliverable. Sure, he saw things, shook some hands, took a few notes. But always at the low end of the food chain of creating effects. And... I really suspect that is why we don’t hear too many details about Pete’s work. Non-Disclosure? I don’t doubt that there is one. But peel it away and there’s not all that much to brag about.
19
Having spent some time in AFG and Iraq on the ground I am astounded that he was working for McKinsey while serving. Buttigieg is very smart and I admire his career. He will go far in both politics and business. We citizens and military members are fortunate to have McKinsey covering our backs. Hopefully they can figure out how to outsource our wars to lower wage fighters.
2
@AS
Hm, they never really needed McKinsey to find that out.
You also didn't read the article correctly and confuse two things. First Buttigieg was in Iraq serving McKinsey as an outside advisory vehicle (very cheap though: probably only a couple of thousand dollars per professional hour contributed) to America's military mission there (strangely enough already declared accomplished, so why was it still there?). Four years after that he was serving directly in the army to help it contain the protracted fall-out of Cheney's disaster procreation export product of rapacious Freedumb.
Apart from finding out how to outsource our wars to lower wage fighters (Kurds anyone?), then betraying them (as more or less deserted veterans, left to fend for themselves), the McKinsey Executive Pocket Lining Complex can still be tremendously 'helpful' to expand the conspicuous evil of the wealth and opportunity and floor divide though under the cover of clinical data-driven professionalism.
1
@Pro(at)Aging
I get it. He saw that for a career at McKinsey military membership and a security clearance would be quite advantageous. I have recommended that as well to younger people. A security clearance and minority designation opens all sorts of financial doors. That is simply being smart about career development. I salute Mr. Buttigieg for good planning and career building. We need more committed, articulate, smart careerists running the US government and military industrial complex rather than ideologues like, for example, Sanders.
1
@AS
I see. All the smart, articulate, committed careerists back then supported the disastrous oil grab to invade Iraq on a cheap and cynically deceptive pretense with not only Iraq but also for example Europe paying a huge price in having to cope with the refugee and ISIS terrorism fall-out. They also supported casino banking bankrupting us to another trillions tune. Only the guy you dismiss as ideologue did explicitly not support but criticize those paths.
that is impressive. are you suggesting people should vote for lesser candidates?
7
Step back from the article for a moment; two things stand out:
(1) despite some disclaimers about “the firm’s” tarnished reputation, the author remains in awe of it (thereby making it impossible to engage in a probing review).
(2) There isn’t a lot revealed, is there?
5
To me, what he did at McKinsey is less important than the fact that he has run his entire life and campaign like a McKinsey consultant would. He has ticked boxes to fill his resume, shifted his positions from being an effort toward meaningful change to a bland message of don't rock any boats "centrism" because his consultant's mind decided that was the better route to winning. He is an intelligent man but plays dumb about what will happen with a "medicare for all...who want it" plan, placating people's fears but not admitting his plan's serious flaws and inherent lies (you likely won't have private insurance to keep, people). He really stands for nothing...the perfect blank slate for a consultant to fill in, erase, modify when the brains of the brightest assembled calculate the odds and outcomes. Of course people like him...he's molded and honed himself just right to maximize that response.
24
I guess I don’t understand why if you aspire to the top job anywhere (president or not) that ‘checking the boxes’ or maybe more accurately, seeking out opportunities that would give you experience that would make you more qualified to do that top job is thought of as a bad thing. If he had a plan to get experience if fields he thought would be relevant to public service and eventually being president of the US, in my mind that puts him ahead of the game.
9
This is a good article by Michael Forsythe about candidate Pete Buttigieg. I learned more about Mayor Buttigieg, but through no fault of Mr. Forsythe, the new information was skimpy.
Pete Buttigieg is young, which is good to a point, and smart, which is also good. I am still in the dark about whether or not Buttigieg has good judgment, and I do not know if he would be effective inspiring a large group of employees, some of whom would be as smart as he is and most of whom would have more relevant work experience.
