Magic Consultants? Do they mean us?

Management consultants have been in the news lately – not exactly on the front page but definitely more than the usual coverage, which is normally close to non-existent outside the specialist press – and the overall tone is not encouraging. The latest chapter in the media onslaught (or whatever something less than an onslaught is – an offslaught?) is a three-part radio programme on BBC Radio 4. Entitled “Magic Consultants” it promises to lift the lid on the apparently secretive world of the consultant.

Listening to the first episode this week I was reminded of the late tabloid editor and presenter Derek Jameson who back in the day had a programme about how the UK was portrayed in foreign media. Entitled “Do They Mean Us?” it was a sometimes humorous look at how we Brits are viewed by the non-British. Magic Consultants, despite its light-hearted tone, didn’t provide me with that many laughs.

Or much in the way of insight.

Let’s get the good stuff out of the way first. Contributions from Prof. Andrew Sturdy and Tamzen Isacsson gave the programme some authoritative heft and there was an actual ex-McKinsey and Boston Consulting Group consultant reflecting on his time there. But the overall tone was definitely coloured by the recent book The Big Con whose co-author Rosie Collington was heavily featured. I haven’t read the book yet – my Centre for Management Consulting Excellence colleague Jim Foster has and doesn’t think much of it – but the title tells you all that you need to know about the general tone.

One particularly grating part of the broadcast featured presenter Adam Shaw inviting fellow Radio 4 presenter Paddy O’Connell to take part in a magic trick where money was produced from an apparently empty bag. (Doing this on the radio is about as “meta” as you can get.) Paddy the “client” thus benefitted from the money Adam the “consultant” produced apparently out of nowhere but the point was made that the money was there all the time. So, yes, consultants are all a bit like Derren Brown, bamboozling their hapless prey with their clever tricks to discover benefits they already had access to. We get it BBC. Very clever.

Not.

The analogy falls flat: when we create value for clients for example in finding cost-saving or other benefits the client hadn’t realised they could find them, therefore we’ve offered some insight into how these benefits can be found. So without the magician the client would still be staring into an empty bag. (I’m as tired of this analogy as you are by now but in my defence I didn’t start it!)

That said, there are some valid questions about how consulting advice is priced and linked to value and Andrew Sturdy’s contribution, reflecting his research into the value delivered (or lack of value) to NHS Trusts that use consultants started to go into this. But in a 15-minute programme there’s a limit to how deep you can go so this stayed paddling around in the shallows.

Still, to use consulting parlance, we’re at the discovery phase and I’m hoping there may be a bit more meat in the subsequent two episodes. And whilst I’m not a fan of the sensationalist titling of Mariana Mazzacuto and Rosie Collington’s book there are definitely some questions to be asked about how qualified the McKinseys of this world are to offer advice and charge hefty fees for it. (I have some personal experience of that and it’s not good.) So I’ll keep listening – and posting commentary here – for the next two weeks.

Meanwhile if you’re interested in how consulting can be more ethical, value-driven and professional, take a look at CMCE’s website and LinkedIn page.

Guaranteed no con. Or magic tricks.