Consultants = Detectives

Like most Bengalis, I am a self-confessed, unabashed detective fiction buff. Think Satyajit Ray’s Feluda, Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay’s Byomkesh Bakshi, Samaresh Basu’s Arjun, Sukanta Gandopadhyay's Deep Kaku and Suchitra Bhattacharya’s Mitin Mashi. These are my staple non-work reading (or more truthfully actually "listening" thanks to the scores of YouTube content creators). Click on the links to read my posts profiling them. 

While consuming their cases, a thought has been meandering in my head for a while now – are detectives and management consultants, not similar professionals? Think about it. The great Sherlock Holmes used to call himself a "consulting detective". 

As a management consultant, I thought that I was almost a private investigator of sorts. (Or maybe I was being self indulgent to justify why I was finessing a slide at 2 am in the morning for the 247th time that day!) Anyway, I do think the similarities are striking. Here’s how:

1) Both work on cases: Yes, engagements or ‘studies’ as we called them at McKinsey are called ‘cases’ in some firms! "Case study" rings a bell?

2) The client pays the bill: Both need to be hired by clients. Often solving the problem for one client drives future referral business from the same client or their acquaintances. Therefore the fundamental need to develop top-notch “client leadership”. They also need to be “trusted advisors” and often take their clients’ secrets to their grave. Discretion is a core virtue of both.

3) The methodology employed is hypothesis driven problem solving: Both professionals are Satyanweshis or "Seekers of Truth". Therefore, like all management consultants worth their salt, detectives also employ the same hypothesis driven problem solving approach to solve cases based on threading together facts. This includes doing 5 things well:

a. Starting with a sharp problem statement: The problems both solve are often nebulous and need the articulation of a sharp upfront problem statement – what are we trying to solve for here. In the case of detectives, that is hypothesising about the motive.

b. Diligent fact gathering: The magnifying glass cliché aside, both have to rely on extensive factual evidence that is often “unsexy” but necessary to the crack the problem. The gathering of data has to be systematic and efficient.

c. High quality interviewing skills:  A core part of fact gathering is interviewing clients and stakeholders. This is taught to every business analyst and junior associate as a core skill of the consultant toolkit. Same I guess for the rookie detective. The way to get your facts is to ask the right questions in the right way.

d. Ability to thread (pun intended) all the pieces of evidence: Both need to be able to have the ability to join the dots between the facts and the underlying insights they reveal to solve their respective cases.

e. Producing a "storyboard": Solving the problem is incomplete without being able to articulate the story in a precise, simple and logical manner - a "dot-dash" as we called it at McKinsey. Look up pyramid principle.

4) Collaboration is the key to success: Private investigators often need to work with police without upsetting the apple cart. They also need to rely on the police forensics team for help and tap into their broader group of friends to get information about the case they are working one. Stakeholders and experts. This is familiar to all consultants as the need to build a “stakeholder map” and have distinctive “people leadership”. And need to reach out to industry experts once in a while to "get smart" about market facts. $1000 GLG calls. 

BTW, truly successful detectives and consultants also are very influential by virtue of being connected with those in power. Think Sherlock being sought after by the government for sensitive matters. Similarly Byomkesh.

5) Cannot thrive without having excellent communication (and the penchant for drama): Both need to be great communicators often having to rely on top-down communication to help the clients understand the “so whats”. Think of the final reveal at the end of the mystery novels as the final board meeting to get sign-off on the strategy paper… and the drama that comes along with it. And the alignment meetings in secret that are required to make sure that the final big one goes per plan.

6) Requirement to systematically codify knowledge: Both need to codify cases and learning to ensure that they don’t have the reinvent the wheel each time. They can solve the next case more efficiently leveraging their earlier body of work.

7) Need to stay updated with the latest "thinking" and market trends to aid problem solving: For consultants it may lead to talking about crypto, blockchain and AI at most inopportune times. And of course digital! Ha!

8) Reliance on publishing “thought leadership” pieces to enhance own brand: The truly great detectives like the great Sherlock Holmes is said to have published many monographs on topics “the use of disguise in crime detection”, “the utilities of dogs in detective work” and the “analysis of tobacco ashes”. Consultants do the same. Just type “COVID 19” and “New Normal” in your Google Search Bar. These thought leadership pieces are essential from establishing their brands as leading lights in their respective fields.