Would Buttigieg have genuine regard for poor Americans and concerns about the lives they are forced to live? Does he have the maturity to push a program forward with the American people without being preachy and pedantic? Can he respond to criticism positively without becoming testy like the current occupant of the White House?
Without compelling information of an exceptional talent that rarely comes along, my instincts are to say to Mayor Buttigieg, “Come back in 8 years.”
3
So he worked at McKinsey for a scant three years, then went into public service.
I think that's a reason to celebrate and elect Pete Buttigieg 46th President of the United States.
22
Is McKinsey the same company that with the help of Jeffery Skilling a 21 year veteran of McKinsey Co. rebuilt Enron into a energy behemoth who ripped off consumers and whose collapse caused investors and retirees to lose billions in 2002? Is this the company Saint Pete worked for from 2007 to 2010? Aren't McKinsey and Co. and Wall Street CEO's big contributors to Mayor Pete's campaign? Yes, yes, yes.
13
I don't want another "pretty speech-making" Obama or Clinton running on the purported "left of center" in the next election. No. I am tired of this pattern. It has overtaken the Democratic Party since the late 1970s. These candidates--all of the candidates that the DNC endorses--speak in fake egalitarian populist platitudes. However, their real skill set is speaking in identity-politic-oriented charged language all while serving their corporate masters.
13
Thank you NYT for helping me to like Mayor Pete more and more and being able to see him as our next President. I’m not sure of the NYT’s motivation to write this article and it’s companion editorial, but I know it’s shown clearly that Mayor Pete excelled at many things at an early age and his skills got him noticed and he moved from serving in our nation’s military to public service as an elected official.
There was another bright young man who filled a similar path and that was JFK.
25
Why are people arguing over his first job after college? Think about your first years after graduation. On my first day at a major public accounting firm, I found out that I was supposed to be out of town working on the audit of a small manufacturing company. I spent the next two weeks learning about auditing a manufacturing company. I returned to the office and spent week three photocopying the federal and state tax returns for a company that operated in thirty or forty states. Each state wanted different parts of the federal return attached.
Working for a consulting company is different than public accounting but a first job is just that.
Is he a republican dressed in blue? Draw a Venn Diagram of Pete Buttigieg and Mike Pence and look for all of the policy intersections. None!
Is he a neoliberal? Nothing that he has said or written suggests that he has the slightest neoliberal leanings.
I find it refreshing that he speaks in complete sentences and paragraphs.
If we look at previous presidents, we had a crook, an appointment, a governor, a governor, a technocrat, a governor, a governor, a Senator, and a bankruptcy expert. Without attaching names, stated policy objectives, and accomplishments in office, we don’t have much to go by.
Does a candidate have good reasoning skills? Did they fail sandbox? Are they thoughtful? Are their policy prescriptions internally consistent? What life experiences drive their thought processes? Do they have empathy, humanity, and humility?
33
Hiding behind an NDA with a thin resume while running for President is a no-go. Since he was in the Naval Reserve, I am sure he understands what being a no-go means.
One of the reasons I refused to vote for Hillary Clinton was her obstruction on releasing the texts of speeches she gave to Wall Street firms for +/- a quarter Million Dollars a pop. She promised to when all other Democratic candidates did the same and when it was down to her and Bernie- who has never been paid to speak on Wall Street- she reneged and dodged every attempt to find out about them.
Now maybe that does not set off alarms among the 1%, but out in flyover country it does. If you are repeatedly collecting that kind of money for a half-hour speech to Banksters one wonders what you are saying and if it aligns with what you are telling voters. The fact that she hid them and still hides them does not help her trustworthiness among millions.
Voters are leery of politicians who promise one thing and then do something else and that crosses political identities. Both Bill Clinton and Barak Obama ran posing as Progressives or at least invoked the language and goals of Progressives and then ruled as center-right corporate Democrats. Obama promised lots of things and did precisely the opposite, like ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan quickly. Ms.Clinton claimed to be a Progressive despite her obvious NeoLiberal and hawkish national security record.
Come clean Pete, do not hide behind the NDA.
