Whenever and wherever helpless confusion is spreading like an epidemic throughout upper management or political staffs, and operational capacities are threatening to disintegrate under the intensifying pressure of competition, consultants will arrive on the scene to offer their ostensibly simple solutions. They proceed to restructure, and positions by the thousands are lost. Their operating methods are opaque, their successes debatable. Public scrutiny for them is what holy water is to devils. With power-point presentations ...
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Whenever and wherever helpless confusion is spreading like an epidemic throughout upper management or political staffs, and operational capacities are threatening to disintegrate under the intensifying pressure of competition, consultants will arrive on the scene to offer their ostensibly simple solutions. They proceed to restructure, and positions by the thousands are lost. Their operating methods are opaque, their successes debatable. Public scrutiny for them is what holy water is to devils. With power-point presentations they offer radically simplified recipes for complex processes and long-evolved structures. Radiating elitist attitudes and behavior, and wreathed in the myth of their unlimited competence, they ease the burdens of the decision-makers in industry and politics but then promptly eschew responsibility for any of the consequences of their recommendations. Thomas Leif shows the inner workings of an industry that has sealed itself off with a cartel-like secrecy. He reveals their methods, strategies and results through internal reports, confidential documents, interviews with insiders, case studies, and never-before published analyses of the federal auditing department. The sobering and shocking conclusion: the consultant mania of a McKinsey society destroys vast amounts of private and public wealth, endangers the future of businesses, and undermines the core responsibilities of politicians and public administrators. Press In spite of all its confrontational tone, this book about the string-pullers in pin-stripes is a very thought-provoking, humane appeal and not the least for the preservation of particular jobs. Hessischer Rundfunk A severe reckoning with the consultantindustry. Sddeutsche Zeitung Author Thomas Leif, born in 1959, has a doctorate in political science and is the chief television reporter for the SWR network in Mainz and member of the board of netzwerk recherche e.V. He has published numerous books, most recently, as editor and author, Die fnfte Gewalt. Lobbyism in Deutschland [The Fifth Estate: Lobbyism in Germany] (2006).
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