"Lip service" in consulting
Hi everybody! I have recently become interested in pursuing a career as a consultant and have had some discussions with some friends. I am particularly interested in hearing your opinion on the following "critique" about consulting from an acquaintance, although this is kind of difficult to express:
He essentially says that nobody likes, by nature, to be told that he/she is wrong about anything. That being said, he argues that e.g. a firm's manager hires a consulting company, he will often tell them what kind of action he has in mind. He thinks that a lot of times consultants will therefore give some "lip service", ultimately coming to the same outcome as the manager in order to not contradict and maybe upset him or on a grander scale not to lose future business. Because of this, he says, there is very little effective change that actually happens because in the end it may be the idea of the manager anyways that is realized. I, personally, thinks that it very much depends on the manager (how open does he seem to listen to new suggestions) and the consultant (how passionate/serious is he about really improving the situation, does he actually care or just wants to finish) in question.
I think that this is a very nteresting idea and would love to know your opinion on it!
Thank you so much for your time!
Depends on the firm. The highest-priced firms charge upwards of $500k/mo for a typical (i.e. small, EM+2) case team. That's an awful lot of money to pay for a rubber stamp or lip service. Consulting firms also have a lot on the line when they take a project. MBB typically targets a minimum 15x return on fees for the clients. They tend to turn down work if they can't make that happen.
I would assume that perhaps happens from time to time. Certainly not with a large firm either. But it would be silly to apply an anectodal case like this across an entire industry. The firm just would not stay in business if it doesn't add true value.
From my view, I've seen a lot of executives that have ideas that make sense, but they have trouble proving it, or getting momentum once they have the idea vetted.
In short, although consultants may agree with the executives from the start in some cases, they still add value by (1) supporting to hypothesis with data (2) vetting the idea with others in the organization/convincing others in the org and (3) helping the idea gain momentum
In short, it's tough to change big companies. There's a lot of inertia. Consultants can be brought in as change agents as much as they can be brought in for a new idea.
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