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@David Gregory
Being in the Navy and working for clients of McKinsey both require legally obligated discretion. That he keeps his promises to both are pluses in my book.
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But it didn’t bother you that Trump wouldn’t release his tax returns!
5
@Barbara
Since I did not vote for Trump it did not matter.
2
The world of finance communicates in data.Deciphering the data requires an understanding of math which is all too rare and valuable. What we need to know however is not Buttigieg's skill set but the content of his character.
McKinsey utilizes data to tell a story and the ability to tell stories is not indicative of a person's ethics and values.
Mayor Pete has the skills needed for the presidency. What we need to know is what ethics and values he can bring to the White House.
5
I did a double take when I read that Pete was working in Toronto in 2009. (short term or living here for a bit?)
At that time he would've learned that sexual orientation is a protected class in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (since the '80's). Equal marriage a few years later. Basic human rights that many Americans don't have to this day. No doubt someone would've shown them their health card. All you need.
He also would've seen a city that is proud of our multi-cultaral heritage and how we really do get along.
7
This is an interesting article but only because of how little additional information it provides and how little we really know about Mayor Pete. That's not to take anything away from him. He's highly accomplished. He's especially highly accomplished for someone his age! This is not anything new here that wouldn't be expected from what we already know. He's a highly intelligent person. He is accomplished in everything he's taken on. He is an excellent and empathetic speaker that many people appreciate. That's what we know. Perhaps more will become known. Perhaps that's enough to know. Time will tell.
14
Non-disclosure agreements are routine. The level of expertise that this young man has so it becomes known is outstanding.
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@Florence Re: "Non-disclosure agreements are routine." Whether or not they are, they shouldn't be, and whether or not they are, anyone who signs one is acting unethically and deserves to be held accountable for that unethical act. Period.
4
@Jake
Millions of employees in the US (including me) are forced to sign NDAs as a condition of employment. Be mad at the system, as I am, but don’t blame the kid fresh out of college who just wanted to land a prestigious job (which he left after three years for a less lucrative, but more meaningful, life of public service).
20
Although not particularly supportive of Buttigieg at this time, it is clear that the combination of his military service, private sector exposure, and civic service are a clear strength and advantage. Harvard Rhodes scholars, despite our current atmosphere of trumpeting resentments against such accomplishments from some corners, is yet another feather in this gentlemen's cap.
His approach, again without convincing appeal to me personally at this time, is far more desirable than candidates who campaign based on anger, class warfare, and a desire to "fight," and whose supporters would rather yell chants at various forums rather than engage in thoughtful discussion.
The far left is simply...far too far.
68
I appreciate that this article is fact-based and shows that Buttigieg is very smart, capable, and well-intentioned. It makes me realize he has pretty solid business and foreign experience which explains why his interviews and commentary on those topics display such nuanced understandings.
The country and the world would really benefit from having him displace the current occupant of the WH.
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@Apsara
McKinsey is a threat to democracy, and only ignorant or biased people think it’s good he worked there. Are they consulting his campaign. This is bad news. Big time.
10
Given the companion Op-Ed piece today, how is the insinuation you are trying to manufacture any different than the (deservedly) constant scathing criticism you have leveled at Trump for manufacturing a Joe Biden connection to his son on the Board of a Ukrainian gas company? There’s no story there. It is completely manufactured. There’s no story here, either.
Trump thinks repeating it 30,000 times will make it true, but that doesn’t make it true. Even remotely. It is painful to see you mirror such behavior.
There’s no connection to a junior-level employees’ influence to this consulting company’s behavior ten years after he left. If anything, what I got out of this article is that he is a man of his word, that he can be trusted. He signed a NDA and years later, even when it would probably benefit him to fudge on it, he continues to honor it. Just as his employer expected him to. Frankly, I find that refreshing in a president.
Without burning a previous commitment made to an earlier employer, he confirmed a co-worker’s observation that he was involved in projects dealing with mining or transparency in government. He was revealing in his answer, yet delicate, diplomatic; something else I find distinctly absent in our current president.
If you want answers, he gave you the lead; have your reporters in Iraq do their homework and run down what was going on in mining and government transparency projects in Iraq in 2009.
