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Am I misreading something, or was it not in fact the corporate leaders who torpedoed the reorg suggestions they knew were coming, who were at fault?

This is a classic hierarchy-brain/ bureaucracy problem, where "leaders" think the top is more important to the org than the bottom.

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My interpretation of the parable is really just that management consultants are paid to tell you what you already know and give you the conclusions you want to hear - hence why their "solution" is non-specific and the retrospective analysis vindicates what upper management already wanted.

It's also a criticism of management-heavy offices who have lost touch with reality, but consultants are a byword for such things, so I guess the title is succinct at the cost of accuracy.

When I was a consultant, the saying was:

A consultant is someone who borrows your watch, tells you the time, and keeps the watch.

You have a watch and don't know what time it is, you clearly need help.

You are afraid to tell the time to other people, as the time is unpopular. So you hire someone to do it for you.

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