Too busy to read?

"I do think that meeting the people is important," Stacey interrupts the laughter. "Financial numbers only reveal a small fraction of the picture. You have to find out what the people think is going on. What do they see as problems? Where do we stand vis-a-vis the clients?" "Who has a grudge against whom?" Bob contributes, and then in a more serious tone. "You also have to get a sense of the local politics." "And then?" "And then," Bob continues. "I'd probably take a tour of the various production facilities, visit some of the big clients, and probably even some suppliers. You've got to get the full picture."

consultants continually find new problems to justify their continued employment - like leeches, attaching themselves and never letting go. It's a strategy known as 'land and expand'. One UK government ministry recently admitted that 80 per cent of its supposedly temporary consultants had been working there for more than a year - some for up to nine years. Needless to say, it would have been much cheaper to employ them as civil servants.