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Sadly, this seems like another smear campaign my the mainstream media, because Buttigieg has picked up real traction against their preferred 'corporate' candidate, Joe Biden.
34
@Brian
Mayor Pete is a younger, smarter, prettier and more charismatic version of Joe Biden. Both neo-cons, both lean towards corporatism. No thanks!
12
@Brian
It’s not a smear campaign. We don’t want another Trump. All of these posts supporting McKinsey and pretending it’s like McDonalds is VERY suspicious to me. It’s something McKinsey would do.
1
I recall McKinsey coming into my company in the late 1990s and firing, I mean “empowering” a large part of the workforce. They were too big to fail but have been going south ever since.
14
This is incredibly petty stuff. Management consulting firms have good reason not to disclose their client engagements in full.
Also, Buttigieg is young, but a year and a half is "nearly a 10th of his adult life"? That would make him 15.
That said, it would be nice to see some proper analysis why Buttigieg comes across as so lightweight.
6
@Mollykins Adult life starts at 18, so he would be 33. 15+18. But I agree with you, kind of a strange way of phrasing it.
3
Mayor Pete seems like a very decent man. Apparently, he is highly intelligent and highly articulate, too. Compared to Trump? A blessed relief!!!
76
Let’s do yet another character evisceration of a Dem candidate. Hillary was bad, Harris was prosecutorial, Klobuchar was mean to staff, Biden was too old (same as Sanders), Warren was too professorial, Bloomberg was too rich and Yang too unknown. Now Mayor Pete is too capitalist. Yup - let’s not have any Dem run at all. It is a waste of time.
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@Paul
Mayor Pete is many things. “Too capitalist” is not one of them.
4
Does this gentleman respond to questions like a man whom we should trust?
7
This kind of guilt by association story has no place in this paper. New associates at McKinsey spend most of their time doing grunt work and learning the consulting business. They have no role in selling business and are too inexperienced to have responsibility for even making any recommendations. FirstThe years you are practically a nobody. Mckinsey has had a culture of maintaining client confidentiality because without that no company would let it work on anything that mattered. It is like a lawyer maintaining privilege. It is like reporters maintaining the confidentiality of their sources. What is so hard to understand about that?
124
He presented very well in the debates - articulate and with answers that made me think, should he go up against Trump, that he might be able to defeat him at least on the debate stage.
Not yet sure how I’ll vote, but this story put him a notch or three higher on my list.
57
I used to fantasize about Trump getting schooled on the debate stage next year by Warren, Buttigieg, Sanders, whomever - until I realized he’s probably going to refuse to debate.
10
The next generation of candidates will not have transparent resumes. I know of one single mother who had to sign a NDA for a job selling T Shirts. So many workers are temps working for a consultant to a strategic partner of an actual employer. The transition from full time employees to contract workers will give us future leaders whose only footprints are on social media.
15
I think that the health of the candidates who are in their 70s is far more relevant than what Buttigieg worked on during his first job out of college. Now that you have done this investigative piece on Pete, I would like to see investigative pieces on the other top three candidates, including: 1) an analysis of Warren's missing tax returns (the others have disclosed theirs; Warren has refused to disclose older returns when she was in the private sector); and some analysis of how Warren came to have $12 million in assets and what investments led to this wealth; 2) an analysis of what Sanders accomplished in the Senate, i.e., specific pieces of legislation that he sponsored or co-sponsored that were passed, what he worked on the first three years after college, and the results of a cardio exam; and 3) for Biden, the press needs to start asking questions that objectively test his cognitive functioning -- can he recall three objects after 5 minutes, count backwards from 100 by 7's, spell w-o-r-l-d backwards, draw a clock? If he's OK cognitively, then he should submit to objective testing and put an end to concerns.
149
Better yet, ask these three things of Trump.
13
@DM Warren ‘s wealth includes her husband ‘s contributions.
