What is “consulting” in the business world

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, seriously, why do consulting firms stay in business? This idea that they make obvious recs that the staff could have gotten to on their own for less money is fascinating. What didn’t the staff do that? Why doesn’t your exec team believe in you? I get the “politics cover for layoffs” or doing what the leader already wanted to do, but how can it be that people idiotically pay through the nose for consulting over and over again if it’s so terrible?

Politics, I was on a project with a major bank where their internal audit plan is 20 years old and never was updated to reflect recent business changes. Ask any of the middle management me all they do is point fingers.

Exes hired consulting to rebuild the whole department, fired all the IA management. The whole thing took years but clearly accomplished more than having their existing staff do better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, seriously, why do consulting firms stay in business? This idea that they make obvious recs that the staff could have gotten to on their own for less money is fascinating. What didn’t the staff do that? Why doesn’t your exec team believe in you? I get the “politics cover for layoffs” or doing what the leader already wanted to do, but how can it be that people idiotically pay through the nose for consulting over and over again if it’s so terrible?

Everyone makes fun of consulting firms. Yet major corps pay big money to the top firms. Why? A bit of what is said above. But I suspect that at least once and a while their advice helps -- a lot. That is why they are paid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, seriously, why do consulting firms stay in business? This idea that they make obvious recs that the staff could have gotten to on their own for less money is fascinating. What didn’t the staff do that? Why doesn’t your exec team believe in you? I get the “politics cover for layoffs” or doing what the leader already wanted to do, but how can it be that people idiotically pay through the nose for consulting over and over again if it’s so terrible?

Everyone makes fun of consulting firms. Yet major corps pay big money to the top firms. Why? A bit of what is said above. But I suspect that at least once and a while their advice helps -- a lot. That is why they are paid.

Would someone wake me up when the 1960s are over? Most corporate staffs have been reduced and delayered into oblivion. People are just trying to run the business let alone think up groovy strategic stuff. Sure their advice helps because nobody else has the time to do that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, seriously, why do consulting firms stay in business? This idea that they make obvious recs that the staff could have gotten to on their own for less money is fascinating. What didn’t the staff do that? Why doesn’t your exec team believe in you? I get the “politics cover for layoffs” or doing what the leader already wanted to do, but how can it be that people idiotically pay through the nose for consulting over and over again if it’s so terrible?

Everyone makes fun of consulting firms. Yet major corps pay big money to the top firms. Why? A bit of what is said above. But I suspect that at least once and a while their advice helps -- a lot. That is why they are paid.

Would someone wake me up when the 1960s are over? Most corporate staffs have been reduced and delayered into oblivion. People are just trying to run the business let alone think up groovy strategic stuff. Sure their advice helps because nobody else has the time to do that.

Most corporate positions are siloed to a point where no one knows what their neighboring coworker is doing. Middle management is blissfully keeping their people oblivious to justify their high paying jobs.

Consultants are not "thinking up groovy strategic stuff", just jumping hoops to figure out how things work in XYZ department, use common sense to see if something is broken, and then leaves the executives to figure out how to play politics with middle management who knows enough about their business to be useful, but not willing to work with them in a productive manner.

Internal staff trying to think strategically and your insecure manager will have a bad performance review coming your way. Who wants that when you can collect pay check and goof off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, seriously, why do consulting firms stay in business? This idea that they make obvious recs that the staff could have gotten to on their own for less money is fascinating. What didn’t the staff do that? Why doesn’t your exec team believe in you? I get the “politics cover for layoffs” or doing what the leader already wanted to do, but how can it be that people idiotically pay through the nose for consulting over and over again if it’s so terrible?

It's the business industrial complex. Everyone goes nuts for McK, BCG, Bain types b/c they are supposedly the best of the best. The top brass at corps tell themselves that they can't make a decision without getting the approval of outside consultants. I saw this when working for one of the big banks. We had McK consultants come in who told us stuff we already knew but it made the top guys feel better about their decisions.

Also, many c-suite types are all either ex-consultants, married to consultants, BFF with consultants or B-school buddies with consultants and have bought into the self-stroking belief that anyone who goes to a top college or b-school is a genius.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, seriously, why do consulting firms stay in business? This idea that they make obvious recs that the staff could have gotten to on their own for less money is fascinating. What didn’t the staff do that? Why doesn’t your exec team believe in you? I get the “politics cover for layoffs” or doing what the leader already wanted to do, but how can it be that people idiotically pay through the nose for consulting over and over again if it’s so terrible?

It's the business industrial complex. Everyone goes nuts for McK, BCG, Bain types b/c they are supposedly the best of the best. The top brass at corps tell themselves that they can't make a decision without getting the approval of outside consultants. I saw this when working for one of the big banks. We had McK consultants come in who told us stuff we already knew but it made the top guys feel better about their decisions.

Also, many c-suite types are all either ex-consultants, married to consultants, BFF with consultants or B-school buddies with consultants and have bought into the self-stroking belief that anyone who goes to a top college or b-school is a genius.

Thank you for expertly explaining this circle jerk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, seriously, why do consulting firms stay in business? This idea that they make obvious recs that the staff could have gotten to on their own for less money is fascinating. What didn’t the staff do that? Why doesn’t your exec team believe in you? I get the “politics cover for layoffs” or doing what the leader already wanted to do, but how can it be that people idiotically pay through the nose for consulting over and over again if it’s so terrible?

It's the business industrial complex. Everyone goes nuts for McK, BCG, Bain types b/c they are supposedly the best of the best. The top brass at corps tell themselves that they can't make a decision without getting the approval of outside consultants. I saw this when working for one of the big banks. We had McK consultants come in who told us stuff we already knew but it made the top guys feel better about their decisions.

Also, many c-suite types are all either ex-consultants, married to consultants, BFF with consultants or B-school buddies with consultants and have bought into the self-stroking belief that anyone who goes to a top college or b-school is a genius.

Yes, you hear a lot about "relationships" and selling/closing inside the firms. They do really want to help their clients, and everything isn't useless BS, but there is a lot of hyping up the end product to make it appear more than it is.

Yes, some of the advice is helpful. You can't do it in house beach the in house employees don't have time or authority to go around trying to solve the problem consultant was brought in for. They are working inside office politics, that can make being effective at this a lot harder. Some of it is political cover or wanting the firm to "bless" the decision path you are already going on. Sometimes there are a few new ideas, or they can help benchmark you against competitors.

It is a mix.

[Anonymous]

Like the last thread on this topic, no one is really grappling with the cognitive dissonance presented in these comments. So executives pay huge dollars to get useless advice? Or was it their own ideas/what they want to hear? Why do their boards allow that? Is the advice “recycled” and the same every time? Or does McKinsey come back and re-org different ways every few years? If it’s all cost-cutting and firings, why aren’t the projects that underlie any of the scandals related to firing people? These things don’t all hang together.

Some consultants are great, some are bad, and some are useless yes men and women. But the idea that all consultants are useless amoral criminals selling lies is a bit extreme.