Consulting Journal: Trifles

Trifles: The Usual Rate

by David Blakey

In this installment, Blakey pits his hero against a tough opponent ... without any ammunition and with unarmed allies. This action-packed story blasts through the brutal world of management consulting.

[Thursday 1 April 2004]

Adam saw the trap just before he stepped into it. As Adam stopped, he twisted around and came to a halt with his back to the wall. Adam could see the trap clearly now. The production director had laid it down right where he knew that Adam would step. If Adam had taken another pace forward, he would have recommended the DCM - the demand chain management project. The production director would have claimed that the supply chain continued forward into the demand side. So, why do another project when the work was already done? Adam would have been destroyed instantly. It had been Adam's team that had worked on the SCM project.

The production director had him targeted, which meant that Adam couldn't rescue the marketing director. Adam looked across at her now. Her eyes surveyed him coolly, but he had noticed a flicker when he had stopped just in front of the trap. Was it idle interest or sympathy, or was there something more there? None of which mattered now. Adam forced himself to concentrate. There was just no way up without using the DCM. Already he imagined the British team breaking in at the top. The British were unpredictable. Sometimes you couldn't tell if they were consultants or accountants or business advisers. It was often hard to see who they reported to. But one thing was certain: they would come in hard and fast at the strategic level and work their way down. They secured every level as they went, bringing in more and more teams. Adam wouldn't stand a chance if their first team broke in.

Meanwhile, the French team would be trying to get in lower down, laying down areas of business process outsourcing as they worked their way up. It would take them longer to get to where Adam was, but they would be almost impossible to fight off once they had got rid of the staff and systems on the lower levels.

The production director was smiling.

‘So, Adam, what are you going to sell us? Not a consultant's report telling us what we already know?’

‘Not at all.’

Adam's mind raced. He looked across at the marketing director and glimpsed the CEO beside her. Of course! All those management books and magazines would pay off now!

Adam targeted the CEO and pressed the trigger.

‘I'm suggesting a complete value chain analysis.’

Adam saw the idea hit the CEO. The CEO's body jerked forward. Adam knew that the CEO was remembering the books and the articles that he had read about value chain analysis.

Adam squeezed the trigger again.

‘It will range not only horizontally across your own supply and demand chains but vertically across your entire sector.’

He could see the CEO reeling as this hit him. Adam knew that the CEO was imagining the articles in Fortune about his ground-breaking leadership.

From the corner of his eye, Adam saw the production manager moving forward, trying to seize a weapon. Without pausing, Adam targeted him.

‘Including a complete analysis of our competitors.’

The production director slumped back. He was out of ammunition. This assignment would centre on marketing - mentioning The Competition had ensured that.

The marketing director hadn't been armed before, but she seized a weapon now and started firing.

‘This will be an excellent opportunity for production and marketing to work together on a real solid strategy,’ she said.

She was hitting both the CEO and the production director in their egos. The CEO was captured by the notion: he was trying to think up a catchy title for his autobiography. The production director would have to support the assignment and keep working on it to avoid accusations of disloyalty. He would have to fight for it or become the scapegoat for its failure.

Adam tried a softer approach.

‘Your supply chain work will form the basis of the assignment.’

The production manager looked at Adam gratefully. He was left with some measure of respect. Maybe some of the ownership, too.

Adam relaxed. The French were in retreat. There was no way that the CEO would outsource anything until this assignment was over. And the British team wouldn't be able to launch a second strategy. The marketing director was looking at Adam.

‘Yes,’ she said, ‘that all sounds great.’

She raised an eyebrow.

‘Why don't you work up a proposal and we can go over it together later?’

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