The Five myths about Strategy Consulting

My stay in consulting so far has been a brief one but nevertheless it has been an eventful one as well. Interacting with consultants at different levels and from different geographies has been an enlightening experience. As is the case, I used this opportunity to ignite the discussion and this time my topic was “myths about strategy consulting”. Based on my interactions, experiences and a bit of reading on “strategy consulting”, these are the five myths that I have come across. 

The Theory of Relativity

Friends, just like most of us, even I am not fascinated by the complexity of Science. So you can be rest assured that this post is not about scientific applications of the theory of relativity. But the essence is derived from it. That’s why this theory assumes so much importance as it touches us every day. Let’s explore how?

Einstein's theory of time and space, special relativity, proposed that distance and time are not absolute. The ticking rate of a clock depends on the motion of the observer of that clock; likewise for the length of a "yardstick.” So if you haven’t guessed yet, this post is about Relative Grading. A much used term in academic set up especially in the past few decades. As the common saying goes, “Nothing is absolute, everything is relative.”

This is how IITK introduces Relative Grading, “Many ideas and things were shipped from Washington DC to Kanpur. When a packet from one of these shipments was opened, a brilliant proposal of adopting "relative grading" emerged. And IIT Kanpur was amongst the first, in the country to adopt this relative method of evaluating performance.” Their inputs have been used in the following paras to shed more light on this topic.

The Need for Indian Case Studies

After a hiatus of almost three weeks due to the academic projects, exams and the launch of The Money Manager-the pan-IIM finance magazine, Saketvaani is back with you to ignite the discussion. This time the focus would be “the case for Indian case studies”. Though all of us may not be familiar with case studies but you can use words like journals, research papers etc. interchangeably for cases. First let me tell you the reason behind choosing this topic.

I have finished almost 70% of my MBA education in an Indian B-school and most if not all the cases that I have come across are prepared by foreign B-school (read Harvard Business School: HBS). Should it really be a cause of concern as haven’t we been brought up mainly on books by foreign author? So why complain now, that too in a B-school clamouring for global recognition?