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The CEO, Scott Thompson is apparently leaning on a group of management consultants from Boston Consulting Group to come up with a turnaround plan and these firi

The CEO, Scott Thompson is apparently leaning on a group of management consultants from Boston Consulting Group to come up with a turnaround plan and these firings are apparently the result. Do CEOs really ask outsiders for ideas on how to run/turn around a company? I am in the wrong profession! I wouldn't mind dispensing advice on how to do things I have no experience in doing, all the while pulling in 300+ $ an hour. Somehow I can't visualize (say) Steve Jobs outsourcing thinking and decision making. The closest thing I've seen in software is a couple of instances of bringing in agile methodology consultant/book author types to save failing projects. Those didn't work out well either.

gcb 15y ago
define "apparently". i'm honestly curious
- plinkplonk 15y ago
  "define "apparently". i'm honestly curious " Apparently: dictionary meaning = apparently [əˈpærəntlɪ əˈpɛər-] adv (sentence modifier) it appears that; as far as one knows; seemingly Kara Swisher reported at http://allthingsd.com/20120330/yahoo-layoffs-set-to-begin-next-week-followed-by-restructuring-the-week-after/ http://allthingsd.com/20120330/yahoo-layoffs-set-to-begin-ne... that "Thompson, along with consultants he has hired from the Boston Consulting Group, presented the possible plan in front of Yahoo’s senior execs on Tuesday. " Lacy from Pando "We’ve heard that Thompson has spent most of his tenure thus far holed up in the executive suite with Boston Consulting Group. " So there have been some reports but I don't work at Yahoo and haven't seen this with my own eyes. Hence "apparently". Did that help satisfy your 'honest curiosity'?
  - gcb 15y ago
    ah, from allthingsd. thanks.
rxin 15y ago
IBM was turned around by a formater McKinsey consultant, Louis Gerstner.
- derroboter 15y ago
  Was it? Or rather is it? Any details?
  - fennecfoxen 15y ago
    They've certainly "turned around" where it matters to the company: https://www.google.com/finance?client=ob&q=NYSE:IBM https://www.google.com/finance?client=ob&q=NYSE:IBM
raganwald 15y ago
Do CEOs really ask outsiders for ideas on how to run/turn around a company? Sometimes. More often, they bring in outsiders to articulate a decision they have already made, especially if it’s going to be unpleasant.
dagw 15y ago
Do CEOs really ask outsiders for ideas on how to run/turn around a company? CEOs can't be experts at everything and often don't have the time necessary to research everything they need to research. So as such it's quite reasonable to get people to help them out, especially when you are a new CEO and have to get up to speed really quickly. Getting people from outside the company rather than inside the company minimizes the chance of the information the CEO gets being biased by deep rooted corporate culture or by sycophants or back-stabbers looking out for their own best interest.
lancewiggs 15y ago
Ex McKinsey consultant. Yes. It's shocking how much of what you see in the papers is driven by consultants and investment banks. There are a few companies who disavow the use of them, but most are unafraid to bring in hired guns. The not so smart companies hire large teams of consultants who stay there for years. These are expensive employees. The smart companies use the consultants well to get rapidly informed about certain decisions - such as an acquisition or strategy. The really smart companies use consultants to help build knowledge or capacity (e.g. how to analyze a potential acquisition) and then kick them out immediately afterwards & keep doing it themselves. VCs were good at this. The extraordinarily smart compares are spending too much time hanging out with customers and understanding their unmet needs to worry about hiring management consultants. Of course there are consultants that can help with the ability to observe customers as well...

gcb 15y ago

define "apparently". i'm honestly curious

plinkplonk 15y ago
"define "apparently". i'm honestly curious " Apparently: dictionary meaning = apparently [əˈpærəntlɪ əˈpɛər-] adv (sentence modifier) it appears that; as far as one knows; seemingly Kara Swisher reported at http://allthingsd.com/20120330/yahoo-layoffs-set-to-begin-next-week-followed-by-restructuring-the-week-after/ http://allthingsd.com/20120330/yahoo-layoffs-set-to-begin-ne... that "Thompson, along with consultants he has hired from the Boston Consulting Group, presented the possible plan in front of Yahoo’s senior execs on Tuesday. " Lacy from Pando "We’ve heard that Thompson has spent most of his tenure thus far holed up in the executive suite with Boston Consulting Group. " So there have been some reports but I don't work at Yahoo and haven't seen this with my own eyes. Hence "apparently". Did that help satisfy your 'honest curiosity'?
- gcb 15y ago
  ah, from allthingsd. thanks.

rxin 15y ago

IBM was turned around by a formater McKinsey consultant, Louis Gerstner.

derroboter 15y ago
Was it? Or rather is it? Any details?
- fennecfoxen 15y ago
  They've certainly "turned around" where it matters to the company: https://www.google.com/finance?client=ob&q=NYSE:IBM https://www.google.com/finance?client=ob&q=NYSE:IBM

raganwald 15y ago

Do CEOs really ask outsiders for ideas on how to run/turn around a company? Sometimes. More often, they bring in outsiders to articulate a decision they have already made, especially if it’s going to be unpleasant.

dagw 15y ago

Do CEOs really ask outsiders for ideas on how to run/turn around a company? CEOs can't be experts at everything and often don't have the time necessary to research everything they need to research. So as such it's quite reasonable to get people to help them out, especially when you are a new CEO and have to get up to speed really quickly. Getting people from outside the company rather than inside the company minimizes the chance of the information the CEO gets being biased by deep rooted corporate culture or by sycophants or back-stabbers looking out for their own best interest.

lancewiggs 15y ago

Ex McKinsey consultant. Yes. It's shocking how much of what you see in the papers is driven by consultants and investment banks. There are a few companies who disavow the use of them, but most are unafraid to bring in hired guns. The not so smart companies hire large teams of consultants who stay there for years. These are expensive employees. The smart companies use the consultants well to get rapidly informed about certain decisions - such as an acquisition or strategy. The really smart companies use consultants to help build knowledge or capacity (e.g. how to analyze a potential acquisition) and then kick them out immediately afterwards & keep doing it themselves. VCs were good at this. The extraordinarily smart compares are spending too much time hanging out with customers and understanding their unmet needs to worry about hiring management consultants. Of course there are consultants that can help with the ability to observe customers as well...