Townsend, who had to know the message would quickly spread beyond Conde Nast, sent out a terse memo (posted by the NYO and others) explaining his plans and the rationale behind them, warning that “we must realign Condé Nast to be a successful business in an emerging economy that is now predicted to be painfully slow in recovering.”

Working with McKinsey, Townsend and a Conde Nast team will “develop new perspectives on optimizing our approach to business, growing revenues, and enhancing our brand assets. All areas of Condé Nast will be included in the study.” Conde Naste has more than 30 brands between the consumer magazines, which include The New Yorker, Wired and Vanity Fair, and the Fairchild Fashion Group.

Bringing in outsiders is a time-honored way to shake things up. Resisting their advice or mucking it up is an equally time-honored tradition. Conde Nast can’t afford the latter.