What does a consultant actually do?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 มี.ค. 2023
- It’s a question as old as however old management consulting is: what exactly do consultants do all day? In our first-ever “case study” Dan investigates the world of consulting with help from two New York Times reporters and a former BCG consultant.
Video by Dan Toomey and Henry Stockwell
Additional camera by Evan Frolov
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"What does a data scientist actually do?"
Sales Engineer
social media managers!!
What do bankers actually do
The difference between CEO, CFO, COO, CMO, CIA. etc.
Management consultancy is actually a very simple three stage process:
1. Find out what the client wants to hear
2. Find out how much they want to pay to hear it.
3. Double it.
This formula works for "historic" and "economic" consulting, except, on the last step, you triple it.
4. Be the scapegoat when everything goes wrong without any true responsibility
@@JakoWako Lol. We joke at our work about this. When our boss wants to make an unpopular decision, he'll just pay the consultants to say it instead, like he didn't already know he had to lay a load of people off. Consultants basically said eveything our internal management accounts did, but since they're a third party everyone can blame them for the layoffs without anyone having to take the blame. it's such a redundant field in many aspects.
Do you have to say what they want to hear, or is that extra?
4. Give it to the next person
Consultants are basically just influencers of the corporate world at this point
Underrated comment lol
The instagram ass models of business
The best way to put it
Dogberts for hire 😏😜
@@handlemonium makes total sense! :)
As a consultant this is quite interesting and helpful to figure out what I do
Preparing a PowerPoint as we speak to present these findings in the meeting.
@@danielwestphal6941do you have notes from last week? I need someone to drive me to next meeting btw
Same ahahahha
I hope you are getting paid for it otherwise it’s a grave consulting sin!
My thought exactly!
My dad has always said "A consultant is someone who can tell you what work needs to be done, but can't do it themselves"
"Someone who takes your watch, tells you what time it is, and hands you a bill for that"
Hypocrite is the perfect word for it
sure they can, but that's tedious work for other people. The "not so good" graduates do that in implementation firms that call themselves consultants as well, but never really consult at all
To be fair, this is basically Elon Musk, and I can't wait to get my space internet.
Technical consultants come in and do the work for you. E.g. I've been brought in to perform large scale data and/or document migrations cos it's a temporary project, you don't want to hire permanent staff that will linger around afterwards
"Go to meetings and prepare for meetings." Accurate. We hire consultants and they just sit in meetings and create PowerPoints to show at the next meeting to show what was in the previous meeting.
Sure. But what do you think business people do?
They do the same thing.
Consultants just do it turbo.
If your job is to actually execute something, you are a drone. Not a thinker. (Ewww. You actually “buy” media?)
It’s a middle class between the owners and the workers.
It’s the owners. The thinkers. And the workers.
It’s how smart but not necessarily rich kids deal with capitalism. (While empowering older rich kids.)
Isn't this what a Secretary is supposed to do
@@Aryan_0 an administrative assistant prepares for the logistic of a meeting. Booking the room, organizing travel, ensuring there are pens and a whiteboard.
A consultant prepares for the content and presentation of the meeting.
@@Aryan_0 No. This is what interns and entry level analysts
are supposed to do.
@@prospectnyc well I just studied about that aspect, it's different from the real world it seems
It always baffled me how 22-year-olds could get hired out of college into management consulting where the whole premise of the job is that you have industry knowledge and experience to be able to guide other companies, not just recite porter's 5 forces.
The college grads are putting together analyses, not delivering the industry expertise…
@@JK8 The analyses of other consultants?
There are plenty of experiences Managers, Senior Managers, Directors and Partners with decades of both industry and consulting experience. However, these people can't spend their days formulating their ideas into building Excel models and Powerpoint presentations. This is where the 22yo comes into play. The management team will review the client's problem, form their hypothesis and give junior consultants a task to research about a topic x and then formulate the results into a presentable form. Management will then review, identify issues and guide the junior into the right direction regarding their research findings.
You don't you get hired as an analyst not a consultant at the Big 3 firms BCG, Bain, McKinsey.
new grads do all the blunt tedious work. They hire for potential hence why they recruit from target schools. New grad hires work on research, they don't lead a project. Source, I work in consulting.
I will never forget being 24, one year of work experience in consulting, sitting in a room with 5 highly experienced Heads of Departments, who have kids older than me, and then telling them what to do with their IT systems. It felt.. weird.
To be fair, if they were that old you probably were actually much more knowledgeable in IT than them 😂
I’m 24 and you just summarized my whole life right now
I am 26 and experience it for 5 years already.
Just last week had a meeting with 4 50-years old heads of departments. I was sitting there and realising “my god, I am still the most knowledgeable person in this meeting room”.
People were talking to talk to flatter their ego 🫠
@@user-ut4qm7kl2s well, as a business owner that regularly hires brainpower I can tell you: You are, but only in very specific things.
