McKinsey says 'Manicure'

Lucy Kellaway used her piece in the Financial Times today to take on two favorite sobjects of hers: McKinsey and sexism. The story goes that in an attempt to attract highly coveted female Stanford MBAs to a meet and greet, McKinsey sought to tempt them with the idea of a “mani/pedi.”

Straight away, you know this is grist to Kellaway’s mill: A management consulting firm – and the most renowned one at that – attempting to attract the best and brightest female MBAs in the United States with something, well, girly. And Kellaway is probably the best (and fairest) of the critics of the corporate world.

Adding Long Term Value

But with respect to Kellaway and everyone else who jumped on the story (and it’s a good one), there’s an alternative view here.

McKinsey probably want more females in their ranks and armed with masses of data, saw that what most young professional like to do is look after themselves in such a manner (or complain that a “mani/pedi” costs too much, or whatever). Armed with this data, they may have thought this was the best way to reach them.

This is not intended as a critique of the critique – just an alternative view of the situation. Ultimately, as always, the results will be how many ultimate recruits turned up to these manicure events. For all we know, mani/pedi events could be the future of recruitment.

Just a thought.