5
@DM
How about looking into Sanders’ long delay in releasing his tax returns in 2016 or his health records now:
Or his three homes and recent millionaire status or his wife’s role in the financial debacle of Burlington College from which she pocketed hundreds of thousands in salaries and severance;
Or how many votes on Trump’s horrifying lifetime judicial appointments both Sanders and Warren have missed while they were too busy campaigning to worry about this takeover that will affect our country for generations.
1
Consulting firms are hired guns and as such they really have only one objective: Make money for the client and their firm and along the way get some stuff done that looks good on the website.
While we now live in this world where money and the mostly men who make it drive too many of the decisions and plans formerly in the hands of local, state and federal governments, I don't see his tenure at McKinsey as all that great. Beyond that, he's led a small midwestern city for a while---but then so did Nan Whaley, of Dayton who shone in her response to a horrific massacre in her city.
This time 'round we can't afford a 'comer' or loaded with potential. We need a pro who's been to the dance before and knows the moves. As proof.I point to Speaker Pelosi's off the cuff, unscripted, intuitive reply today. On the mark, concise and telling. You have to have been to more than a couple of city council meetings to pull that one off.
He seems to have potential, but theory is not practice and it seems he could use a bit more of that.
28
@jb
YES!!!! Common sense, intelligence and articulating the correct concerns: "We need a pro who has been to the dance before"...Indeed. Thanks!
1
Ha! That story about the $19mm 50-page report on Herat sounds about right. And funny he should mention energy efficiency work. I once gave McKinsey consultants pumping me for information a "lay of the land" on the energy efficiency market in a major economy. They literally copied what I told them word for word, put it in a one pager and gave it to their client, a national government ministry. Who then turned around and gave me the consultants' so-called "work product." I am sure McK charged the government an arm and a leg for that one-pager. Some very unethical people at that company.
42
@Father of One —I’ve seen similar in my industry. Internal employees will provided reports and recommendations. But it is only when the top management commissions Studies that they respect the findings. Hiring consultants provides a certain legitimacy and sense of objectivity to the results, at least that’s what the bosses think. I’m not saying it’s true.
3
If he can’t tell what he did at McKinsey because of NDA, aka, business confidentiality, then he shouldn’t be asking Warren to release the names of her clients under the same business confidentiality. What is good for goose is good for the gander. Rest of his qualifications are irrelevant. If he is a Rhodes scholar, so is Bill Clinton who got impeached. If he got elected as mayor of a small town at the age of 29, Biden got elected to U.S senate at the same age. Buttigieg, Biden and Bill all have Similar characteristics of style without substance. We got fooled by Bill twice, not anymore by one of those. Success in one area doesn’t translate to other areas. These are the people who doesn’t have courage to take a stand on any policy, because they haven’t gotten any.
19
Consultants disseminate appealing ideas, and leave their implementation to others. Pete's record as Mayor of South Bend is unremarkable. It's a poor city that young people are eager to leave. Even its Wikipedia page is poorly maintained and outdated: "This (economic) project is set to break ground in 2015 (...)" . Pete speaks very well, like Obama. If elected, his legacy might be even thinner than Obama's.
19
Finally an explanation as to why He is a candidate with glide and without substance: I’ve never met a consultant who adds value to business - they are salesmen who at heart are conmen.
41
what's this Republican doing in the Democratic primary?
19
Really? Do we really need to do this again? We get it. The guy is academically smart and has all types of sterling credentials so ravenously coveted by the white-collar professionals who create and consume so much of the NYT-caliber media products. It should be remembered that the Obama Administration was completely overflowing with Harvard graduates and the cabinet included more graduates of Oxford than any American public university. We have already done this before. While I respect the work these institutions do, this fixation on elite credentials clogs the arteries of democracy.
43
The preference for having someone smarter than me in the White House is not a complicated concept to grasp. I kinda like the idea. Don’t you?
9
@Paul S The problem with this statement is the automatic assumption that credentials = raw intelligence. Look up Raj Chetty’s work (reported on in the NYT itself) on the socioeconomic backgrounds of the students who attend elite universities (and this work at places like McKinsey). If anyone thinks we live in a pure meritocracy, someone hasn’t been paying attention.