This is what business owners do. They know a little about everything. But when it needs to be perfect, you hire highly trained specialists.
It not that anyone is smarter, its just that everyone is an expert in another field.
You need to know and understand about 300 different jobs and fields when you running the company.
In terms of opportunity cost, its also just cheaper to hire someone to run the numbers than to do it yourself.
@@clemens1993don't tell them that, let them inflate their ego for a bit lol
My dad is a really successful private consultant.
A lot of friends ask me what my dad does for a living, I remember asking him the question what does he do in consulting and he just said.
"Just have common sense, big corps are stupid stiff and out of touch with the basics, you just tell them the things a minimal educated person would tell them to do, it's easy." like bro...
Like not wrong, you see what management does and it’s like 🤯
wth
As someone that works in corporate and has to deal with external consultants I definitely agree with this. They'll literally say the same thing a high performer has been screaming for months, but with more jargon, and 5x the cost and leadership goes "what a profound insight into our org! I never would have figured out it would be more efficient for employees to "print to pdf" instead of printing and scanning a document. Definitely worth that $300K"
@@bounty202g Christ, this hurt to read. This one's just too close to home.
I've done occassional consulting work and it feels dirty. You show up, see some obvious shit, write a 20-page document about it, and show up again for a presentation.
BAM, 2 months' salary in a week's worth of work.
PLS NOTE: The BCG, Bain and Mckinsey actually form a part of the Big Three, more commonly known as MBB. The Big Four is actually a reference to Deloitte, KPMG, PwC and EY - all of which have consulting functions as well.
Apt
I was about to say like that wasn’t right 0.o
yeah i was confused by that. big four is the ones you mentioned and while they do consulting they are the big 4 of accounting
I‘d say this was part of sone mockery/joke :)
@@rickyrougs yeah exactly, they are esteemed auditors.
Their business model is:
1. Tell clients they're experts. Provide one experienced consultant for a project.
2. Have most of the work done by overworked grads. As these grads are the top of their class, they can manage to figure stuff out quickly enough.
3. Bill obscene amounts to the client for every hour worked for as long as possible. Clients essentially pay obscene amounts for college grads to apply some theories learnt in college and present it well, making it a very profitable business model 😂
I approve! Happened to me and my colleague
they're the one you hire if you want to tip the Power balance in your companies,
basically you invite a bunch of corporate mobs to harass whoever is in your way, so nobody will disagree with your decision
Similar experience except the company I worked for was tiny and could rarely turn a profit so we got paid like shit and ran on tight headlines and us college grads did a lot of grunt work because our hours were cheap
TBF this is how the world works. You have a senior talk to the client all the time, then most of the work gets done by juniors. You bill every hour as if it was a "senior" hour. Tada.
omg you hit the nail on the head 😂😂😂😂
My grandpa was a consultant at the steel mill he used to work at. He used to tell us about how all of his suggestions for improving the mill were completely ignored while he worked on the floor. Later when he was a consultant, his advice was met with "oh wow I never knew that was an issue" or "oh that's a great suggestion sir".
So in conclusion, a consultant is someone you pay to listen to so that you can ignore the people who are actually bringing value to your company.
Consultant: have you considered not putting the cafeteria next to the 2,000 F vat of molten iron
Manager: WOW this guy is good
Exactly - a lot of the time consultants will hear what staff have to say and bring it back to management - and management may or may not be receptive to it because its coming from a different mouth
My ex girlfriend left me for a young consultant so this is extremely gratifying, thank you. I was a secure overachiever, which is why I'm an underpaid artist.
Aw tough break man.
@@dixztube thank you rich but I dodged a bullet there
Hit me in the gut with the “was a secure overachiever, which is why I’m now underpaid” comment.
chin up, hit the gym, read up, become better and you will have the best woman out there brother
@@TommyLikeTom you should've hired him to consult you on your relationship with her
The fact that consulting is such big business is probably one of the biggest pieces of proof that most CEOs and upper management don't really know what they're doing
The answer is simple: consultants are hired to solve problems that the client does not know how to solve. They give advice that the customer is willing to pay millions of dollars for. They tell you what, why and how to do it. They draw up strategies for your company to survive in the market, keep your customers and beat your competitors.
- They understand your real problem and give the best solution for it.
- They teach, explain their solutions through presentation/meetings.
Imagine being on a boat lost in the middle of the ocean. They are like a compass that guides you to drive your boat in the right direction through the unknown, storms and waves.
@@Consultant31 lol, your user name explains it. It's all fugazi.
Weeks after watching this video, it turned out a friend's workplace, a textile related company, hired a consultant. It turns out that it pretty much not only exposed how upper management didn't know what they were doing, but exposed how the consultant had no idea what they were doing. Meanwhile all the employees were thinking about how stupid the consultant was with his very basic observations and his suggestions for improvement that were actually impossible due to machinery and process (things he would have known if he knew the basics of he business). The consultant was such a dumb dumb he ended up cutting his hand with some machinery that he obviously had no knowledge of how to actually operate. And he definitely lacked the common sense not to use it. But I guess he had some good college education or something that made the company hire the guy. Jesus, the absurdity that capitalism makes possible.
