The solution is that we borrowed from the European tradition (via English) and came to use adaptations of the terms “manager” and “consultant”. The English verb “to manage” comes from Latin manus (hand) and agere (to act), via Spanish manejar and Italian maneggiare (both meaning to handle, especially horses but also tools), and the French word for

Key financial ratios

One way to distinguish different types of management consulting could be to label one approach “functional” or “specialist” consulting (typically provided by large firms), and the other main approach is what I will call “process” consulting.

I used to claim that a value always has a cost22. That is why we call it a value! The emphasis for me was on the element of sacrifice, that it costs something to live in accordance with your values. This is still true: often we only come to know what is truly important to us once we define what we are willing to suffer for. For example, I believe

As a matter of fact, it is very difficult to sell management consulting services in any case, especially if we are talking about selling services to the senior executive level in a large corporation. What you are actually selling is trust. The executive has to first of all trust that you will be able to lead the company through a difficult process.

“insult rather than consult”, but you have to do it with warmth and with the client’s best interests in mind.

Management consultants are actually “decoders” of complexity.

The art of advising, inspiring, piloting and supporting managers to make better decisions on business and organisational development in order to make their organisations more effective and efficient.

you are not there to be liked, you are there to do a job the client themselves cannot do without your assistance.