Think for yourselves and use consultants wisely.
by Christopher Weyant © New Yorker Magazine
A little over twenty years ago I spent some time on the inside of a large hospital foundation. The hospital’s new CEO had come from the consulting world, and he persuaded the head of the foundation that a renewed brand would help the hospital – and the foundation, which would do the work – raise more money.
So this Canadian nonprofit health care centre spent a huge amount of money so an advertising firm could rejig the values, mission statement, and logo of the hospital. Toward the end of the process – shortly after my arrival at the foundation – I joined the hospital’s rebranding committee. Not one person around the table felt the advertising agency had got its work right, but their ideas had been accepted nonetheless. And every time new decisions had to be made, based on the new approach to branding, the answer was always the same: “we don’t know what the right answer is, we’ll have to ask the consultants.”
The advertising firm hadn’t enabled the hospital to think for itself, it had created a cycle of dependency.
That’s a concept the former Clerk of the Privy Council, Michael Wernick, discussed in his recent Policy Options article, “The Never-ending Question of Contracting in the Public Service.” https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/february-2023/federal-contracting-public-service/].
If you’ve been following Ottawa politics over the last month you’ll know McKinsey & Company has been on the hot seat. It’s a bit unfair to point the finger at McKinsey: federal governments (past and present) have, for years, made liberal use of all kinds of consulting firms. Running government and providing services that people need has become extremely complex. Nevertheless, the real question is, in a nutshell, shouldn’t the government be doing this thinking for themselves? Do consultants enable their clients, or do they make them dependent? Read Wernick’s article; it’s superb.
We’re consultants, and yet we’ve spent time advocating that organizations use their consultants wisely, and devote time and energy to thinking for themselves. Organizations fret about their bench strength and want to ensure they have the capabilities to build for the future. Well, consultants both enhance and undermine that goal. Rather than re-tread this pair of old articles, we thought it might be time simply to bring them back: the message is evergreen.
Have a look at two previous articles from our 2012 Contrabrand anthology publication that seem particularly relevant to this issue: “Branding on the Beach” (July 2003) and “Building Brands by Telling Stories.” (May 2003). I hope you think so as well.