Management hires consultants because they don’t want to make decisions that will get them fired. They hire consultants so the can cya their jobs and blame the consultants if things don’t work out.
@@Consultant31ideally sure but in reality no
@@Consultant31 So basically what a lot of a company's employees do but easier and you get paid more. Noted, upper management and CEOs are idiots and out of touch.
As a former management consultant, all we do is 1. Listen 2. Run some numbers 3. Recommend decision makers do certain things 4. Recommend decision makers not do certain things.
That is literally it.
Why former? What do you do now?
@@SnowPowerz Contribute to society
@@SnowPowerz Got tired of the travel, so I took a full remote pmo role.
@@DriveupLife22 pmo?
@@agsdjklshadsabnproject management
I had a business professor once, that looked like Albert Einstein.
This professor, he had a great quote about what consultants do:
“They steal your watch and tell you what time it is”
that's perfect... just add "and then sell it back to you at a markup"
@@AwkwardHandshaking No because the most important part is the fact every time you want to know the time you have to go back and ask them. They have no interest in creating management competence within a business as that would put them out of a job.
Your professor is a JayRock fan
@@Jay_Johnsonno
A typical scenario:
1) CEO has idea, but it's risky.
2) CEO hires consultants to "see what they think"
3) CEO does idea anyway
4) It either works and CEO gets praise, or it fails and consultants get the blame.
Either way, CEO doesn't look bad.
The answer is simple: consultants are hired to solve problems that the client does not know how to solve. They give advice that the customer is willing to pay millions of dollars for. They tell you what, why and how to do it. They draw up strategies for your company to survive in the market, keep your customers and beat your competitors.
- They understand your real problem and give the best solution for it.
- They teach, explain their solutions through presentation/meetings.
Imagine being on a boat lost in the middle of the ocean. They are like a compass that guides you to drive your boat in the right direction through the unknown, storms and waves.
@@Consultant31 They hire undergrads with zero business experience and no reputation to uphold. The majority of consultants are just there to tell people what they want to hear. A small fraction are very experienced and can provide amazing advice
@@singularity3724Are there any data or mechanisms to measure the effectiveness of Consultanting firms? Or how does a CEO decide on how best to purchase their 'correct decision' coupon?
@@zappbrannigan83Probably but the greatest is likely reputation. People that encourage shitty decisions are gonna get dumpstered very quickly
This is exactly the impression I got from the is video. Essentially the point of the job is to defer responsibility to "experts" outside of the company, so that the people in charge can say, "hey look here's what the experts say" without taking any hit. if it fails you say "well looks like even the experts were wrong!"
Inflation hits people a lot harder than a crashing stock or housing market as it directly affects people's cost of living that people immediately feel the impact of. It's not surprising negative market sentiment is so high now. We really need help to survive in this Economy.
I think I could really use more guidance to navigate the market, it is completely overwhelming, I've liquidated most of my assets and I could really use some advice on what best to invest into.
@Dave Delva please who is the consultant that assist you with your investment and if you don't mind, how do I get in touch with them?
@Dave Delva Thanks for sharing, I just liquidated some of my funds to invest in the stock market, I will need every help I can get.
Scam
26 yo Management Consultant here. "Going to meetings and preparing for meetings" is a very good description. At best you take on some menial tasks that still have some tangible value at least. At worst, your job is simply to agree with the client, fiddle with some PowerPoint slides, and show up to meetings you definitely don't need to be at so the client doesn't feel like they're paying for nothing. Easy money for sure.
How do I get one of these jobs? I'm great with having common sense and doing pointless tasks that make everyone else feel like everything is under control.
@@FordMustangFoxbody It's all about matching the skills they're supposedly selling to those clients. The services are going to vary consultancy by consultancy. So the best starting place is your skills or degree. Find a consultancy in that domain, and apply for a junior position. Done. It's all about matching. Don't have the skills for a specific consultancy ? Get a quick online cert for that specific skill. 6 months, 3 months, hell for 2000$ you could sign up to a 2 day training from a reputable college and get out with a piece a paper that consultancies are definitely going to hire you for. At a junior level of course, we're only talking junior roles here. The rest is cloak and daggery my friend
@@jamesc.2907 Yeah, I got a BBA and was looking more towards IT, but I would love to get into this with my BBA because it looks like it pays way more.
You are not a management consultant at all, you are a con man pretending to know what you are doing while figuring out ways to extract even more money from your clients for providing nothing. If you were in your 50s with a string of successful businesses behind you then you would be an actual management consultant.
The term "consultant" is not protected, anyone can call themselves that.
1) No reputable consultancy ever hired someone based on an online cert.
2) Broadly speaking, the reputable consultancies offer strategy, M&A & restructuring. Work there consists mainly of lots of data analysis, corporate finance, research, planning & validation, and negotiations.
