Marvin Bower

Marvin Bower
Born	August 1, 1903
Died	January 22, 2003
Occupation	Consultant, Management expert

Marvin Bower (born August 1, 1903 in Cincinnati, Ohio — died January 22, 2003 in Delray Beach, Florida) was the son of the deputy recorder at Cuyahoga County. He grew up in Cleveland, Ohio and attended public schools there. He earned his bachelor's degree from Brown University in 1925. His father advised him to study law, and Bower graduated from Harvard Law School in 1928. Bower then attended Harvard Business School, graduating in 1930. Following completion of his studies, Bower worked as an associate at Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue in Cleveland.

In 1933, Bower was hired by James O. McKinsey in the new Chicago firm of James O. McKinsey & Company to manage a newly-acquired branch in New York. Following McKinsey's death in 1937, the two offices split up and Bower resurrected the New York firm, with the assistance of New York partners, as McKinsey & Company in 1939. He served as managing director from 1950 to 1967, and remained a leadership figure at McKinsey as director and partner until 1992.

According to the Harvard Business School^[1] , Bower "is considered the father of modern management consulting." His principled insistence on impeccable professional standards in substance, ethics, and style; his dedication to the professional development of his colleagues; and his candor, all served as a role model for several generations of management consultants, both within and outside McKinsey.

He published several books and articles, among them:

• The Will to Lead: Running a Business With a Network of Leaders, ISBN 0-87584-758-7
• The Will to Manage: Corporate Success Through Programmed Management, ISBN 0-07-006735-X
• Perspective on McKinsey - internal McKinsey publication

References

1. ^ "Marvin Bower". Harvard Business School. http://www.hbs.edu/leadership/database/leaders/marvin_bower.html. Retrieved 3 September 2011. 

• Edersheim, Elizabeth Haas: McKinsey's Marvin Bower: Vision, Leadership, and the Creation of Management Consulting, ISBN 0-471-65285-7
• Marvin Bower: A Leader's Leader
• McKinsey & Company tribute to Bower
• Australian Financial Review obituary
• Investory's Business Daily profile, part 1 and part 2
• Monday Memo obituary
• Global Future obituary
• BusinessWeek obituary

External links

Persondata
Name	Bower, Marvin
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1903-08-01
Place of birth	Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Date of death	2003-01-22
Place of death	Delray Beach, Florida, USA