Technocrats

«The new era may place a higher value on finding practical ways to improve the workings of vast bureaucracies, and most of McKinsey’s clients are large multinational companies and government departments. And McKinsey has seen more of its alumni go on to be chief executives of other companies than any other firm; doing work for its alumni in their new corporate homes is a huge source of McKinsey’s revenues.

If the past decade has been dominated by financiers, the next may be all about reviving the technocratic spirit famously celebrated in “The Power Elite”, a landmark book published in 1956 by C. Wright Mills, a sociologist. Then, the best technocrats, who could move easily between public and private sector, applying the same top-down problem-solving skills to both, were people such as Robert McNamara, recruited as defence secretary by John F. Kennedy from his post as president of Ford Motors. Presumably the current boss of Ford lacks the same appeal for Mr Obama—but the smartly-dressed, team-oriented, understated problem solvers of McKinsey may be just the ticket.»

Texto retirado de:

Economist.com, Jan 13th 2009.