You, on the other hand, talk about implementation/PMO service firms, who often call themselves "consultancies", but all they do is this typical project management service (which can be an important service, but it is a very specific and intellectually undemanding type of job). If you do project management, of course, your work consists of meetings over meetings. This is what pmo is.
I became an engineering consultant by accident despite not having a background or interest in engineering. I myself do not know what I do, which makes it REALLY hard to explain my job to people when they ask.
I want to quit because I hate it and I feel useless, but also: money. I like having money because it allows me to pay for things like: staying alive, and also maybe someday a lightsaber.
❤😂🎉
Damn that is a story I want to hear. Like how did they hire you?
@@bobbywhite5319 I mean it's not that exciting! It was the last undergrad internship available at my university and I REALLY needed the money cos I was maxed out on my overdraft. I passed the interview and worked hard. They loved me and invited me back after I graduated - an offer that I didn't originally intend to accept because despite it being a decent company to work for, I didn't like the job itself... but then the pandemic hit, I had a nervous breakdown, and it was the only place I could get into that wouldn't require an interview.
Real lightsabers are a thing now, though they are cumbersome & dangerous.
Are you an engineering consultant without an engineering degree?
I remember when I went to a consultancy open day at university, an example they gave of their work was that they suggested moving the portaloos closer to the workers so they wouldn't have to walk so far for a shit. I hope they didn't get paid too much for that.
Improved worflow!
then they put the porta-poo things in the cafeteria to make it even more efficient.
You can be guaranteed that cost someone $10 000 +.
to be honest, it is one of the things you need to think of when forecasting for the needs over a certain period of time (e.g: howq many products do I wanna make? how many workers do I need? how many hours per day? the last question includes breaks etc... so making toilets closer can be an effective way to reduce the time needed to get there - any time won is good)
@@yasserbencheikh2626 Yeah but there is a fine line between making things more efficient and just typical capitalist maxing out of profits before anything else; good example- the toilet is way too far away, the workers have to leave the building and get wet when it's raining to just pee etc---> move it closer, in the same building. How it often goes: --> in order to ensure drivers deal with ridiculous number of deliveries, Amazon made them pee in bottles so they don't have to 'lose time' for using the toilet; step further, which also probably happens in some places round the world- stuck a bucket next to a worker so they can do 'option 2' without 'losing time and efficiency' to have to go to the toilet...
Would’ve loved this video in 2010 when I was a teen and asked my friend what her parents do for a living. She said they’re consultants. She couldn’t describe the job at all so I thought it was a euphemism for sex work of some kind. 😂
It kind of is.
This format is so good, loved the way you changed shots for every line, loved the outfit, and I acc learnt something in the process. More of exactly this please! maybe just talk about what different people's jobs actually mean, would b a sick series.
Absolutely great comedic timing
plz, do it
Good to note, that management consulting is just one type of consulting of which they vary a lot. I am a Data and analytics type consultant in big 4 and I mostly build dashboards (reports), code and build IT architecture to manage companies storage of data. Which is real tangible work that I give to the company at the end and they continue to use after the project. Management consultants just generally give advice, so yes its mostly just building power points... (I could never do that job... yikes)
I would rather crunch numbers than try to telepathically come up with what the client wants to hear.
Have you seen office copilot for PowerPoint
Software consultants actually produce something.
Given the department name, it sounds like you worked at a Big4 that is 'two different letters of the alphabet'. I did an internship in the D&A team there too! I'd say my coding skills are adept, but they didnt give me a job because my powerpoint skills suck. Glad to hear you're doing real tangible stuff though! Gives me a bit of relief that you guys get to actually do stuff.
consulting could be a useful way to channel expertise, and solve public problems as well, but these giga companies have zero ethical considerations. It's really sad because there are so many industry experts who want to help change things for the better and aren't only concerned with fat paychecks. I work with a small consultancy and even though we struggle sometimes financially, we get to choose clients. We are a research consultancy and are committed to work in projects that help companies have a more equitable organisational culture, or help tenants build a proper feedback system or support impact evaluations of development interventions on a scientific basis. It's so important to be daring and courageous and putting out the answer based on evidence. Confrontation is also important, because many times clients' values and practices don't match and it is never good for them on the long term. I think if there was less greed and more courage, consultancy could go a long way in making societies function. Most consultants I met in research consulting have a similar drive, and it's extremely hard to find ethical employers who care about the social value aspect of the job.
This is great work. My grandma was a consultant in the 80s working with some bigger tech firms and still views everything in a lens of consultant-y processes, it honestly drives me insane because it really just seems like an endless vortex of buzzwords for otherwise rational and comprehensible planning/problem solving.
