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This blog post touches on the topic (highly recommended read): https://blog.erratasec.com/2020/07/how-ceos-think.html https://blog.erratasec.com/2020/07/how-ce
by jakub_g 6y ago
This blog post touches on the topic (highly recommended read):
https://blog.erratasec.com/2020/07/how-ceos-think.html https://blog.erratasec.com/2020/07/how-ceos-think.html
> Outside consultants often end up saying the same thing you do, but are trusted whereas you are not. CEOs listen to the outsiders because they have no hidden political agenda.
- ghaff 6y agoThe one time in my career that I worked with management consultants, I wasn't all that impressed. The partner and one of the associates were sharp enough. The other associate was not. That said, they created a big fancy spreadsheet that kept the business planning people happy and basically validated what we had been telling senior management. I'm not sure that's bad though. Having been, at a later time, an IT industry analyst myself, there's certainly some value to someone coming in with a fresh set of eyes, without the biases and mindset of people within the company, and (as you say) without the motivations to push a project that may not make sense.
- srtjstjsj 6y ago2/3 of staff being competent is a great batting average for a business. 3rd party validation of a biased party's proposal is a valuable product. Less good is when the "validation" is just for show, like hiring Ivy League grad consulting just because of the aura of the name.
- ghaff 6y agoI think this case was a little bit of both. Senior management had made up their mind to spend money with McKinsey and we (I was the product manager) rolled our eyes a bit. But they got some fancy spreadsheets out of it and, in all fairness, they did get a trusted outside partner who basically said that our pricing etc. strategy was reasonable.