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The Sheer Existence Of Consultants Implies A Lack Of Trust In Regular Employees
A couple of quick stories before we get going here:
1. Used to work with a kid who hated the sheer idea of consultants (like someone in Office Space). Whenever something happened in his office, he’d snark to the senior leaders, “You should put a consultant on it.” I saw him say that to a CFO-type when the CFO was looking at some rain that had accumulated under a door to an outside patio. I LOL’ed.
2. I personally don’t 100 percent understand what consultants do. In 2005, I stayed with my cousin in Boston for 2–3 days. He was a consultant at the time. He apparently was always flying to Kansas City to, well, “consult.” At the time I was very young (24) and stupid (-er than I am now) and kept thinking to myself, “Wait, what? Why wouldn’t a company just deal with their own problems? Why would they hire my cousin at such an insane rate?”
3. Everyone you meet in business school seems to race towards the consulting world, unless they’re super into marketing or something. It makes sense. You get paid a lot, generally-speaking, and you get to see a lot of the U.S./world, even if most of it is hotel ballrooms and corporate conference rooms. It probably also makes you hate airlines and air travel even more than most…