It's is but you need to add the mystique & intrigue, in order to bill them. You're charging them for obfuscating rhetoric
I went to an interview for a consulting job, and I had no idea what I should say to make me more attractive in their eyes, and when I asked how a typical day for me would be at the company they gave me a stuttering generic answer which my 128-year-old great great grandma could have made up.
yes I did have that trenchcoat before this whole thing
Naah I wouldn't believe that
Something consultants do especially well is provide company management a way to pass blame for their decisions onto a 3rd party. That way they can distance themselves from unpopular decisions like laying off staff since it has been recommended by the consultant.
They're also used to provide 'independent' views on things like assumptions used for market forecasting etc. which come off as more credible to shareholders
That's why these companies thrive off reputation - that's one of the largest things they can provide to a company.
They can also staff projects that, if they fail or become too costly, can point the finger and blame the 3rd party as a scapegoat.
It's also a great way to fill staff positions for managed services while you're in a company-wide layoff. That's while consultants thrive in recessions.
Less willing to hire permanent staff because it's harder to fire someone permanent than a temporary hire.
So it’s not just “nothing”
There is a purpose and reasons why but not a sophisticated or complex one.
Consultants and Consultancy Firms feel like they know that 90% of the work they do is propagating the social circus that we humans participate in on a daily basis
The remaining 10% is actually giving advice
As a former consultant for a big 4, I can honestly say, our job was to spend our clients money so that they would not have to pay taxes or something. I did nothing but sit at a desk for 10 hours looking at the internet and then would go out for a $200 dinner. Then do that again.
Oh my gosh I love the host, so good at presenting anything lol Dany you're the best
thank you Mr. T
Good enough to be a consultant
We had a lot of consultants came to solve our engineering “problems” but they always make clear to us in the beginning of every meeting -“ just to let everyone know, i am not technical”. 😅
Lovely
I think this mystery only really applies to management consultants.
I'm a data consultant and I'm basically just brought in to develop new data capabilities (cloud migration, dashboards/reporting capability for that data, sometimes web dev). This usually requiring a bit of programming and pipeline building ability. A lot of public companies don't pay the right money for people to do this full time so they just bring people like me in for a few weeks to build it, and then run it as a managed service.
I like the fact I can explain my job so easily. It's a very concrete set of capabilities, I just think of myself like a digital plumber for hire. And because I'm surrounded by people who do "everything" kinda roles with glossy Powerpoint presentations (the mgmt consultants), I'm usually left alone and can leave work at the right time or early quite often.
It's great!
For the money they pay you, they could just hire a full time worker for less though?
@@Zero11_ss No, this is the issue. They often don't have enough consistent work or "BAU" for full-time employees, which is why they outsource when they do have a 2/3 month dev job.
Digital plumber is an interesting analogy. I have worked in small/medium web development teams. It felt more like digital construction workers. We come, build your house, hire 1-2 maintenance workers and leave.
Yeah technical consulting is much difference. I'm more of a general IT consultant and we're like contractors for a house. If someone wants to upgrade or expand their infrastructure we design and build it for them. Companies only do this every few years at most so it's not worth having a full time staff who knows how to do it.
So its actually contractual work?
"Those who can't do, teach, and those who cant teach, consult."
This was an excellent video, and yeah, it is pretty wild that consultants make so much money for essentially just doing BS and riding on the coattails of status. I've met many consultants here on the east coast, and I would say the primary thing they sell is looking "smart" or "professional"., Almost like business actors, even moreso than being actual 'brains' because in reality they know nothing about the businesses they're trying to help. It's all about that business aesthetic -- the Ivy League diploma and expensive suit are the primary products, not their "intelligence" or "insight"
This is, without a doubt, the best video I have ever watched on TH-cam. Just started a business and I made a deliberate effort to call it an agency and NOT a consultancy because I will actually be doing things, not just telling people how to do things 😂😂
I’ve had consultants come to my class at uni to talk about their job. Their day to day is 9-5 with some breaks in between, emails, powerpoints and meetings so like every other office job. I think they’re different as their clients are local governments in developing countries or big orgs like u said. I still don’t know why anyone would pay so much to use them.
Executives want to make changes to improve things within their organizations --> Can't do it because of limitations such as separation of power or office politics --> Hire consultants because they are supposedly good --> Consultants figure out what the executives want and propose just that --> The plan works and both the executives and consultants get what they want --> Consultants get the credit --> Reinforces the perception that consultants are useful at improving an organization --> More executives hire consultants to do their biddings
9-5? Sounds off
@@boogeyman2036 And it's a free 'out-of-jail' card for the executives to use when talking about cuts/lay-offs or any other ideas that might not be popular with the employees: 'Look, the consultancy firm said we have to do it, so I trust them, don't blame it on me' kinda vibe.
@@bryantnarvaez6304 yeah, this tipped me off that he has no clue what consultants do. If nothing else, they are at least crunching hours.
@@boogeyman2036 "Consultants figure out what the executives want and propose just that" therein lies the problem :D
"It's an everything job, but it can also be a nothing job" - best definition of management consulting ever! 😂
I've been working with consultants for a year now and still have little idea of what they do besides travel and meetings!
