Monitor and Qaddafi

A couple stories came out in the past couple of days that the Monitor Group -- that MBB-esque firm founded by strategy god Michael Porter -- has had some pretty serious dealings with Libya's Muammar Qaddafi. They've done a lot of PR-ish stuff that involved bringing in experts - often senior Monitor people - to defend Libya's human rights record. And they also did research for Qaddafi's son's PhD at LSE.

I don't work for Monitor, and I don't know anyone who does, but I know that if it turned out that my employer was making this much money by burnishing the reputation of a murderous dictator, I'd be rethinking my employment there. Say what you will about Goldman Sachs, but they don't do PR for war criminals. What do you all think? Do McKinsey, Bain, and BCG do shit like this but just not get noticed? And would you have a problem working for a company that's in bed with someone like Qaddafi?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/23/how-to-m…

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/ar…

14 Comments
 

Holy shit. That's an ethical impasse if I ever saw one. Employment vs. conscience, great.

I am permanently behind on PMs, it's not personal.
 

"if it turned out that my employer was making this much money by burnishing the reputation of a murderous dictator"

is it the "burnishing the reputation" part that you have a problem with or the "[working with/for] murderous dictator" part?

if it's the latter, i might venture a guess that a lot of the non-western europe/EU based large MNCs have significant amount of blood on their hands.

or you know, if you drive a volkswagen.

 
MarginCalling>> Say what you will about Goldman Sachs, but they don't do PR for war criminals.

yea they only manage war criminals' money ...

Just like I tell the massage ladies, it's not going to manage [suck] itself.
If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses - Henry Ford
 
happypantsmcgee
MarginCalling>> Say what you will about Goldman Sachs, but they don't do PR for war criminals.

yea they only manage war criminals' money ...

Just like I tell the massage ladies, it's not going to manage [suck] itself.
OHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!
Get busy living
 
happypantsmcgee
MarginCalling>> Say what you will about Goldman Sachs, but they don't do PR for war criminals.

yea they only manage war criminals' money ...

Just like I tell the massage ladies, it's not going to manage [suck] itself.
[Andrew Dice Clay voice] - OHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!
Get busy living
 

^ All big firms are touched by this transaction. However, a firm like Goldman is not in the same category as say, Brown and Harriman circa 1943

Get busy living
 

Companies will always be tempted to work for these coons. US companies cannot work with people black listed by the State Department. Since, Kadafi was a friend of America since 2006; Monitor was in its rights to deal with the criminal.

 

I remember when I went to a Monitor MENA presentation - they talked about the work they did with Gaddafi's son on building out the private sector in Libya. It's obviously a terrible affiliation to have, but pretty standard behavior by the media and everyone else to ignore the relationship for a very long time until it's thrown in front of our faces.

I also read the PR release they sent out in regards to this. I only have a pdf instead of a link unfortunately. I'll see if I can paste the text here.

 

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