Leaders | Consultants under fire

Do McKinsey and other consultants do anything useful?

Though hated, they often provide a valuable service to the economy

If a list were made of the most reviled species in the professional world, only investment bankers would stand between management consultants and the top spot. Sceptics portray these corporate consiglieri as snake-oil salesmen, bamboozling chief executives and politicians with management gibberish and glossy charts while gorging on fat fees. Indeed, the profession was once the subject of a five-season skewering in a star-studded tv series. Its title: “House of Lies”.

This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “Are management consultants useful?”

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