McKinsey & Company

McKinsey is a management consulting firm with offices in 65 countries and annual revenue estimated at $10 billion; as a private corporation owned by high-level employees, it doesn’t disclose financial data. The firm built its formidable reputation doing big-picture strategizing for major corporations, starting in the 1930s. While it still does plenty of that—it claims to serve 90 of the world’s 100 largest companies—in recent years it has expanded into design, digital technology, and data analytics, with clients that include startups. In a 2019 survey by Vault.com, in which respondents could not vote for their own firm, consultants chose McKinsey as the world’s most prestigious consulting firm, just ahead of its two main competitors, Boston Consulting Group and Bain.