I’m Sorry I Broke Your Company

When Management Consultants Are the Problem, Not the Solution

Berrett-Koehler, 2013

15 min read

10 take-aways

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Don’t hire management consultants to do your critical thinking for you.

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Modern management theories don’t hold water over time, says Karen Phelan, an experienced management consultant, who highlights holes in the major management concepts and practices that have governed companies in recent times. No authority is too lofty to escape her rebuttal: Phelan rejects Michael Porter, Gary Hamel and C.K. Prahalad, Warren Bennis, and Jim Collins. She explains why companies should not be so eager to seek the advice of management consultants, though she acknowledges that some scenarios do call for outside help. While she offers few solid alternatives to the theories she sets out to debunk, getAbstract suggests Phelan’s advice and no-nonsense insights to firms that hire consultants, to consultants themselves and to anybody who hopes to become one.

Summary

Should You Hire Management Consultants?

When executives get in a jam, many react by hiring management consultants, top-level advisers who tell their companies what to do. Finding the right consultant can make a difference. However, beware that many consultants are straight out of business school, so, while they may be great at analyzing and applying complex theories, they lack real experience. Consultants will tell you what’s wrong with your supply chain, equipment, production schedules, and more, but they might miss what your people really need. Every business problem traces back to people and their emotions.

Predicting the Future

Business consulting took off in the 1980s when Harvard professor Michael Porter wrote Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors, which discusses the five forces affecting businesses: “competitors, potential entrants, potential substitutes, buyers and suppliers” in the first chapter. When consultant and author Karen Phelan worked for Deloitte Haskins & Sells in the late 1980s, the firm used Porter’s book as a working model because the managers there found that its spreadsheets and checklists...

About the Author

Karen Phelan owns Operating Principals, a consulting firm, and worked for Deloitte Haskins & Sells and Gemini Consulting.

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A. N. 1 decade ago

You didn't tell us anything significant about the book. Do you mean "you don't need an expert?"
J. S. 1 decade ago

the section at the end which reviews when to hire a consultant is a good check list

Karen Phelan