Opinion: The story BCG offered me $16,000 not to tell

Question

Wow, this story is absolutely brutal.

The Tech

RF

unplugged · Answer

Oh my god!

I'm just trying to talk myself out of the pain I'm in after reading this by telling myself that this is a one off case

Av · Answer

Good read. It's not entirely surprising, but confirmation of the sad truth is still pretty disappointing.

vannbj · Answer

Yikes!! Is it leagal to not inform your client of something that materially wrong?

3underscore · Answer

Consultants are often used to rubber stamp a decision, to provide analysis and a shift in view is very difficult (both internal to management in the Consulting firm and with the client). Much of these things could be written without working in the field and simply working with consultants from time to time.

I spoke to people I know and the comment I got was that, while well written, there is a reason he got fired. One he is unlikely to cover in depth in his side of the story.

I spoke to people I know and the comment I got was that, while well written, there is a reason he got fired. One he is unlikely to cover in depth in his side of the story.

AlexMBAApply · Answer

The thing with this guy is that his observations seem to really boil down to this:

A recent grad's (I assume he was an MIT undergrad, not Sloan MBA) adjustment to the real world.

It comes across as a young man who was adjusting to the realities of the workplace (which happened to be consulting) -- from that of a student.

For many of us who have worked for a while, we all know that in academics/school, analysis drives the "result" or "answer". In the real world, it's far more murky than that - analysis plays a part, but so does that very messy issue of human dynamics.

Engineers learn very quickly that the most technically elegant solution isn't always the feasible one - it comes down to budget (or lack thereof), deadlines (unrealistic or not, set by non-engineers), politics, and so forth. Or even when engineers have to choose a vendor to work with - it's not always purely an analytical exercise whom to choose.

It's called the real world, and I think the author simply had trouble reconciling that with the ideals of an academic environment.

It seems like he had a hard time accepting the fact that F500 companies hire consultants beyond the "numbers" or "reports" - but that consultants serve as political tools and political capital to further the agendas of certain constituents within an organization. If you the exec can't get something approved by the Board (for some reason or another), having the BCG or McKinsey stamp (a 'respected' third party source) as allies to your opinion can help in getting the Board on your side. And sometimes the junior consultant on the team may not have access to the bigger picture of what's really happening within the organization because they are tasked with only the specific project at hand - so it may seem like the "answers" or "results" of a project make no sense on their own, but could make very good sense in the bigger picture.

One of the more amusing things the author mentioned was how he had a tough time with the workload being greater than his motivation to work -- which seems to apply to virtually every single day job all of us have ever had, right? :-)

It's called the real world. We've all had those periods in our work lives where we get up in the morning and go "oh God, do I have to work today? Ugh." But most of us man up and do it.

And compared to the world of politics and public office in any country, business looks like a religious seminary. :-)

It's called the real world. We've all had those periods in our work lives where we get up in the morning and go "oh God, do I have to work today? Ugh." But most of us man up and do it. And compared to the world of politics and public office in any country, business looks like a religious seminary. :-)

aveekguha · Answer

His writing is great, and some observations dead-on, but remember this is also an effort to be provocative for readership.

I don't think this is as much an indictment on BCG as it is on decision making in general -- people can always color the argument with the biases they have to get to an outcome. Happens daily in politics, equity research, etc.

Aveek Guha
President, MBA Day Camp

JinJJa · Answer

I completely agree with Alex on this one. The writer is probably around 21-24 years old and still learning how to deal with the "real world" of corporate politics.

I know how the writer feels. I went through the same experience after college and adjusting to the corporate world and its raw politics was not a pleasant adjustment.

Unlike college, the corporate world is not at all merit-based, and I think the writer finds this rather disturbing. Fact is, many brilliant students do. I have worked at various companies and nothing at all shocks me anymore about the corporate world. In comparison, becoming successful in the classroom is much more straightforward, fair, and simple.

Also, academic success is mostly about individual merit. But in real life, it takes an ability to work and lead a team to be successful. That's why B-Schools look for leadership qualities in an applicant.

In summary, I do not find the article to be at all illuminating.

klughing · Answer

More discussion about this here: https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/b ... -from-hell , including reply from original author.

mainhoon · Answer

I never quite understood why a firm needs to hire a consultant when there are plenty of people in the firm who can analyze things. Instead if training the consultant on the ways of the industry and situation would it be not more prudent to use in-house resources?

To me the stamp of mck or bcg is just that - a stamp.

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To me the stamp of mck or bcg is just that - a stamp.

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whiplash2411 · Answer

You run the risk of inducing bias with in-house people. The tag of a reputed third party matters I suppose

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mainhoon · Answer

Perhaps. But at some level the consultants are also getting trained while working on these projects. I don't believe a consultant can understand a problem any better than someone else in a large firm, one that employs thousands...

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AlexMBAApply · Answer

Mainhoon,

Whether the individual consultants on the project team understands the problem any better than the client is secondary.

Whenever you get a large number of people engaged in an organized activity (going to war, running a civil service, building a large company, etc.) -- you can't separate the idea from the person (i.e. who the person is colors the perception of the idea/initiative). It's almost always a political process, especially when it involves changing the status quo -- even in orgs that pretend they are above it (no one is above human nature).

What managers within large companies are doing is "renting" the credibility of a 3rd party -- which isn't the individual consultants, but the brand of the consulting firm itself.

IndigoIntentions · Answer

I agree with some of the above. My roomate is a BCG client and he told me this seems a one off case.

MBAUncle · Answer

One time I heard the following about consulting firms & consultants: - They break into your company without saying "excuse me", they tell what you already know and then charge for it ! :lol:

humphy · Answer

Wasn't there a article about how McKinsey did work for a major IB and their findings were that the area of biggest expenditure was "third party consulting/advisory services"? D:

sanlitun · Answer

Consultants are only useful if they can give an independent and outsiders perspective. If they are going to rubber stamp as in the case above... they are a joke...

lhomme · Answer

It's interesting how misunderstood consultants are, and how often they are generalized. There are many reasons why a firm would hire consultants:

1. The company might not have enough capacity/people internally, especially with the heavy focus in the last few years on running "lean" operations. It also costs a lot to hire new people and then not have anything productive for them to do after that project is over (such as for a 3 month project).
2. The company might not have the skillset (Lean Six Sigma, pricing analytics, retail operations, etc.).
3. The company might want a better perspective as to how "everyone else" addresses that problem.
4. The company wants an outside perspective that is not colored by "tradition", "culture", or the need to stay on the good side of certain people for one's own career.

Opinion: The story BCG offered me $16,000 not to tell

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