PowerPoints
@@gabrielblanco2969 and talking - they do talking as well.
If you overhear "I'm a consultant" don't assume it's a management consultant. It can be anything: many programmers are consultants. A tech company might have 50 programmers: 30 employees and 20 consultants. All doing the same thing - just different employment forms - only real difference being their contracts
The proper term for a consultant that actually does stuff is Contractor
@@litkeys3497 Perhaps, I hear that word a lot in the construction field (and also in the UFC) but there’s no common equivalent word in some languages like swedish.
In the software field here in Sweden there’s no equivalent word to ”contractor” - a large part of programmers are just called consultants (some software designers might be called ”freelance” if they have a solo business)
I was a nanny for two high level McKenzie consultants, and they sometimes worked from when I woke up to when I went to bed, were seemingly in meetings all day, were only not traveling constantly because it was covid and taught me that there is no amount of money in the world to get me to do some jobs
I am so glad people with different talents and inclinations exists. I work in a very specific niche of consulting and love it, despite the long hours. Other people's screaming children however? Couldn't stand that even for an hour.
Here for this. More case studies 👏🏼Tech Product Managers next
* eyes emoji *
pretty sure the video will be filled with meetings, meetings and more Meeeetttings yeeeettttt
So ... a certified consultant 🧐😜😅
Ahh TPMs/PMs. The dream job. Getting pay to do nothing.
The primary role is to answer the business' first question with "well that depends" then go on to upsell them on a large SOW for "market research"
I'm so glad I work in private equity, an industry much better understood by the public than consulting!
We absolutely need more videos like this I absolutely adored this!
😂😂 Homie knows his value. Blurred his feet.
I work at a Big 4 firm and I have noticed that there is a widespread "busy culture" where people tend to overcomplicate most tasks and processes. Everyone here thinks more work and effort = more value and better. Sometimes I think a big part of it is ego and the need to feel important and busy. For example, we have a ton of random project trackers, redundant pmo drones, and meetings that could be condensed into a more automated, streamlined workflow. If the work is simpler/more straight to the point, then people may feel like they are not accomplishing or contributing as much. It feels like someone who attends back to back meetings all day and contributes or produces nothing is seen as productive whereas the developer or analyst heads down working on deliverables and not attending any meetings is seen as unproductive or unimportant.
""busy culture" where people tend to overcomplicate most tasks and processes"
Brother, this is how consultants make money - overcomplicate things and sell it as a package. Lots of folks on YT do this too. Its all around us.
I hear you man. I also work at one of the Big 4, currently in a tech lead role on a fast-paced engagement with a client in serious need of structure and direction.
Generally over half of my day is meetings, many of which could have been streamlined with a proper understanding of the ask, which is usually left up to the few technical folks on the call to reexplain every time until it's written down somewhere correctly, usually in the JIRA-equivalent project management tool. Lot of non-technical folks trying to earnestly own communications/deliverables that they don't (fully) understand and are generally kept busy in this cycle.
However, the one key thing these folks get over the technical folks is visibility - their work requires face time so their impact is always seen by the client and upper management, for devs as you said not so much since the nuances of their effort are generally reduced to input/output on a broader scale. Meanwhile the non-tech folks, especially product owners, get exposed to more aspects of the business, form deeper relationships with (client) leadership, and as a result get promoted quicker. From my 7+ years experience it really comes down to that visibility - you either get it naturally as part of your role or you need to fight for it on top of your role - kind of unfair really but it's the only way to progress, hope you're getting recognized for all you do!
The title inflation due to ego is most likely started from the Big3 and Big4.
I witnessed firsthand how BCG exploits graduate students. My roommate, a pHd candidate at Colombia University, asked me to join a competition with other students to improve the process flow of CAR-T cell therapy (a cancer treatment). The competition was organized and judged by BCG. Winners got an opportunity to interview with BCG and many graduates work for them or other firms. The research and solutions we came up with during the competition is worth potentially billions of dollars we shared for free, in exchange for free sandwiches and the chance to meet BCG people.
I remember seeing an interview on the news where an academic was saying that the Australian government used to pay uni graduates ~$30 per hour for accounting, advisory and legal work done internally. But in the name of ‘efficiency’ those government jobs were made redundant and outsourced to private consulting firms, which would do the exact same work but charge $200 per hour for it…
And it’s not like a highly experienced business person did all that consulting work, those graduates who would have worked in government would instead be working in those consulting firms
You are hilarious I loved it! Also, kudos for the hard work researching and finding people willing to talk.
This was hig. Hilarious dude, please turn this into a series. People will love it. Consultancy (Flashing lights under it saying Vacancy). Deep dive into the secret world of outsourcing, data modernization, digital transformation, and consultants make-up terms They are the best at it. Keep going dude that shit was funny AF.
Hands down the best youtube channel right now. Continue the great work Dan!
