Before Bruce Henderson left Arthur D. Little to form what would become The Boston Consulting Group — and before Bill Bain left The Boston Consulting Group to form Bain & Company — Tom Kearney made his grand exit from McKinsey & Company.
In truth, Andrew Thomas Kearney was McKinsey & Company's first partner — the first wide-eyed disciple to fall under James O. McKinsey's spell. His departure was neither cordial nor easy, and was alleged to have even involved various legal maneuvers.
Had they been fighting men, as you can imagine, ol' T.K. would likely have jumped at the chance to have gone a few rounds with Marvin Bower — another early McKinsey disciple, who later in life was known to eagerly accept credit for having helped Kearney find the door. Still, you can't help but wonder whether Kearney, given his independent zeal, found the door on his own.
Back in 1939, the Chicago office of McKinsey & Company became known as McKinsey, Kearney, & Company, according to an affiliation agreement Kearney hatched with Bower two years after McKinsey's death.
By 1945, it was time for the two firms to find their own ways in the world. And after some horse trading, the Chicago office dropped the McKinsey name and A.T. Kearney was officially on its own. Of course, to this day the firm A.T. Kearney accepts 1926, the very year McKinsey & Company was established, as its own year of birth — as well it should. Divorced from a reformulated McKinsey, A.T. Kearney would distinguish itself in the years ahead as a sourcing and operations powerhouse — leading to a reputation that has stuck right along with its independent spirit.
Nearly ten years after being acquired by the giant outsourcing and integration company EDS Corp., ATK appears to have recently won a wider berth for itself. To put it another way: After having gone to the mat with Dick Brown (the former CEO of EDS Corp.), A.T. Kearney has been liberated once more, and the spirit of Tom Kearney appears to be on the loose. Or so ATK consultants would have us believe.
"We have always been firm believers that the basic model within a consulting company must be an apprentice model and not a management model," ATK managing director Henner Klein told Consulting Magazine recently when asked how the firm will remain distinctive in the future. "This model is about mentoring and learning and being inspired by experienced senior people."
Klein's election last fall was viewed by many ATK consultants as a rejection of EDS's top-down management style, and an endorsement of the so-called partnership model. It's a model, Klein believes, that inspires talent like no other.
This can only be good news for this groundbreaking firm whose contribution to

Editor's Note: The Spirit of ATK's Past, Kindles Hopes for a Bright Future

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