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Opening Arguments

On call

Nice work if you can get it:

Bloomington -- Indiana University is to pay President Adam Herbert $300,000 for 10 years of consulting work after he leaves office under a deal he reached with the school's trustees more than three years ago.

I'm not sure what a "consultant" does, but I'm pretty sure I could handle it. If any of you are interested, for $30,000 a year, I could be on call to consult with you pretty much all the time, except weekends, major holidays and before noon. You don't even have to take my advice.

Posted in: Hoosier lore

Comments

Steve Towsley
Thu, 12/07/2006 - 2:35pm

I'm sure there are worthless consultants in the world, but around here I'd say companies are generally underserved. If an area is hampered by deep-rooted provincialism, it could use professional direction to interface with the rest of the globe and frankly increase profitability in a hurry.

But as you might suspect, local companies in many parts of the country, probably including ours, are loathe to invite anything like consulting. We generally won't even hire world class managers -- and let them manage.

If we do hire the best available management staff, we too often expect them NOT to straighten out their departments, but to get used to the old habits that have been holding businesses back to begin with.

It takes courage to permit new qualified managers to manage, but that's what we hire them for, and there really is no logical alternative, for any company hoping to interface with professionals elsewhere in or out of the U.S.

Laura
Fri, 12/08/2006 - 6:21am

I agree with you on that Steve. There is alot of managers who don't know what they are doing and don't want to learn to do it the right way or hire anyone who does.

Susie
Fri, 12/08/2006 - 10:25am

Your so-called world class managers are running Fortune 400 companies like Dana Corp into bankruptcy. They artifically hike the stock values, make poor decisions on buying and selling companies and leave hourly employees twisting in the wind. Meanwhile, they still expect their multimmillion dollar bonuses. The best managers come up through the ranks, they know what works and usually want the company to succeed. Hire them--then actually listen to what they have to say.

tim zank
Fri, 12/08/2006 - 1:56pm

It has been my experience on numerous occasions, that every few months owners have a recurring need to be told by a complete stranger, unfamiliar with their particular business, how to do things better. This usually entails said stranger charging a sizeable fee to tell everyone in management to do precisely what management has been trying to do all along.
Owner buys into about 10% of changes, consultant moves on, management finds a way to increase revenues to pay for consultants fee. And the dog starts chasing his tail all over again.

Steve Towsley
Fri, 12/08/2006 - 5:26pm

If a manager performs as Susie describes, he or she would not be called world class. Pretty much the same would go for tim's generic consultant. Whoever thought such a person was the right choice for the job made the mistake, even if it was the board.

Bringing people up through the ranks works great in a lot of cases but a company can also be hamstrung by a senior manager with no special talent for leading or growing the business, which is usually a much different talent set from the fine jobs most good folks do in their own specialized areas.

And there is the matter of education -- it's why there are different colleges for doctoring, lawyering, accounting, engineering, art, architecture, and business. Coming up through the ranks is one thing; expecting to change horses entirely is not responsible or even legal in many cases.

Knowing when your company needs or does not need a consultant is key to success in course corrections, workshopping, etc., and hiring the right one, with a track record of bringing practical answers rather than an expensive pep talk is just as critical.

But don't forget that the best manager or consultant can only be as effective as the willingness of the company to break their own bad habits. There's no point in hiring above average employees or contractors at all if the company culture dislikes "outsiders," is happy in their rut and/or is defensive of their comfortable status quo.

I've even seen attempts at partnering between two companies on a single production project fall flat because the internal attitude of one or the other was, well, a little like some of the comments above -- a pre-existing climate of generalized mistrust, or jealousy, or whatever the prejudice might be.

Not only that, the bosses who want improvements may be at least temporarily shocked to discover that they won't be immune from the spotlight if some of their own habits need a little work.

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