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The Big Con
- How the Consulting Industry Weakens Our Businesses, Infantilizes Our Governments and Warps Our Economies
- Narrated by: Amy Finegan
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
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The Big Con
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Publisher's Summary
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.
Critic Reviews
"A forceful demolition job on the industry." (Adrian Wooldridge)
"The power of government is crucial for driving the economy forward. But only if it retains capacity. Mazzucato and Collington have written a brilliant book that exposes the dangerous consequences of outsourcing state capacity to the consulting industry-and how to build it back. A fascinating look at the biggest players in the game and why this matters for all of us."(Stephanie Kelton, author of The Deficit Myth)
"A powerful indictment of a dubious industry. This book should be read around the globe, and kickstart a debate that's long overdue: Do we really need all those consultants?" (Rutger Bregman, author of Utopia for Realists and Humankind)
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What listeners say about The Big Con
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Hayden M
- 18-11-2023
Great at the problem, vague on the solution
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
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- AJA
- 18-07-2023
An Induced Coma
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.
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