Management Consulting is also known as the “Whale Hunt”.
Here’s how this “works”
1.Marketing (The luring) – Fly in the experts from around the world, hold conferences and when that doesn’t work do a quick and painless diagnostic at a steep discount, with a money back guarantee. Whatever it takes!
2. The Diagnostic (Halloween) It’s trick or treat time. First scare the pants off them, crater their self esteem. This requires what is known in the trade as the “trick”. This is a quick and easy analysis that will produce a predictably horrifying result.
3. Implementation (Eating the Brain) The key to establishing an enduring presence is to colonise key functions in the client’s central nervous system. A good place to start is the planning function. Send the existing staff on long errands then steal their office space. Make yourself indispensable.
4. Follow ons (Metastasis) – You’re already expanding deep inside the organisation, so think like cancer. Look for foreign subsidiaries, foreign branches and other departments you can replicate
5. The Breakup. Eventually you get found out so just take the money and run!
The is an excerpt from the Management Myth by Matthew Stewart