Strategy Consulting has been around longer than sliced bread. The machine that slices bread was invented in Iowa in 1927 and began operation a year later. (By the way, bet you didn't know that same machine was banned briefly in 1943 as a wartime conservation measure. Neither did I.)
McKinsey & Company began a year earlier in 1926 in Chicago when James O. McKinsey founded a firm to provide finance and budgeting services to companies and soon discovered that clients wanted more. Namely, they wanted help solving big business problems. Thus, strategy consulting was born.
In the early years, the discipline was aided by the strategic work needed to navigate the new Glass-Steagall Banking Act in the 1930s. (What goes around, comes around, I guess.) Management consulting, of course, began 40 years earlier with the launch of Arthur D. Little, which focused mainly on technical research—19th century style.
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