Fresh from Oxford with a degree in philosophy and no particular interest in business, Matthew Stewart might not have seemed a likely candidate to become a management consultant. But soon he was telling experienced managers how to run their companies. Striking fear into the hearts of clients with his sharp analytical tools, Stewart lived in hotel rooms and got fat on his expense account-until he decided to turn the consultant's merciless, penetrating eye on the management industry itself. Alongside his devastating critique of management "philosophy", Stewart provides a bitingly funny account of his days in a consulting firm. Combining hands-on experience with the theoretical underpinnings of contemporary fads in efficiency improvement, empowerment and strategy, Stewart knows his stuff and lays bare how little consultants have done for the business of others-while making a killing for themselves.
The Management Myth: Why the Experts Keep Getting it Wrong
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"Here he [Matthew Stewart] brilliantly sets about unpicking the central tenets of management thinking..." Director "Elegant hatchet job on the management consultancy industry and the damage it's done." CNBC Business "Business Schools turning out MBA graduates are big business, and they are not going to love Stewart, whose thesis is that 'the modern idea of management is right enough to be dangerously wrong'." The Times "...serious and valuable polemic." The Wall Street Journal
About the Author
Matthew Stewart is a former management consultant and the author of the acclaimed The Courtier and the Heretic.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Explanation of the Destructive Management Consulting "Industry"
Jan 30 2013
By Kent Hillman
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Matthew Stewart adeptly exposes the underlying myth and mechanism behind ineffective yet immensely successful and attractive management consulting organizations practicing today. If you have witnessed the kind of damage this arrogant extension of pop culture can do to good people and organizations, this book will help you understand what happened.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Jeffrey Swystun
TOP 50 REVIEWER
Format:Hardcover
Beyond the fact that I awarded the book three stars, I want to state that I did enjoy it primarily because of my own experiences in management consulting. And I agree that business schools need reform as Professor Henry Mintzberg has been pointing out for some time. However, the book is a long drawn out confessional combined with a chronological charting of the strategy consulting business which has been covered many times before and more insightfully. Stewart's criticism of the consulting industry and its contribution to flawed management fails to recognize its actual value - objectivity. Without a doubt consulting is a business, a big and mostly profitable business. It only becomes a sham when the purveyors of advice act in their own best interest and not in the interest of their clients. Where the author and I are in violent agreement is in the understanding that the development of business strategy is more a creative process than a reductive one.
4 of 11 people found the following review helpful
By Hamish Knox
Format:Hardcover
My visceral reaction to this book was dislike. I feel there is a strong undercurrent of bitterness that takes away from some very interesting critique of modern management philosophy.
Also interesting was that Stewart focuses his vitriol on Drucker, Peters and Collins while leaving Ferrazzi and Godin alone.
Also interesting was that Stewart focuses his vitriol on Drucker, Peters and Collins while leaving Ferrazzi and Godin alone.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
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