9) Terrible work-life balance: Burning the midnight oil, downing copious amount of coffee (and other beverages), pull all-nighters on cases are common place for both professions sadly.

What do you think? A case of too much detective fiction?

BTW, if you think the above is a stretch of imagination, brace yourself for this wonderfully entertaining novel by Sameer Kamat called the "Business Doctors" where "Ivy League educated management consultant, Michael Schneider, gets hired by an unlikely client – a desperate mafia boss who wants to give a makeover to his family business that spans across gambling, drugs and porn. But the client's seductive wife and bumbling goons weren't part of the deal Michael signed up for."

Yumm Bee Yaay!

Statutory Warnings: 1. This is an original poem (for better or for verse, that is what I will call it) - and thus is not for the staunch believers in the Queen's language. 2. If you're an MBA and you take yourself seriously, do not read any further. 3. This is not (fully) autobiographical!

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Kya?! You talking to me?
I'm an MBA from a top B-school
I know it all boss, can't you see?
Fin, Marketing, HR & Ops - it's all cool!


PowerPoint, Laptop and my Smartphone
With these toys, my skills are honed.
For hours on end I can gas... oops, speak;
Never mind, my audience thinks it’s all Greek!

Every day I must read all the pink papers,
BTW, in just 3 months I've managed to memorize Kotler!
Go on quiz me, about brand equity, derivatives, M&A’s and business capers,
Did I embarrass you? C'mon now don't sulk and be bitter...

I worship the holy trinity of M/s Buffet, Prahalad and Gekko,
WTF?! You haven't seen Wall Street? Damn right, it's worth a dekko!
I know big words and for that methinks people say I am bright,
Suits me fine, 'coz use of jargon is my birthright.

I know my strategy - my 'Brand Value', 'Vision' and 'Mission';
Though with multiple job offers in hand,
These days I am prone to the occasional indecision.
All these jobs sound so boring; maybe I'll just form a rock band. (Just kidding!)

What I care about isn't just profile and package,
I must work for top company, anything else is sacrilege!
Jet set around the world - crack deals, be jetlagged,
But make sure I’m on the evening news - my wisdom can't be gagged.

Screw that, I'll do a Sabeer Bhatia. Start my own business;
I’ll make my millions by riding the waves of Profit and Loss.
Attract the angel funds, sell out and party with finesse.
The best part - at the end of the day, I'll still be my own boss!

… Chal bohut hua, ab uth ja bhai.
Wake up lazy ass - Oi, Wake up Sid!
Stop living in the world of insane dreams and lie
With these tales of fantasy, whom do you think you kid?!


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You were forewarned! If you want to read some more, click here...

BEER-ONOMICS - The Tax System in Beer (aka Bar Stool Economics)

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100.

If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.



So, that's what they decided to do.

The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve ball.

"Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20". Drinks for the ten men would now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes.

So the first four men were unaffected.

They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men - the paying customers?

How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his fair share?

They realised that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer!

So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by a higher percentage the poorer he was, to follow the principle of the tax system they had been using, and he proceeded to work out the amounts he suggested that each should now pay.

And so the fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% saving).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% saving).
The seventh now paid $5 instead of $7 (28% saving).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% saving).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% saving).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% saving).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But, once outside the bar, the men began to compare their savings.

"I only got a dollar out of the $20 saving," declared the sixth man.
He pointed to the tenth man,"but he got $10!"

"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar too. It's unfair that he got ten times more benefit than me!"

"That's true!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back, when I got only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks!"

"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison, "we didn't get anything at all. This new tax system exploits the poor!"

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had their beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important.

They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and government ministers, is how our tax system works.

The people who already pay the highest taxes will naturally get the most benefit from a tax reduction.

Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore.

In fact, they might start drinking overseas, where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier!

Cheers!

Sub Prime for Dummies

It's almost two years since the subprime crisis rocked our world - literally. Who'd know better than us final year MBA students looking for campus placements? Here's a quick reminder why Gekko was wrong. Greed is not good.

