As a consultant I completely agree with him. In the past I’ve rejected potential clients who clearly were too scared to take ownership of their decisions. Also, while part of the appeal of my work is getting to learn about a variety of new businesses from the employees and owners I would never claim the level of industry-specific expertise that the in-house management and staff has (or should have).
Unfortunately, the big consulting firms like McKinsey take the opposite approach, happily covering the arses of timorous clients and claiming that the consultants they send out (often callow B-school graduates) know how to manage any business they’re parachuted into from end to end. And charging an exorbitant premium for those services.
