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The Big Con

How the Consulting Industry Weakens our Businesses, Infantilizes our Governments and Warps our Economies

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The Big Con

By: Mariana Mazzucato, Rosie Collington
Narrated by: Amy Finegan
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

There is an entrenched relationship between the consulting industry and the way business and government are managed today which must change. Mariana Mazzucato and Rosie Collington show that our economies' reliance on companies such as McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group, Bain & Company, PwC, Deloitte, KPMG and EY stunts innovation, obfuscates corporate and political accountability and impedes our collective mission of halting climate breakdown.

The 'Big Con' describes the confidence trick the consulting industry performs in contracts with hollowed-out and risk-averse governments and shareholder value-maximizing firms. It grew from the 1980s and 1990s in the wake of reforms by both the neoliberal right and Third Way progressives, and it thrives on the ills of modern capitalism, from financialization and privatization to the climate crisis. It is possible because of the unique power that big consultancies wield through extensive contracts and networks - as advisors, legitimators and outsourcers - and the illusion that they are objective sources of expertise and capacity. To make matters worse, our best and brightest graduates are often redirected away from public service into consulting. In all these ways, the Big Con weakens our businesses, infantilizes our governments and warps our economies.

Mazzucato and Collington expertly debunk the myth that consultancies always add value to the economy. With a wealth of original research, they argue brilliantly for investment and collective intelligence within all organizations and communities, and for a new system in which public and private sectors work innovatively for the common good. We must recalibrate the role of consultants and rebuild economies and governments that are fit for purpose.

©2023 Mariana Mazzucato (P)2023 Penguin Audio

 Business Development & Entrepreneurship Consulting Economics Europe Great Britain International Political Science Politics & Government Theory Government Business Capitalism Management Socialism

Critic Reviews

a forceful demolition job on the industry (Adrian Wooldridge)
timely ... the analysis is startling (John Arlidge)
Collington and Mazzucato have provided a meticulously researched anatomy of an industry not widely understood by those outside it. They have explained complex ideas and processes in clear terms, and brought them to life with a rich and engaging narrative style. They have eschewed a simple narrow moral attack on a few parasitic firms in favor of a clear-eyed view of the industry's origins and drivers, and they have outlined the stakes for the future in no uncertain terms. That last is the most important. The Big Con may present itself as an exposé of the consulting industry, but behind it lies a bigger and more urgent warning to reshape social priorities in an age of crisis. (Nathan Akehurst)
Their point is that the great problem with the consulting business isn't so much one of corruption, but something else: consultants have wielded their expertise to give the impression of being indispensable. ... The book is intended in part as a rallying call for these companies and governments (Ed Conway)
compelling ... Mazzucato and Collington examine how this astonishing global rise in consultancy services came about. The clue is in the book's name-the big con ... the confidence trick arises from the ability to create an impression of value. ... Mazzucato and Collington are ready with what needs to be done: a new vision for the civil service; invest in internal government capacity and capability creation; embed learning and evaluation into contracts; and mandate transparency and exposure of conflicting interest. (Michael Marmot)
As the title of this book implies, consulting is, at least in part, a confidence trick. A consultant's job is to convince anxious customers that they have the answers, whether or not that's true. (Hettie O’Brien)
powerful ... The authors provide countless convincing examples of the danger of public overreliance on the consulting industry ... The Big Con puts forward a forceful argument about an issue about which most ordinary people know little but - given the enormous influence of the consulting industry - have a right to understand and scrutinise. An effective, important and highly readable book. (Hilary Lamb)
The Big Con of the book's title is not a crime; it's a confidence trick. Consultancies and outsourcers, Mazzucato argues, know less than they claim, cost more than they seem to, and - over the long term - prevent the public sector developing in-house capabilities (Henry Mance)
We are effectively devolving decision-making to people who are doubly unelected in many cases and whose own interests may diverge fairly dramatically from the collective interest or the interest that government is supposed to be pursuing. (Rory Sutherland)
All stars
Most relevant
Great book at getting you angry at the consultancy industry, an industry that is in theory meant to help, but ends up too often becomming an unhealthy parasite on their clients due to the fiscal temptations. (A metaphor the book gives is that of a therapist; in theory they are there to help you with your problem and no longer need them, but instead they opt to make you worse and further dependant on them, milking you for all your therapist fees!)

Two issues I had overall though:
- The public sector was praised a bit too one sidedly, wheras to me it feels like we have traded one problem [massive public sectors which produced lots of value, but compared to the private sector, we had no good ways to tell if parts of the public sector were giving us massive value for money or were massive bloated self sustaining paper shuffling blobs] with another problem [public sector has been hollowed out for private sector offerings in either naturally monopolistic settings where they just rent extract without value adding, or the private sector alternatives fail to take the risks which yielded fundamental technologies/approaches we all take for granted). Both settings have problems, but this book didn't seem to address the problems of the former despite advocating a return to it.
- The solutions seemed a bit too wishy washy or idealistic. But perhaps I shouldn't expect specific policies from a book! They did a good job of showing that just having the intention of removing these parasites isn't enough. Governments have tried to shake them off but failed to do so. They're relentless parasites that can adapt faster than you. I guess the best suggestion from the book for a solution is a meta one: to learn and emulate the approaches from governments that have been more successfull.

Happy I read it.

Ps. the other reviews which call this book boring are quite amusing, what did they expect from a non-fiction book about consultancy firms xD

Great at the problem, vague on the solution

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A really boring book. I’m certain the reader herself yawns at one point (4:33:43). In the final analysis, this is no more than yet another tired attack against capitalism and the disproportionate rents it generates. It tries to pin capitalism’s failures on consultants, when really they’re just market actors in a much bigger system. Lacking in academic rigour, the book fails to reasonably attribute cause to correlation. No mention of all the times government has failed when it hasn’t used consultants. Perhaps this book is a suitable candidate for the “consultancy quarterlies” it so lavishly derides.

If you’re after a sad management school version of Das Kapital, fill your boots.

Avoid while driving: high risk of sleeping while at the wheel.

An Induced Coma

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