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Sub Prime for Dummies

View more presentations from arka.sircar.

The Dilbert Frames

Bad Bosses Are Good For Economy - Scott Adams

Source: Economic Times

Scott Adams feels difficult bosses can be good as they force their employees to quit their jobs and turn entrepreneurs. For someone who built his reputation lampooning corner rooms and their occupants, Scott Adams has had a change of heart.

The creator of Dilbert, the cartoon strip that adds a comic element to 2,000 solemn newspapers across 70 countries, including ET, has discovered merit in evil bosses. Call it the effect of recession, but Adams is convinced that difficult bosses can be good, as they help spawn entrepreneurs.

“The worse the bosses are, the better it is for the economy. In the old days, people were born entrepreneurs, but today people are forced into entrepreneurship whether they like it or not,” he told ET in an interview.

His comments may pertain to the US and how the worst economic situation since the Great Depression has affected that country, but California resident Adams could well be looking at India and Indians from the same entrepreneurial prism going forward.

And future Dilbert strips could see India and Indians depicted differently. Adams says that Indians have moved far ahead of the image of the smart, yet inexperienced office intern Asok, who is one of Dilbert’s colleagues. An IITan by qualification, Asok has been bestowed with psychic powers but continues to work for someone. But this might change soon. “He’s the most confident person with the least power. Maybe, I’ll have him strike out and be an entrepreneur some day.” (Check out some strips featuring Asok below)

Adams, 52, started his career in 1979 with Crocker National Bank (later acquired by Wells Fargo) and then at Pacific Bell where he began working on his cartoon strip. For the past 20 years, Adams’ cartoons have ridiculed corporate workplaces and the ‘Cubicle life’ and everything around it — from management fads to consultants to evil bosses. But he says the central character of Dilbert borrows a bit from his own personality.

“I certainly have shared some of his traits. I’m socially awkward and had trouble getting dates when I was his age, and a bit nerdy, so there’s a lot of me in him. But I am more of Dogbert — the side of me that has a running conversation in my head saying inappropriate things. I use Dogbert as the character who says out loud the things I’m thinking.”

But if there’s one thing that makes Adams uniquely qualified to talk about entrepreneurship is his shot at running real businesses.

First was Scott Adams Foods, which developed the Dilberito, a vegetarian burrito that was sold online and through convenience stores in the US until four years ago when Adams sold it off. The restaurant business was next. Adams partnered with restaurater Stacey Belkins to open two Stacey’s Cafe outlets in his home town. One of them had to be closed down, and the employees were asked to go.

Adams says he was shocked to find some of them stealing equipment, even as he was doling out severance pay cheques. “I had dipped into my pockets to give them a nice severance. So, as I was telling people and there were tears and people hugging, some of them slipped into the back and cleaned out the electronics from the storage room. They were actually robbing me.”

Could that explain his charitable view of bad bosses? “Trouble is that in order to be a good boss you got to be kind of a jerk, you got to be selfish and be willing to hurt other people to advance your own cause. I’m not like that. People try and take advantage of me pretty easily,” says Adams, who has for years entertained millions every morning with his wit on employer-employee relationships.


Asked about the impact of the US recession on Dilbert, Adams has his own — and distinctive —take. “There are two things going on in the US right now. If you don’t have a job — and that’s a lot of people — then things are pretty bad obviously. But those people who have kept their jobs, what they’re finding is that the price of stuff is lower. When you order something that used to take a lot of weeks to be built and get shipped to you, you’re getting it in a month.. In a weird way, there are a lot of people who are moving into houses they couldn’t have afforded before the crash.”

From a Dilbert point of view, the US recession has done some good. “There’s a period when everything is great and it’s an employees market and they ask for more money or they’re going somewhere else. But right now we’re in a period where obviously you want to keep your employer happy because finding another job is going to be hard,” says Adams.

