Lights! Music! Action!

What on earth does the consulting industry have in common with the golden age of Hollywood? Quite a lot, I think.

Today’s big consulting firms are the equivalent of the studios which dominated the film industry. Back in the 1930s, MGM and the other giants of the era owned everything, from the script and the stars (the latter had to sign exclusive contracts) to their sunlit sets. Big consulting firms retain the same mentality, expecting to own the resources they need to deliver their services. When they need new skills, they recruit or acquire, often voraciously. As a result, they’ve succeeded in getting bigger faster, widening the gap between them and mid-sized firms.

But the film industry has changed. Studios may still stump up the funding and control the distribution of new films, but the rights, the stars and everything from the director to the make-up artists and set location experts are brought in as required. Special effects are rarely created in-house, but are bought in, often from many very small firms. Each supplier has a part of the action (literally), and they all work together because they want the film – and their part in it, however small – to be a success.

Every time a client uses a word like multi-sourcing (and they’re using it a lot at the moment), we take a small step towards a future in which the consulting industry starts to look a bit more like film industry is today, not as it was 80 years ago. In this scenario, small, niche firms would come together to “create” a client’s project; large firms would still exist, but their role would be partly financial and partly orchestral, assembling the disparate resources required to complete the “film”. Firms would collaborate more often than they competed. The result would be a far more fluid industry than we have today and one in which small firms would play a different, but just as important role, as the larger ones.

Of course, it couldn’t happen overnight. Some of the pre-requisites don’t yet apply in consulting, although they did in the film industry. Chief among these is information: it was possible for Hollywood to shift to a different model because people learned who the experts were and where to find them. Suppliers are clear about what they do, and don’t do: a special effects company doesn’t pretend to do costumes; a location catering company differentiates itself through the quality of its food, not through offering a wide range of services. Expertise is recognised and respected. Moreover, everyone gets their few seconds of fame: sit through the credits long enough and you’ll see listed the people and organisations which made the film possible.

Neither of these aspects yet applies in consulting: too many firms claim to do more than they actually can and we have no equivalent of the final credits. Change those two things and you change everything.