Rory Sutherland Rory Sutherland

What bees can teach us about efficiency

(iStock) 
issue 25 April 2020

The newspapers are full of stories about how small groups of engineers from Formula 1 teams have been able to design, prototype and manufacture essential health equipment incredibly quickly.

So why aren’t organisations allowed to perform such super-human feats of brilliance the rest of the time? Or to put it another way, why is it that companies and governments always call on McKinsey when they could call on McLaren?

Why is it that companies and governments always call on McKinsey when they could call on McLaren?

One obstacle might be the boredom threshold.

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