I would say every business and the vast majority of individual people occasionally act as fluffers (as I believe I am to interpret that term) so sure. My point

I would say every business and the vast majority of individual people occasionally act as fluffers (as I believe I am to interpret that term) so sure. My point is not to reveal a gotcha that McKinsey is not the word of God. You will find nobody at the firm thinks this way. Many people have strongly negative perceptions of consulting firms, and I’m sure some people have strong anecdotes to justify their beliefs. Yet I’m brought in to address certain problems and it’s very clear that help is needed. Sometimes the solution is something that could have come from someone inside, or is perhaps something that someone on the inside is already saying beforehand, but the consultant gets communicated better to leadership because they have more political capital and credibility on the issue. If this happens, then you’re already experiencing some of the problems highlighted in this article. Political and organizational friction is real. If that is the “only” thing preventing an organization from solving a problem, then they are still incapable of solving the problem on their own. I think a lot of people would benefit from seeing how things are from the consultants point of view.