Gently Extracting Confessions
My Job Helping the Rich & Powerful
If you own a business that brings in $5 million to $25 million revenue per year, I could be the guy across from you when you make the decision to hire a management consulting company. Without revealing specific methods of the corporation I served, I will give you a general idea of what to expect from that guy or gal.
Disclaimer: The description below is the mid-point of a range. The person you speak with may be much easier or much harder on you than I would be.
You are likely to go through five stages:
- Warming Up
- Developing a Relationship
- Admitting Problems that Aren’t Your Fault
- Confessing
- Signing Up
WARMING UP
YOU
You will accept a business card, shake hands, look at your watch, and tell the representative of the management company that he (or she) has ten minutes. You will tell him (or her) to give you an overview of their offerings. Your plan is to mull it over for as many days as you feel like mulling. Maybe someday you will call.
HIM (or HER)
He will smile and tell you it may take even less than ten minutes to learn that you don’t need help. A good consulting plan requires customization, not one-size-fits-all. He will ask you to explain, briefly, how you (or your dad) built the company and how you stand out from the competition.
“Overconfidence blurs out the risk. Inferiority magnifies it.” ― Toba Beta
DEVELOPING A RELATIONSHIP
YOU
You will talk about your company. You will highlight achievements. You will express pride. Before you know it, a half hour will go by.
HIM
He will listen actively. You will know that he is taking in every detail. His short questions will draw out long answers from you. He will smile, nod and look you in the eye.
When you start to run out of steam, he will put his papers into a briefcase. He will compliment you on doing a wonderful job of running a great company. He will express surprise that you had ever entertained the notion of hiring a consultant. He might even stand up and start to excuse himself from your presence.
You may balk and tell him that, well, there is one little thing. He will sit down, look you in the eye and wait for you to speak.
You may excuse him to leave. If you are a bad prospect, he will go. If you are a good prospect, he will give you a quizzical look and tell you there is something he didn’t quite understand. He will ask you to please elaborate on that thing you said a minute ago.
“People don’t resist change. They resist being changed.” — Peter Senge
ADMITTING PROBLEMS THAT AREN’T YOUR FAULT
YOU
You will admit to a downturn in this or that area. Revenue took a hit thanks to broad market conditions. Profits dipped thanks to unavoidable growing pains.
HIM
He will not tell you that you are making excuses. You will tell yourself. He will ask a detailed question about every excuse. How are your competitors responding to the same market conditions you face? How much has your market share changed? What plans did you make for that growth spurt that threw your top managers into a frenzy?
You will feel like you control the conversation because you are talking more than he is. Eventually you will tug your collar, fidget in your seat and offer to give him a tour of the facility. He will happily accept.
You will introduce him to your top managers. You have, by now, hinted they were really to blame for certain troubles. He will ask them pointed questions based on your assessments. They will sweat. You will feel amazed how quickly three hours go by.
“The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely the one who dropped it.”
— Lou Holtz
CONFESSING
YOU
You will seek his validation that everything is somebody else’s fault. Up to this point he has taken your point of view very seriously. Your tactic won’t work. Your excuses will whither in the face of increasingly pointed questions. You will confess.
HIM
He will encourage you to challenge yourself. He won’t be nasty. You will hear stories about how some other business owners were slow to realize their own mistakes. He will use a friendly but frank tone when he asks you to explain what you might do differently if you could go back and do it over.
He will gently lead you to deliver an honest self-assessment based on all the facts you have already revealed. You will do it. You will arrive at your own conclusion that your actions fell far short of perfection. You messed up.
“The price of greatness is responsibility.”
— Winston Churchill
SIGNING UP
YOU
By this time, you will have pulled out your financials and revealed even more unsettling troubles. You will be the one asking questions. How long will the business analyst need to be on site? How much will the consulting phase cost?
It will not seem odd that a contract sits in front of you. The pen in you hand makes perfect sense. This step is why you had the wisdom to make that phone call in the first place.
HIM
He will answer your questions, giving you a clear picture of what to expect next. You will understand the process, but you will have to wait months for the conclusions and the repairs.
Sadly, chances are very high that you suffer from one or more typical problems.
- You placed too much trust in somebody. You elevated a brother-in-law or college buddy to a high management position. They took advantage of your not looking over their shoulder. They led incompetently when you failed to lead. They stole from you.
- You worked part-time and treated your business like a piggy bank. You golfed too often. You stole from your business. It didn’t just lower your taxes. It hurt profitability. It deprived the company of ongoing investments.
- You overpaid people. If number two above was true, first and foremost you overpaid yourself. Next, in order of likelihood, you overpaid members of your family. Third, you overpaid favorite employees. Overpaying some people meant underpaying others. They noticed.
- You failed to set standards of excellence. Your overpaid favorites set the example. Nobody worried much about the consequences of continuing the status quo.
- You failed to provide room for employee creativity and growth. Your facility felt like a prison. Your best performers faced judgement from superiors who did not belong in positions of high responsibility. Just as you trusted the wrong people, you failed to trust the right people. They left.
That’s it. If you see serious troubles in your company, you should make a list of management consulting firms and research them. Call at least one.
Prepare for the initial interview ahead of time. Amaze the representative across from you. Start confessing in the first five minutes. You will see eyebrows reach for the ceiling. You will be the first business owner ever to get right to the heart of the problem.
RECOMMENDED READING
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change by Stephen R. Covey
Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek
Profits Aren’t Everything, They’re the Only Thing: No-Nonsense Rules from the Ultimate Contrarian and Small Business Guru by George Cloutier
You Can’t Teach a Kid to Ride a Bike at a Seminar by David H. Sandler.
Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies by Jim Collins and Jerry I. Porras
Every idea in this article is covered in more detail in one or another of the books listed above. My apologies for making my main character a man, but I wanted to present a viewpoint with which I was familiar. A woman co-worker did far outperform me at this job. The woman below also looks like she would do a much better job than me. She had a demeanor similar to that suggested in the photo below.
