Management Consultants as Professionals, or are They?

Managers make great use of consultants, giving rise to a rapid annual growth rate of 15% in consulting industry revenues where the authors estimate that today there are over one million consultants and $200 billion revenue worldwide. High industry growth has a big negative “Con” attached to it with a large influx of new consultants each year with problematic qualifications. Being a consultant is a very different role from being a manager—they have to be knowledgeable about different industries and effective at working with clients—a relationship that Maister calls the “Trusted advisor”.