You put a lot of research into your videos. I thoroughly appreciate learning and enjoying at the same time.
The consultant themselves are a salesperson. The consultancy is a network that covers a variety of services that help companies overcome their challenges.
Hired to sell solutions by conveying how intelligent and competent they are
Right…
So if I understood correctly they do nothing?
I've worked with them for many years, and 3:25 sums it up. A consultant allows incompetent management in corporations (and there's plenty of that) to hide from the decision-making process. As long as it's signed off by some big name, it will not be questioned and your position is and remains safe, no matter how stupid the advice is (and again there's plenty of that as well).
Man, this channel is SO GOOD, love your vibe, Dan
This vid wreaked me 😂😂😂 Sometimes surfing YT at 2am leads to gems like this. Well done, sir!!
loved every second of this video. this is a masterpiece
I'm a chemical engineer and worked at a company that had McKinsey consultants running a "transformation project" that I was asked to support on. I can 100% confirm that all they would actually produce were powerpoint presentations and the ocassional graphic on minitab, most of which were outsourced to an indian company and only slightly tweaked by the McKinsey team before meetings, and by god there were so many meetings... several each day... usually telling us we were behind schedule, which was mostly because we were stuck in so many meetings all the time telling us how far behind schedule we were. I never once saw a McKinsey employee produce a piece of work that actively progressed the project, they were far too busy prepping for meetings to discuss the progress of the project.
The answer is simple: consultants are hired to solve problems that the client does not know how to solve. They give advice that the customer is willing to pay millions of dollars for. They tell you what, why and how to do it. They draw up strategies for your company to survive in the market, keep your customers and beat your competitors.
- They understand your real problem and give the best solution for it.
- They teach, explain their solutions through presentation/meetings.
Imagine being on a boat lost in the middle of the ocean. They are like a compass that guides you to drive your boat in the right direction through the unknown, storms and waves.
@Consultant31 the answer? I don't recall asking a question... ironically, this interaction is a microcosm of management consulting...
This video is truly enlightening! Thank you for sharing.
Your humor is great. 🙈 it cheered me up a bit after a math exam.
Hi Dan, i just found your channel. I don´t usually comment on videos but i have to say, in case you don´t have a journalism degree, you should be gifted one. This is literally peak journalism. Highlights a good question in the most engaging and hilarious way possible. Keep it up! You've got a new subscriber here!
agreed!
Made me genuinely laugh out loud. Hilarious and informative!
This is great, the editing is great. Subbed. I love it.
Thanks I’ve been trying to figure this out for months via TH-cam you’ve got the best answer!
hard hitting reporting. kudos
As a management consultant, I got a better sense of what I do from this video than years of work experience at the firm.
This was a great video, and way more enlightening than I would’ve expected
Just found this channel and I'm already a big fan
That part where they consult for both sides of a conflict is critical to the success of the big 4. They have access to data on the opposition. Which they use. Which is why they don’t disclose who their clients are.
Most underrated and important comment on this video. The access to confidential information. You can just say it’s McKinsey “analysis” when the reality is you have gathered information on all the competitors of your client and thus, know that industry and use that same info to provide to future clients all protected by “confidentiality”
Brilliant! I really enjoyed this. Looking forward to what you’re presenting next 😁
Just found this channel. I am hooked. Love your content. 😂
these are brilliant good work!
I'm a consultant at a software company and you run into the expert consultant types all the time. They are really bad for a customer because they talk a big game and customers love it, but they aren't at all interested in seeing their ideas implemented or hearing feedback on their ideas.
But consulting overall is very rewarding. Lots of variety compared to more single focus on a product company. I did product for years and definitely have found consulting leap years ahead of working in a product company. Though it comes down to personality and your career objectives for sure.
Career objectives lol, what the hell does that mean
Hiya I really love these videos, I hope you keep them coming!
u got it
This video is hilarious. You guys gotta do more stuff like this.
This channel is so underrated!! Thank god I discover you 🤝
This is outstanding.
hell yeah stetson
I've heard someone describe management consulting as therapy for corporations lol
Literally you are a pro at finding what needs to be known and telling you
This channel format is hilarious. I love it 😂😂
I work for a management consultancy firm, really REALLY junior role - not even a consultant yet, and everything here made me laugh sooooooooooo fucking hard. I love this.
As someone who just started in consulting, here's a summary of more substance about what a consultant is and why it's paid so well (3 min read):
What are consultants?
Consultants essentially are temporary hires that either are hired to fix a structural problem (management consultants, a.k.a. problem solvers) or to temporary bring niche expertise to the company for the duration of a project that needs some experts which you otherwise wouldn't have on a payroll for full-time because you don't need their niche expertise full-time. The latter of the two (so non-management consultants) makes up the vast majority of consultants. Once the project is over/once the structural problem that needed to be fixed is fixed, there is no more need for the expertise or consultants.
Why are they paid so well?
