The sexy business of consulting

Talking to some MBA students last week I decided to spend some time challenging any preconceptions they might have about the consulting industry, particularly the sort that might lead them to believe that, five minutes after finishing their course, they’d be waltzing into a glittering career of unfettered riches as a high-brow, blue-sky-thinking McKinsey consultant.

By way of supporting my case I showed them the trailer for House of Lies, a new US TV series about management consultants. This, I suggested, was all the evidence they needed that the industry had a serious reputational problem that it urgently needed to address.

My plan backfired.

The clip involves the actor, Don Cheadle, who plays one of the characters in the show, painting a picture of the life of a consultant, which leaves us in now doubt that they’re a deceitful bunch of fast-thinking, smooth-talking corporate muggers, who spend their time persuading clients to hand over obscene amounts of money, in return for which they appear to do nothing more than tell them what they already know. And have sex with them.

By the end of the clip I knew that I’d lost the argument. Anyone in my audience who had been giving passing thought to the idea of a career in management consulting was now sold on the idea, hook, line and sinker. Which made me wonder if the industry is missing a trick. If the war for talent really is as fierce as everyone says it is (and everyone I’ve talked to recently really does say it is) then perhaps consulting firms need to get back to basics and make themselves appear...well...sexy. Forget about attracting talent by outlining your commitment to training and development and your growing reputation as the leading provider of Dynamics-based solutions to the leisure and hospitality sector. Just tell them they’ll make pots of cash and have lots of sex.

The trouble is that, while there’s little doubt that people would be beating a path to your door, you’d be setting yourselves up for

trouble with clients because, let’s face it, you’d be sexy for reasons that wouldn’t do you much good in the long run (really, there are only so many times a client can be fleeced and made love to before they start asking irritating questions about the value your Dynamics-based solutions are actually delivering). But it does rather beg the question:

How can the consulting industry become sexy for all the right reasons?