For your amusement

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.

The news that American TV company Showtime is launching a new comedy series about management consultants, subtly entitled House of Lies makes for a depressing start to the year for anyone working in the consulting industry.  But it’s also a timely reminder that any attempts to improve the image of management consultants in the media (clients’ views and would-be recruits into the industry are different) will need to engage people’s hearts as well as their minds.

I recently spent a week in the woods on a fundamental bush craft course, run by Ray Mears (him off the telly). It was a tough week in which we had to learn the various arts of fire-making, shelter building and rabbit-skinning as well as generally getting used to what life would feel like if we were deprived of things we now consider pivotal to our existence. Electricity. Running water. iPhone 4.