The plague that is consulting is hammering marketing budgets everywhere. Endless mindless Powerpoint that could have been done in a fraction of the time and points to obvious principles. and at a fraction of the cost. Thanks to Richard for the pointer to this read which makes the point well.

I don’t know how many digital strategy presentations I’ve been asked to sit through that look just like the presentation I saw at the previous client. Somebody has generally done a find and replace on client name and spiced it up with a few insights.

Something the locksmith had not grasped, but which the IT company and consulting firms understood all too well, is the role played by justifying bullshit in the modern economy. For every hour of economically productive work, ten must be spent in senseless activity to maintain the illusion that what you are doing is more difficult and labour intensive than it really is.

Dave Trott also made a similar point here.

It’s why we started Group Lark – advise, coach and counsel but in a fraction of the cost and with a focus on ensuring as many dollars from the effort drive business outcomes. Upend the traditional consulting model. Here is a simple diagram to understand what the effort will result in. Upfront alignment of total spend is everything.