Also, I resent the idea that the people who attend our great public universities, HBCUs, etc. somehow aren’t smart or talented. I think that there is a ton of untapped talent and creative ideas in this country and that’s largely that we have been conditioned to associate lame cultural signifiers (that honestly have more to do with being born to the right parents) with intelligence.
In my experience, having been married to a McKinsey consultant, is that the company is full of extremely self-important snobs who highly overrate themselves. It was a terrible experience for him, and us as a couple. I see it as a negative that Pete B. had anything to do with the company.
45
@Jim T. Ummmm, it was his first job out of college. He knew from the beginning it was a stepping stone and realized it wasn't for him and left.
Nothing wrong with that.
10
@Jim T.
Maybe that’s why he left the rat race to pursue a much less lucrative, but more meaningful, career in public service?
11
@Jim T. No longer married?
1
I’m lost here. Is mayor Pete evil because he was one of 30k employees at a company we don’t like? That might have some bad clients among the thousands of clients it has? Are people who represent criminal defendants pro-murder and rape simply because they represent murderers and rapists? That would seem to be a bigger disqualification to me.
42
No. It’s because his whole candidacy reflects the slick, glib emptiness of management consulting.
26
While he was still conveniently and cowardly hiding in his powerful privileged white gay male closet the Mayor of the 4th largest city in Mille Pence's Indiana didn't consider a career in any civil human rights humble humane empathetic community service.
Mayor Pete Buttigieg is in the wrong partisan political party at the wrong time.
14
@Blackmamba You think it’s “ convenient” to be in a closet that involves having no romantic relationship of any kind? Um ok.
4
Mayor Pete B. Smart guy. Better for america then don the con. I’d vote for him
Senator Amy K smart gal Better for america then don the con. I’d vote for her
VP Joe B. smart guy Better for america then don the con. I’d vote for him
Senator Bernie S. Smart guy Better for america then don the con. I’d vote for him
Senator Liz W smart gal Better for america then don the con. I’d vote for her
(Not in any order of preference)
43
I always thought that the president should be the smartest person in the room.
Pete Buttigieg is the smartest person in most rooms. He served our nation in the military, has held elective office, and is from a working class background. If the election were held today, he would have my vote.
510
@thetruthfirst
Thank you. Non-issue. The only issue is beating Trump.
14
@thetruthfirst
Buttigieg is not from a working class background. Both of his parents were professors.
14
@thetruthfirst working class background? weren't his parents college professor?
6
Does anyone other than Mother Teresa meet the personal standards of our 'need' to know? Granted, Trump and social media have desensitized our sense of discretion and polite curiosity, but does Mayor Pete deserve to be eviscerated because he worked for a business behemoth? Honestly, don't we have bigger concerns, like what will be important this time next year?
189
@solar farmer
I completely agree! It’s beginning to smell of serious bias.
40
@solar farmer No, she doesn't. What about that peanut butter and banana sandwich she had that day outside the orphanage!
1
His McKinsey stint detracts. The culture in these consulting businesses corrupts the soul. I hope that’s why he left.
30
Buttigeig's entire candidacy seems crafted as being an ideal centrist candidate...from 2004. Unfortunately, for him, it's 2019.
31
So he has been in the belly of the beast and seen how it works. That might be a positive qualification for high office.
143
@View from the street
And one what to prove where he stands? He may speak with elegance but a lie from him is as dangerous as Trumps lies.
What has he done to prove he will hold Wall Street accountable and stop throwing taxes in us and socializing the losses while globalize gets jobs?
He looks like he is owned by Wall Street and says the flowery words. I don’t see any actions of his that counter that argument either. So we must rationally assume he will represent the richest first and us last.
Everyone running for any elected position, or who is appointed by an elected person, should be required across the USA to release all tax returns for all time. State, federal, and overseas.
17
I am no Pete fan but this "breaking news" strikes me as a non story fueled by his opponents and kept alive by a media seeking ad revenue. The guilt by association story angle is long on sensationalist innuendo but short on evidence. Gee, where have we heard that before?
300