Lenny owned/ran an electronics repair business,( supposedly the 3rd largest , west of the Mississippi.)
after 5 years he hired a fella out of MN to help him make more money.

After three months and $38,000 the consultant told him to sell it a.s.a.p., get it gone, get out .

Lenny did so , and the person that he sold it too, on;y lasted 5 months, she declared bankruptcy.

What I find is that companies promote from within to the point where, at each promotion, there is less of a leadership promotion, and more of a you did well promotion. Fire fighters who are good at their job tend to manage less and fight fires more and it perpetuates itself to the point where there is no ability to vision and transform because if the constant emergencies.

That's why you need consultants.


It's not true across the board but I'm amazed by the number of sr. leadership I interact with that have no ability to strategize or lead. But they know "how to do" very well.

quote:

Originally posted by Lord Vaalic:
If you have to hire an outside company to come in and tell you how to fix your business, the first thing that needs to happen is all upper management needs to be fired. If you don't know what needs to be fixed you don't belong in the job

The converse is that in many cases, those execs do know what needs doing, but the board/CEO wants someone to blame if that doesn't work out (i.e., the name-brand consultants.) In those cases, the fee goes to having someone with pretty credentials front the preferred solution, so the key execs don't risk losing their jobs.

And, you wouldn't want timid executives to be on the hook for their decisions, now would you?