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On the other hand, they're grifting Zaslav, who is possibly the worst person in show business, so...maybe let them cook.
Why are consulting companies so successful? Is it all connections? Their role in appeasing investors by external intervention and change (no matter how useful)?
Prestige and the perception of impartiality, alongside the ability to serve as fall guys. And to a significantly lesser degree they can tell you things you actually don't know or make recommendations when you're stuck because they're an outside set of eyes.
What this means is when you decide to make a controversial decision they can take the heat in place of experts, and unlike internal experts you don't wind up in a particularly flimsy situation when you inform them of what they'll be suggesting. And if it all goes as poorly as it might you can blame them. (And everyone knows this so the consultants are shielded)
And for the situation where you don't actually know what to do, theoretically thet may or may not be bad at it. If you're stuck you're stuck and not only can they possibly help, they can definitely provide cover for a bad call or an unwinnable situation
To a certain degree they're a result of people in a position to spend large amounts of money whose job is to make calls.
Consulting companies are just esoteric quacks but for businesses.
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It's not the conclusions that are important. It's how snazzy the PowerPoint presentation is. If you pay them more, there will even be bar charts.
Business consultations always look like such huge grifts. Here is the reason why they are so expensive though: many times startups and companies that take consultation fail and declare bankruptcy and don't pay the consultancy fees they were supposed to pay. So they charge others extra to (over) compensate. I wonder how they justify their existence, probably by coming up with some made up statistics about how they make many companies more successful. I am pretty sure they are also behind AI enshittification by suggesting companies to jump on the band wagon.
They’re expensive because they’re cover for the executives to make a move. The executives can shield liability and justify any change by saying they did it in consultation with a big firm. It’s virtually impossible to pierce that with a lawsuit.
Results are good:
- Business CEO takes credit, shareholders are happy with CEO
- Consultancy got paid, shareholders are happy
Results are bad:
- Business CEO blames consultancy, shareholders don't blame CEO
- Consultancy got paid, shareholders are happy
absolutewin.jpg
Worked at a company that would give money to McKinsey frequently for decisions. When the decisions went well, they would pay themselves on the back for their insight and leadership. When they went wrong, well they just got bad into from the consultancy.. not their fault
I think it was Last Week Tonight that covered Mckinsey's consultation history and, shocker, they almost always recommend increases to executive compensation.
A critical part of being a consultant is personally knowing rich people who will pay you millions of dollars for your advice, regardless of what it is. "Giving good advice" is barely relevant.
I thought CEOs commanded wildly exorbitant salaries because they were super smart and made all the decisions. Why would a consulting firm exist?
In theory they provide advice in areas that the company is not expert in. E.g. a pharmaceutical company would ask a consultant to recommend and implement an accounting system.
Consultants are paid to provide outside consensus. They strengthen the CEO's perceived smartness. They give it validity. McKinsey, because of its brand, provides the most value to a CEO in the boardroom.
I wish I could be paid that much to be wrong all the time.
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Do this, do that, now go back the way you started. That'll be $155 million. Be sure to smash that Like button and don't forget to Subscribe!
So, this bastard and Zaslav are the reason I can't watch older seasons of Expeditions Unknown on HBOMax. Fuck 'em both.
Insane how quickly the HBO brand went from penthouse to basement.
this post was submitted on 26 Jun 2025
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