< br />
MOSCOW, July 10, Zakhar Andreev. Scientists have found that the obsession with gender and racial diversity that has plagued US financial institutions is based on false data. A new scandal sheds light on the internal mechanisms of the ideological struggle, which is gradually taking over all aspects of society.
Mysterious companies
Including as many women and members of racial or ethnic minorities in leadership is not only ideologically correct, but also profitable. This conclusion was made back in 2015 by the consulting firm McKinsey, which conducted a study of 366 enterprises from the USA, Canada, Great Britain, Brazil, Mexico and Chile.
The work stated that in 2010-2013 companies those with the greatest gender diversity in management were 15 percent more likely to report financial returns above the national industry average. For firms with ethnically diverse management teams, this figure was even higher—35 percent.
The publication caused a sensation. Subsequently, it was repeatedly cited by major investors, lobbyists and even regulators when promoting women and minorities to boards of directors. Consultants have provided training on the benefits of diversity to companies and government agencies.
One of the main qualities of the scientific method is reproducibility. This is where problems arose. Almost ten years later, scientists tried to repeat the results of the study — and failed, writes The Wall Street Journal.
Firstly, McKinsey did not name the companies whose data it used as a basis. Second, any sample of S&P 500 companies (the largest capitalization companies) does not show a statistically significant relationship between diversity and profitability.
The publication notes that there is no evidence to suggest that board diversity directors makes a profit. Usually the opposite happens: a company first achieves success, and then, for ideological reasons, introduces more women and minorities into management.
McKinsey, responding to criticism, insists that its work was about simple correlation. But it seems that she is not there either. On the contrary: in 2016, financiers from State Street Global Advisors created the SHE exchange-traded fund, which included companies with “strong female leadership.” The fund's returns were on average 70 percent lower than those of the 1,000 largest companies.
< br />
But even if diversity does indeed correlate with profit at the mystery firms in the McKinsey study, that doesn't mean much.
«The Aztecs mistook correlation for causation with tragic results, cutting out the heart of a victim every 52 years to ensure the survival of the world. That is, there was a strong correlation between human sacrifice and the world continuing to exist, but no cause and effect.» — notes WSJ columnist James McIntosh. And a caveat: investors are not risking vital organs, but they should be careful about the studies they refer to.
In the meantime, questions are long overdue for elite consultants.
Global «gray cardinal»
McKinsey & Company is one of the three largest consulting companies in the world, founded almost a hundred years ago. As journalist Duff McDonald noted, it was she who “helped invent and spread throughout the world what we think of as American capitalism.”
The services are used by transcontinental businesses and government agencies. The list of clients in the US alone ranges from Coca-Cola to the Pentagon. Offices in 65 countries. Annual revenue is estimated at $15 billion.
McKinsey recruits primarily from Ivy League universities. Among the company's alumni are iconic figures in government and business, for example, US Secretary of Transportation and the first openly gay man in such a position, Pete Buttigieg, as well as Google CEO Sundar Pichai.
McKinsey's activities are opaque. The aura of mystery gives rise to myths and conspiracy theories. The company is often called one of the most influential structures in the world. Allegedly, it is she who determines the policies of states and transcontinental corporations.
True, McKinsey's reputation has suffered blow after blow in recent years. Information about the company's questionable practices is leaking into the public sphere, both from clients and from former employees themselves. If we summarize the criticism, then expensive advice is divided into two types: either obvious (for example, replace paper document management with electronic one), or pleasant for managers who order services. Thus, McKinsey consultants have repeatedly recommended clients to fire ordinary employees and at the same time increase salaries for management.
“They cut around 50% of the workforce in our warehouses and offices and increased senior management staff by 25%. As a result, those lucky ones who remained began working more than ten hours a day, with a peak of 14 to 16 hours at the end of the month. . The workload remained the same, but there were half as many of us. After two years, our company closed. If McKinsey comes to the company where I work now, I will leave immediately,” says one of the victims.
It looks as if the main task of status consultants is not the development of the partner company, but the satisfaction of employers.
“As someone who has worked in consulting, I can say that in many cases the partner “knew” what the answer should be, and we had to tailor the data to fit it,” says fintech investor Sheel Monot, commenting on a recent article in the WSJ.
In addition, McKinsey does not hesitate to promote frankly harmful products. For almost 70 years, the firm has advised tobacco manufacturers. But the most scandalous episode in the company's history was its work to increase sales of Purdue Pharma's OxyContin drug. The painkiller contained opioids and was addictive. The drug's distribution is believed to have fueled the opioid epidemic in the United States, which has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives.
How much is the opium of the people
Error or intentional falsification in McKinsey diversity study — private a case of a broader problem. The fact is that supporters of the so-called wokeism (from woke — “wake up”) are, in principle, hampered by the scientific method, which is based on the search for objective truth.
The ideology of the movement is reflected in the acronym DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion). Today, his followers set the tone in Western universities, major IT corporations and leading media. Their methods include positive discrimination in favor of various minorities, “cancel culture” and censorship. They like to support their views with research — of course, when it confirms that they are right. If science contradicts ideology, then so much the worse for science.
Sometimes they talk about it openly. In a TED Talk, NPR CEO Catherine Maher argued that truth is a purely subjective concept and the search for it is a “distraction from the task at hand.”
The new ideology thus becomes something like a religion that does not allow doubt. in postulates. It is symbolic that McKinsey is involved in its promotion.
Critics believe that the new «opiate of the people» — vokeism — will be no less destructive than conventional opioids. Thus, entrepreneur Elon Musk calls his supporters “extinctionalists” (from the English extinction — extinction) and states that such an ideology will lead to nothing less than the death of civilization. Time will tell whether he is right. However, it seems that a publication exposing a false scientific study in favor of DEI gives hope to humanity.
Свежие комментарии