And this new insight has a source. Adams, who is building a new ‘green’ home in Pleasanton, California, is seeing attitudes change first-hand. “You’ve never seen such good cooperation from all the sub-contractors. Everybody shows to work because there isn’t that much work to have. It turned out to be the very best time to build a house because everybody’s so eager to work. It’s strange because usually the upside is not very obvious. I’m sure during the Great Depression there probably wasn’t anybody who was better off.”

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Parting Dilberitos
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1. I would definitely say, don’t quit your day job till you’ve got the entrepreneurial adventure well on its way.

2. When I was a commercial bank manager, we used to never loan money to people who had a passion, like a hobby, that they were trying to turn into a business. You got to distinguish between that which excites you personally and that which the public is likely to be excited by. So that’s a big mistake.

3. The biggest trick is, knowing when to quit which I haven’t been quite good at. Because my observation is that things that work tend to work right away.

4. As much as possible, you want to limit the number of people who have influence on a decision.

5. I would advise people to take the risk that you can survive.

6. I would also advise people to look for the type of venture where even if it doesn’t work you come out ahead because you gain experience in something that’s relatively valuable. I would call that failing forward. ‘To be a good boss you’ve to be selfish & hurt others’

-x---x---x-

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Asok
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Asok is an engineer from an IIT...

... and is interning in the company Dilbert works for:

Here are Asok's misadventures with the Boss:

... and his interactions with colleagues:

But, the funniest are Asok's interactions with HR:

Here's my favourite one for obvious reasons!

The Salary Theorem

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Do the following situations look familiar?
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Here's why...

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Corollary
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Proof
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Case Study: Indian Government Expenditure on MPs' Salaries

Salary & Govt. Concessions for a Member of Parliament (MP)

Monthly Salary: INR 12,000

Expense for Constitution per month: INR 10,000

Office expenditure per month: INR 14,000

Traveling concession (Rs. 8 per km): INR 48,000
(e.g. For a visit from Kerala to Delhi & return: 6000 km)

Daily DA TA during parliament meets: INR 500/day

Charge for 1 class (A/C) in train: Free
(For any number of times - All over India)

Charge for Business Class in flights: Free for 40 trips / year
(With wife or P.A.)

Rent for MP hostel at Delhi : Free

Electricity costs at home : Free up to 50,000 units

Local phone call charge : Free up to 1 ,70,000 calls.

TOTAL expense for a MP [having no qualification] per year : INR 32, 00,000
[ i.e. INR 2.66 lakh /month]

TOTAL expense for 5 years: INR 1, 60, 00,000

For 534 MPs, the expense for 5 years: nearly INR 855 cores

And the PM wants CEOs to Cut their salaries!

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Note: This theorem does not hold good for CEOs
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Quod Erat Demonstrandum :)

BSC: A tale of shoes, degrees and strategy!

Back in the day, BSC meant shoes - yes I am getting on and have walked the earth for many moons - but honestly anyone who grew up in the stiflingly socialistic unliberalised eighties will remember the white keds (or PT shoes) made by BSC (Bata Shoe Company) that you had to "polish" with chalk or else risk getting your ears boxed by your fat-ass PT teacher!


As one grew up and it was time to bid adieu to school, BSC was a degree that 'losers' who did not qualify for Engineering studied - of course before my time, BSC was a perfectly honourable graduation course to opt for - and one could specialise in sciences from zoology to physics! It is another story that in "competitive" exams, today's engineering hopefuls with telephone number ranks also get admission into an engineering course and go on to become engineers... perhaps on their way to becoming MBAs?

Anyway while we are on the subject on MBA, I must delve into how MBA changed my perspective for life... ignorance is bliss? Alas no more! For it was MBA that (regrettably?) introduced me BSC in a whole light - the demon called Balanced ScoreCard , "a performance management tool for measuring whether the smaller-scale operational activities of a company are aligned with its larger-scale objectives in terms of vision and strategy!" (Say What!?)

The demon has now come back to haunt me at work... must be karma for sleeping in class each time the professor droned on the subject! Damn you Kaplan & Norton...

Anyway here is an insider's take on strategy, vision, mission, goals, et all... enjoy! (My way of exorcising the demon... God Bless Scott Adams!)


Just so you know, Acronymfinder.com has 158 definitions of BSC - check it out here!