The above would usually be a bad type of occupation where you are "laid off" and have to find a new employer every 0.5 - 2 years to have but that's where consultancy companies come in. They hire consultants and internally train them to gain more expertise in their specific field (ones that often don't have a university program specifically designed for that field) and find various projects at different companies where they can dispatch their consultants with niche expertise so that they are able to work full--time. A company might be hesitant to take on John the private consultant with 5 years of experience divided over 4 projects, but they won't be if that same John is part of a big consultancy company that has a combined expertise of 300+ years of experience which always delivers as a company. Then they can be assured that that same John will probably do a good job. And all this training (basically a mini university degree but for a specific job instead of a wider field) that those consultancy companies invest in their employees (a.k.a. their secret sauce that they use to distinguish themselves from other consultancy companies) costs a lot of money, an investment which they lose if their employees (consultants) leave after just a few years. That's one reason why consultancy companies charge so much.
And it's not just that, cause hiring isn't just knowing if you have to believe someone on their word and if you hired the right person. No, hiring "the right person for the job" usually costs a lot of time and money. You need to filter out all the job applications and then go through multiple interviews to find the right person. Something you usually don't have the time for when you have a serious internal problem that needs to fixed as soon as possible, or a project that needs to be done by a certain deadline which can't be moved. If you go to a consultancy company you basically go "hey, I need someone and I donn't have a lot of time to waste" to which they go "sure, let me pull up this folder and pick one of my ready-to-go candidates that made it through all the interviews and knows his stuff so you dont have to".
That last bit plays into the last factor as to why consulting costs so much: flexibility. Like with everything, variable costs are more expensive than fixed costs; be it your phone payment plan, your mortgage, etc.. You pay for flexibility.
All this is why consulting is paid so well.
NEVER stop what your doing man
Man! this was so good !! hats off😄
Love your sense of humour 😂 The jokes write themselves in today's world
I came here after spending the last four hours researching whether I'd committed a felony or not. Turns out what I did was not only legal, but is the very definition of what consultants do for a living.
So here I am at 2am, smoking weed and laying in bed, trying to figure out what to call my new consulting firm.
How do I apply?
You deserve more views. this is great
Stumbled upon this channel. You’re hilarious, thank you for the content.
0:38 The Princeton logo is that of the House of Slytherin - #LMAO
In my experience hiring one of the big four is usually hiring a scapegoat for unpopular decisions or projects that could blow up in your face.
Many consultants are fresh grads and don’t have any more knowledge (usually even less) than the people they’re working with. They often bridge internal communication barriers that should not exist in the first place. And if you have to proceed with an unpopular or risky project, you can always blame it on one of the big names.
However, I’ve had many better experiences with independent consultants. Unlike big four consultants they often look back on decades of specific industry experience.
I was once made a point of contact with a consulting group at our organisation who were getting paid in the 6 figured for the project. It only took one meeting over teams to realise these guys were full of shit. Complete armatures and it made me rage to think our tax was going to these parasites. Prior to that my manager would occasionally go on long rants about upper management’s obsession with these leeches and he was vindicated 😂😂. They really do plunder the public sector
I’m so glad I found this channel today🤣🤣🤣🤣 it’s like he’s answering all my burning questions in the best and funniest way ever🔥🔥🔥🤣🤣🤣
I do implementation consulting. I call it the only true blue collar field of consulting.
When I’m done, there’s real shit you can touch.
I highly recommend the book "When McKinsey comes to town". I read it for fun (my own money used to buy it, just an average joe over here) and it was frankly terrifying how much influence 1 company can have on not just America but foreign powers and companies as well.
Jokes aside, I really appreciate Tyler's book collection.
Tyler Cooke : “goes to meetings” 🤣😂
This is really well put together
consulting firms can have clients in the FDA and big tobacco because the teams doing the actual work are siloed/firewalled and don't have any communication with each other. something people dont consider is just how massive these companies are and how few people employees actually interact with within the firm.
I’m a consultant. I like the point on brains for hire, because it’s true. A company comes to you with a problem, you staff teammates with different skillsets to solve it and you make good relationships along the way.
Travel is actually a huge pain in the butt, and the hours for all of this are quite long. The skills teach you to handle all different kinds of people and situations.
As a product strategist as a big consulting firm, I’m basically a project manager - only I don’t manage the finances.
Great job, don’t think the point on insecurities are true - I fell into this role from the tech industry and if you can’t carry your weight the team definitely notices and will silently take care of it.
Also your speaking abilities and knowledge of random english idioms will increase by 5000 %
Finally a comment from a real consultant!
This is so fun to watch!
Consultants have the extraordinary skill of telling management exactly what every employee in the company already knows. But, of course, they're blessed with an 'external perspective' and an 'objective view' (which is a fancy way of saying they know how to dress up issues and problems in a way that management likes to hear). And for this rare and invaluable talent, they are compensated with top dollar. Clearly, money well spent.
On the bright side, they can bring valuable insights, methods, and strategies that a company might not have access to otherwise.