Could one of the MBBs run a country?

The situation is the following: an entire central/federal government gets replaced by McKinseyers, Bainers or BostonianConsulterGroupers.

I’d want to know what you guys think. Imo they would outperform many (if not all) actual governments.

33 Comments
 
Most Helpful

This is literally how every former command economy/regime started. A group of people thought they knew better than everyone else and were privy to some special level of knowledge - then proceeded in failing to account for every detail that is normally facilitated by free market mechanisms or otherwise self-correcting behavior.

 

I agree with you in the result when their competences are increased to a point of dictatorship/planned economy. But my point is without exceeding the current competences: would they shift to communism/dictatorship or would they shift to free markets/libertarianism? I think if they are half the smart they like to show, they would hand over power back to the people towards libertarianism. Basically they would outperform every country just by laissez-faire.

 

Most of the government is pretty much zero value add anyway so I think it would look pretty much the same. On a more serious note, what value do you actually think these people would bring to a government? Super communication skills? Pretty presentations? Putting a group of people in charge of a society that have been playing without skin in the game their whole career seems like a recipe for disaster. 

 

Mitt Romney was the Bain CEO and attempted to run a country. 

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

Mitt, Pete, Tom Cotton, the Prime Ministers of Greece and Israel, and a whole lot more that I’m missing

 

If MBBers are good at something, it would be reducing cost. That way, you can maximize your profits, which would be budget surplus in the case of governments.

The US government has been running around a perpetual loss for decades except during the Clinton Admin. So MBBers could easily find ways to optimize the hell out of government efficiency.

For instance, like I've been saying all along, the US Federal government needs some serious restructuring done ASAP. There are dozens of agencies in every single area from law enforcement to public health and energy that seemingly do the exact same thing and always fight over their turf. All these agencies could easily be combined into few (some M&A action). 

Would save us so much tax revenue that we can actually decrease tax rates without worrying about national debt.

 

I think there’s a question here about advice vs. execution.

I think MBB people would probably do a solid job of finding efficient solutions to problems, but implementing them by getting buy-in from stakeholders, operating a large-scale effort and all of the associated administrative tasks that would coincide with implementing a big policy? Not sure they have the skill set or experience.

But bankers on the other hand...

 

WTF an MBB running the country? It's a fuickin country not a company and I'm the biggest fuckin capitalist in the world and i'm willin to say that

 

As an an MBB alumnus,

It depends.

The truth is you're the weak. And I'm the tyranny of evil men. But I'm tryin', Ringo. I'm tryin' real hard to be the shepherd.
 

Molestias veritatis dicta cupiditate debitis nesciunt eveniet nam. Laudantium et nihil vel. Pariatur dolore magni aut alias deserunt. Modi blanditiis quo non rerum consectetur. A itaque ut voluptatibus expedita rem adipisci aut.

Fugit error eos sint. Ipsum praesentium inventore quia et cum. Quas consequatur omnis nesciunt voluptatem aut omnis nesciunt omnis. Nulla molestiae et eos excepturi.

Inventore aut beatae ut sed. Officiis excepturi voluptatum est id earum consequatur id. Officiis numquam natus qui adipisci et quod consequatur. Quidem quo voluptas quisquam reiciendis consequatur rerum cupiditate. Repellendus est doloremque excepturi quas. Veritatis quidem eum neque dolores ad eius dolores.

Career Advancement Opportunities

July 2026 Consulting

  • Boston Consulting Group 99.5%
  • Bain & Company 98.9%
  • McKinsey and Co 98.4%
  • Oliver Wyman 97.9%
  • LEK Consulting 97.4%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

July 2026 Consulting

  • Cornerstone Research 99.5%
  • Bain & Company 98.9%
  • Boston Consulting Group 98.4%
  • McKinsey and Co 97.9%
  • Oliver Wyman 97.4%

Professional Growth Opportunities

July 2026 Consulting

  • Bain & Company 99.5%
  • Boston Consulting Group 98.9%
  • McKinsey and Co 98.4%
  • Oliver Wyman 97.9%
  • LEK Consulting 97.4%

Total Avg Compensation

July 2026 Consulting

  • Partner (4) $361
  • Principal (30) $294
  • Director/MD (58) $274
  • Vice President (53) $247
  • Engagement Manager (113) $232
  • Manager (170) $173
  • 2nd Year Associate (185) $142
  • 3rd+ Year Associate (116) $135
  • Senior Consultant (355) $132
  • Consultant (642) $122
  • 1st Year Associate (577) $121
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (164) $121
  • NA (16) $114
  • Engineer (6) $114
  • 2nd Year Analyst (391) $104
  • Associate Consultant (176) $101
  • 1st Year Analyst (1163) $90
  • Intern/Summer Associate (208) $83
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (632) $68
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
6
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
7
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
8
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
9
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
10
bolo up's picture
bolo up
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”