McKinsey -- Opus Dei?

Saw an interesting article on Bloomberg this week in which McKinsey and Roland Berger Strategy Consultants are said to be "secretive societies" much like Opus Dei. Very topical - and as an ex-RB consultant myself, something that immediately caught the eye.

The article actually centres on the publication of a new "consulting exposé" book, which critiques the secretive worlds of firms such as McKinsey & Roland Berger. And whilst I've slammed the work of David Craig for being too one-sided, this new release appears at first glance to be more balanced...

"Consultancies have a strong ability to create priorities. What they can do is force companies and executives to set goals. And they can ask strategically important questions because they come from outside and have certain experience. They can also use knowledge from previous consulting contracts to help clients."

So we're not all bad then - not all out to plunder our clients with no tangible return for our fees. There's also a valid commentary on clients' increasing professionalism in managing the consulting projects they initiate - and taking some responsibility themselves for seeing that the project does not get waylaid.

My German's pretty shaky though, so I'll have to leave the detailed appraisal to others. If any readers want to add comments on this new work, feel free to do so here...

Tony