The Lords of Strategy

The Lords of Strategy traces the birth and evolution of strategic business consulting from the 1960s through the early 2000s. The book follows key figures at firms like BCG, Bain, and McKinsey who developed frameworks and tools that transformed corporate decision-making. Through extensive interviews and research, Kiechel reconstructs how consultants created concepts like the experience curve, portfolio analysis, and competitive advantage that became standard business practices. The narrative moves from the early analytical breakthroughs at BCG through the expansion of strategy consulting into a global industry. This business history examines both the intellectual development of corporate strategy and the growth of consulting firms into powerful institutions. The key players' backgrounds, personalities and relationships provide context for how strategic frameworks spread from consulting firms into corporate boardrooms and business schools. The book reveals how a small group of consultants and academics created an entirely new way of thinking about business competition and corporate direction. Their innovations continue to influence how companies operate and compete in the modern global economy.

Readers describe this as a detailed history of strategy consulting, focusing on BCG, Bain, and McKinsey. Many reviewers note its journalist-style storytelling about the personalities and conflicts behind major strategic frameworks. Likes: - Clear explanations of complex business concepts - Behind-the-scenes accounts of consulting firms - Historical context for common business tools - Profiles of influential strategists like Bruce Henderson Dislikes: - Dense writing style with excessive detail - Focus on personalities over strategic concepts - Limited coverage of post-2000 developments - Too US/Western-centric in perspective One reader noted: "Great for understanding why we use the frameworks we do, but gets bogged down in biographical minutiae." Ratings: Goodreads: 4.0/5 (2,100+ ratings) Amazon: 4.4/5 (180+ reviews) Barnes & Noble: 4.3/5 (40+ reviews) Most valuable for business students and consulting professionals seeking historical context, less suited for practitioners wanting modern strategic insights.

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🔹 Despite strategy consulting's massive influence today, the entire field essentially began in 1963 when Bruce Henderson founded the Boston Consulting Group from a one-room office with just two employees. 🔹 Walter Kiechel spent over three decades at Fortune magazine and Harvard Business Publishing, giving him unique access to interview virtually every major figure in business strategy's development. 🔹 The phrase "competitive advantage," now ubiquitous in business, was barely used before 1980 and only gained widespread popularity after Michael Porter's groundbreaking work. 🔹 The book reveals that many celebrated strategy frameworks, like the BCG growth-share matrix, were originally created to help specific clients solve particular problems, not as universal business tools. 🔹 The strategic planning movement of the 1960s and 70s led to the first widespread layoffs of white-collar workers in American business history, as companies began viewing labor as a cost to be optimized rather than a fixed asset.