The Big Con: How the Consulting Industry Weakens Our Businesses, Infantilizes

marianamazzucato.com

15 pointsqwertyuiop_3 comments

From the synopsis itself:

> To make matters worse, our best and brightest graduates are often redirected away from public service into consulting.

That’s your problem, right there.

Government agencies have pay caps, severely limiting their ability to hire competent permanent staff. There is no limit for a contract with a consultancy, which can then use that money to pay a competitive wage to highly educated and capable staff.

Not only that, but governments don’t want permanent staff if they can avoid it. The cost of a long term employment relationship with benefits is not necessarily good fiscal strategy. It’s much easier to deal with short term obligations and have the flexibility to react when there are unforeseen budget shortfalls.

Also check out the most recent episode of the Capitalisnt podcast. As per usual, Luigi Zingales is a little hard to take and a little too interested in his own first thought on the topic. But Walt Bogdanish does a decent job pushing back and it makes you want to read his articles and book about McKinsey.

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