More than ten years ago, I presented a synopsis of The Witch Doctors: Making Sense of the Management Gurus by John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge (Times Business, 2006).
The book was a scathing assessment of the management consulting industry, asking on the inside cover, “do you dream of the day when the consultants will go away and let you get back to work?”
I find it interesting how many times that I have been inside businesses and say the same things that their own people have already said. And, how many times they perceive my statements as significantly more credible than what they have already heard from their internal constituents.
Why is an external source more valuable and more credible? A consultant does not work in the company. He or she is only connected to a firm to the extent that the company allows it to be. Why would something an external person says have more value than what an internal person says?
I have seen this from both perspectives. When I was a corporate employee, I said things that had no weight at all, but when an external facilitator said the same thing, it was like “pennies from heaven.” In a recent consulting job, I had the same experience, because I saw employees readily accept what I said, even though it was no different from what their own managers had said many times.
Remember this – perception is reality. We cannot control perception. If insiders perceive an external source as more credible, then that is the way it is. Everyone is entitled to his or her viewpoint on anything and everything.
The Witch Doctors is wrong. The external view is important because it is perceived as more valuable than the internal view. And, that is all that matters.
What do you think? Let’s talk about it really soon.
First Friday Book Synopsis 