The Big Con

How the Consulting Industry Weakens Our Businesses, Infantilizes Our Governments, and Warps Our Economies

By: Mariana Mazzucato, Rosie Collington

Narrated by: Amy Finegan

Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

A vital and timely investigation into the opaque and powerful consulting industry—and what to do about it

There is an entrenched relationship between the consulting industry and the way business and government are managed today that must change. Mariana Mazzucato and Rosie Collington show that our economies’ reliance on companies such as McKinsey & Company, Boston Consulting Group, Bain & Company, PwC, Deloitte, KPMG, and EY stunts innovation, obfuscates corporate and political accountability, and impedes our collective mission of halting climate breakdown.

The “Big Con” describes the confidence trick the consulting industry performs in contracts with hollowed-out and risk-averse governments and shareholder value-maximizing firms. It grew from the 1980s and 1990s in the wake of reforms by the neoliberal right and Third Way progressives, and it thrives on the ills of modern capitalism, from financialization and privatization to the climate crisis. It is possible because of the unique power that big consultancies wield through extensive contracts and networks—as advisors, legitimators, and outsourcers—and the illusion that they are objective sources of expertise and capacity. In the end, the Big Con weakens our businesses, infantilizes our governments, and warps our economies.

In The Big Con, Mazzucato and Collington throw back the curtain on the consulting industry. They dive deep into important case studies of consultants taking the reins with disastrous results, such as the debacle of the roll out of HealthCare.gov and the tragic failures of governments to respond adequately to the COVID-19 pandemic. The result is an important and exhilarating intellectual journey into the modern economy’s beating heart. With peerless scholarship, and a wealth of original research, Mazzucato and Collington argue brilliantly for building a new system in which public and private sectors work innovatively for the common good.

©2023 Mariana Mazzucato and Rosie Collington (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“A powerful indictment of a dubious industry. This book should be read around the globe, and kickstart a debate that's long overdue: Do we really need all those consultants?” —Rutger Bregman, author of Utopia for Realists and Humankind

“The power of government is crucial for driving the economy forward. But only if it retains capacity. Mazzucato and Collington have written a brilliant book that exposes the dangerous consequences of outsourcing state capacity to the consulting industry—and how to build it back. A fascinating look at the biggest players in the game and why this matters for all of us.” —Stephanie Kelton, author of The Deficit Myth

“The Big Con documents, in precise detail and with panoramic vision, all the ways that the consulting industry has insinuated itself into the systems that govern and control our lives. Private companies, public charities and trusts, states, and even the international order have all handed mission-critical functions over to management consultants. Mariana Mazzucato and Rosie Collington document the harms that result, as consultants exploit the public while stripping their clients of expertise and even the capacity to learn. This bill of particulars serves a profound master purpose: to demonstrate that we cannot outsource governance over our lives and still hope to remain prosperous, democratic, and free.” —Daniel Markovits, author of The Meritocracy Trap

Muy bueno

Ya era hora de que alguien develara las mentiras de los consultores. Y la forma tan cínica de ganar dinero. Mucho, mucho dinero.

Overall Good

Good information. Chapter 9 took advantage of a captive audience, but otherwise worth my time. Very insightful. Reinforces the fact that doing is learning.

Insightful

As someone with colleagues in some of the top consulting firms I was still able to learn from this book, and gain useful perspective on the dynamics of corporate and geopolitical influences from the industry today. I also saw strong parallels to current trends in AI.

Disappointing

Interesting topic, but I think that this book is poorly organized and hard to follow.

Just useless

I’m from finance industry so no insights for me here. You can basically change consultants to investment bankers and receive same story.

Thesises:
1) consultants have lots of conflict of interest
2) consultants fuck up big some times
3) consultants are the reason companies and especially governments lack in-house capabilities in critical units
4) consultant companies are huge

That’s it. You’ve read the book.