Kevin O’Leary says he “never hires consultants because they’ve never managed anything.”  These are strong words coming from one of the world’s most influential businessmen.  As a consulting firm, you may be surprised that we agree with Kevin.  In fact, this sentiment about consultants is, in part, what inspired us to create GPC Group. 

It’s Backwards

When you review the resumes of consultants from ‘The Big 4’ firms, it’s shocking to see that their only work experience is in fact, consulting.  How can you offer business advice with no business experience?  Even more surprising is how many Fortune 100 companies will require that job applicants have experience working for The Big 4 before hiring them internally.  What a backwards way of thinking! 

Theory vs. Reality

Without actual business experience and decisions of consequence, recommendations are nothing more than untested theories.  Look, for example, what has happened to the world of project management in the transition from a Waterfall to an Agile development methodology.  What was originally created as a means to increase productivity and accelerate product delivery has evolved into a progress limiting abomination. Project leaders are so indoctrinated by classroom theory that businesses are forced to fit a process rather than adapting a process to service the business.   

The Inexperienced Consultant

Perhaps you have a functioning and profitable business unit that works independently of the larger organization.  They have a small sales team who know the product well and a development team with the enthusiasm of a start-up.  They operate with swift speed-to-market that beats the competition due to a lack of burdensome corporate oversight. 

• The Recommendation
  An inexperienced consultant will likely view their sales team as an unnecessary redundancy.  They’ll highlight the risks of software deployment outside of corporate IT governance.  Boiler plate processes will be introduced in an attempt to standardize reporting.  Lacking real-world experience, they’ll convince an organization to implement innovation crippling changes.  While the risks they highlight are valid concerns, they fail to recognize the business unit’s autonomy is what is driving their growth and profitability.
  
• The Impact
  Sales are transitioned to a broader organization who doesn’t understand the service offering.  Swift defect resolution is stymied by time consuming corporate approvals and managers are bogged down with communicating canned metrics to appease upper management.  Like slowly boiling a frog, theory rooted recommendations ultimately kill a once successful service offering, long after the inexperienced consultant has moved on.

Business Experience Matters 

A Business Advisor with real world experience would recognize the pitfalls of a blunt reorganization for this business unit.  Instead, they would take the time to understand why they are successful.  Based on their business experience, they will recommend subtle changes to reduce risk and improve communication without trampling a thriving independent team

The Business Advisors at GPC Group have diverse backgrounds managing actual businesses and making decisions of consequence.  While recommendations are an essential part of our service offering, we pride ourselves on guiding businesses through a successful implementation.  Our track record of real world success leads to an on-going relationship as we take a vested interest in the success of our clients. 

Are you interested in learning what makes a relationship with GPC Group so special?  Scheduled a complimentary consultant with one of our Business Advisors today.