Comments on: Liars, Blowhards, Con Artists, and Management Consultants http://www.3sigma.com/liars-blowhards-con-artists-and-management-consultants/ Facilitating Knowledge Creation Mon, 08 Mar 2010 04:18:57 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: marc http://www.3sigma.com/liars-blowhards-con-artists-and-management-consultants/comment-page-1/#comment-477 marc Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:51:31 +0000 http://www.3sigma.com/?p=2677#comment-477 Good point. A necessary rule of thumb for we who profess, advise, mentor, and educate is to acknowledge what we don't know. As in the the Hippocratic Oath says. "First, do no harm." As Deming said, "There is no substitute for knowledge." Good point. A necessary rule of thumb for we who profess, advise, mentor, and educate is to acknowledge what we don’t know. As in the the Hippocratic Oath says. “First, do no harm.”

As Deming said, “There is no substitute for knowledge.”

]]> By: shaun sayers http://www.3sigma.com/liars-blowhards-con-artists-and-management-consultants/comment-page-1/#comment-476 shaun sayers Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:35:04 +0000 http://www.3sigma.com/?p=2677#comment-476 Here is Seth Godin's recent view on what good companies should do more of ... and I think it applies as much to consultants as anyone http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/11/the-why-imperative.html Basically he reckons we all need to concentrate on what we do well and draw clear lines, meaning that when necessary we admit "we don't do that" as opposed to chancing our arm and trying to blag our way through. Not that it ever happens ... Here is Seth Godin’s recent view on what good companies should do more of … and I think it applies as much to consultants as anyone

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/11/the-why-imperative.html

Basically he reckons we all need to concentrate on what we do well and draw clear lines, meaning that when necessary we admit “we don’t do that” as opposed to chancing our arm and trying to blag our way through. Not that it ever happens …

]]> By: marc http://www.3sigma.com/liars-blowhards-con-artists-and-management-consultants/comment-page-1/#comment-475 marc Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:19:29 +0000 http://www.3sigma.com/?p=2677#comment-475 Shaun, Your reflections speak well for you as a consultant. Deming often spoke of how organization's need help from "outside" the system in order to improve. He also spoke of "hack" consultants. I think his first comment was about a theory of knowledge . "A system cannot understand itself" because it is encapsulated in its own reality. A consultant/mentor is also encapsulated by a reality, but that reality is different. In difference there is discovery. In his second comment regarding "hacks", I think his point was that consultants are subject to the same perverse motivators as any other business enterprise, and if they fail to resist the aim to profit by any means --- relying on lies (marketing and sales hype) --- they do more harm than good. In a competitive environment, the impetus to lie to others and one's self, is very great. In my view, the job of the consultant/mentor is provide a skilled and well informed outside perspective that can help a system see things in new ways. The rightness or wrongness of the consultant's perspective cannot be determined by any objective measures. The consultant's stock and trade is not "right" answers and guaranteed methods, it is his or her ability to understand the nature of a system, variation, knowledge, and human behavior. and to help a client organization create its own unique solutions to the challenges it faces. For this service, the consultant deserves to be paid a fair and equitable wage --- no more and no less. But how can a consultant convince a prospective client of the value of his or her service? Deming told me, the consultant cannot. Only the client can come to the awareness that his or her organization is stuck in the system they have created. Shaun,

Your reflections speak well for you as a consultant.

Deming often spoke of how organization’s need help from “outside” the system in order to improve. He also spoke of “hack” consultants.

I think his first comment was about a theory of knowledge . “A system cannot understand itself” because it is encapsulated in its own reality. A consultant/mentor is also encapsulated by a reality, but that reality is different. In difference there is discovery.

In his second comment regarding “hacks”, I think his point was that consultants are subject to the same perverse motivators as any other business enterprise, and if they fail to resist the aim to profit by any means — relying on lies (marketing and sales hype) — they do more harm than good.

In a competitive environment, the impetus to lie to others and one’s self, is very great. In my view, the job of the consultant/mentor is provide a skilled and well informed outside perspective that can help a system see things in new ways. The rightness or wrongness of the consultant’s perspective cannot be determined by any objective measures.

The consultant’s stock and trade is not “right” answers and guaranteed methods, it is his or her ability to understand the nature of a system, variation, knowledge, and human behavior. and to help a client organization create its own unique solutions to the challenges it faces.

For this service, the consultant deserves to be paid a fair and equitable wage — no more and no less.

But how can a consultant convince a prospective client of the value of his or her service? Deming told me, the consultant cannot. Only the client can come to the awareness that his or her organization is stuck in the system they have created.

]]> By: shaun sayers http://www.3sigma.com/liars-blowhards-con-artists-and-management-consultants/comment-page-1/#comment-474 shaun sayers Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:46:30 +0000 http://www.3sigma.com/?p=2677#comment-474 I can sympathise with the central message of this post. As a management consultant myself I do get embarrassed by the exaggerated claims made by some in "my profession". As an example I see a lot of consultants who are pitching to implement some standard or methodology or other making all kinds of wild claims. For example "It WILL increase staff motivation, it WILL improve efficiency, it WILL pay for itself in no time ..." well sometimes, often even, it might not. It depends on a whole stack of variables if we're truthful, not least the way we implement it, how much we spend implementing it, and, most crucially, the starting position of the client. Maybe they are pretty tight to begin with, so for a start you've got a reduced scope to deliver against these wild claims It's the snake oil of the modern business world and it does the rest of us no good at all I can sympathise with the central message of this post. As a management consultant myself I do get embarrassed by the exaggerated claims made by some in “my profession”. As an example I see a lot of consultants who are pitching to implement some standard or methodology or other making all kinds of wild claims. For example “It WILL increase staff motivation, it WILL improve efficiency, it WILL pay for itself in no time …” well sometimes, often even, it might not. It depends on a whole stack of variables if we’re truthful, not least the way we implement it, how much we spend implementing it, and, most crucially, the starting position of the client. Maybe they are pretty tight to begin with, so for a start you’ve got a reduced scope to deliver against these wild claims

It’s the snake oil of the modern business world and it does the rest of us no good at all

]]> By: Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog » Management Improvement Carnival #81 http://www.3sigma.com/liars-blowhards-con-artists-and-management-consultants/comment-page-1/#comment-467 Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog » Management Improvement Carnival #81 Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:38:53 +0000 http://www.3sigma.com/?p=2677#comment-467 [...] Liars, Blowhards, Con Artists, and Management Consultants by Marc Hersch – “Many years ago I had a conversation with Dr. Deming in which I asked him about what my role as a consultant, should be. He explained that my role was to provide my client with an outside perspective and a set of a methods for figuring out how to optimize their system of enterprise.” [...] [...] Liars, Blowhards, Con Artists, and Management Consultants by Marc Hersch – “Many years ago I had a conversation with Dr. Deming in which I asked him about what my role as a consultant, should be. He explained that my role was to provide my client with an outside perspective and a set of a methods for figuring out how to optimize their system of enterprise.” [...]

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