Customer Reviews

House of Lies: How Management Consultants Steal Your Watch and Then Tell You the Time

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

This book is a fast, fun read and a fairly realistic introduction to the negative aspects of consulting. Anyone considering a consulting career should read it to understand the downsides. The author is clearly a skilled writer, far better than most business writers. He is also very funny. It is rare to read a book that is a quick read, funny, and informative all at the same time. That's why I gave it five stars. The author touches on several aspects of consulting. He discusses a bit of his experience at Columbia Business Schools. The bulk of the book is taken up by his discussion of a couple of his consulting assignments. This is very much a worse-case scenario book. Most people don't have such a negative experience, but it is vitally important for those interested in consulting to be aware of what can and often does go wrong. I also think the author may not have been all that seriously interested in consulting as a career.

This book is especially useful for those who are trying to decide whether or not to go into consulting; many people become consultants just because that's what others do or because there is supposedly a lot of money to be made. Read this book before you make the decision to target consulting firms in your job hunt. If you read it and still are excited about consulting, then you will probably be a pretty good "fit' for consulting.

I was looking forward to reading more about exactly how poorly and ill-fitted to their jobs management consultants are, but the actual meat of the book strays far from the title of the book. It seems like most of the book was spent bashing HBS and Mckinsey people, the week-long training session the author was forced to go through (which was pretty funny however), and about office politics in the aftermath of layoffs.

He only really discussed two projects that he worked on. Moreover, his writing style is very difficult to follow. He jumps around from topic to topic and then jumps back to the original topic without much warning. The last couple chapters that he spends actually discussing one major assignment he works on is by far the most interesting.

Overall, the book is worth reading if you're interested in the consulting industry, but if you just want a funny read look elsewhere.

This riotous book stands with the work of Mr. Bing, my longtime favorite "business" writer. The idea that anyone would read this to learn anything about management consulting strikes me as pretty silly; after all, at the end of the day, Marty's not trying to boil the ocean--he's simply trying to put a stake in the ground and then add value so he can increase his billability just in case he gets counseled out. (Hey, Marty, did I pass my consultant-speak audition?) Start at the end, with the faux acknowledgments--"negativity of the pissants around him," brilliant! It's FUNNY, people! Get a grip!

That's about how I felt after reading Kihn's walkabout on his experiences as a consultant. I was really looking forward to this book given Kihn's other work, but this book just misses the mark. Kihn's characterizations are good, but they wear thin fast.

The book has one chapter on an offsite meeting that's hilarious, but the rest of the book is weak. It's as if Kihn didn't have enough material to write a book, so several chapters have no real reason for being in the book.

Overall, the book is rambling, not particularly interesting, and lacking in a theme--even though the title suggests one. The book gets one star because of the chapter on offsites and the use of upward feedback in consulting firms. If not for that, there'd be no stars.

I'd save my money and pass this one by.

What's interesting is that this book had several Amazon customer reviews, but somehow they've vaporized.

A friend reccomended this book to me. It more depressed me than anything (because it so accurately describes me)

There are some good points in the book:
1. The consulting feedback and review process is a joke
2. All consulting firms are the same, except McKinsey which is just the same but better
3. Travel is probably the worst part of the job and points are mostly worthless

There are some things that made me think:
1. Why do I hate Sheratons but tolerate Marriott
2. Why am I obsessed with my luggage
3. Why do I get so excited at recruiting events

He also accurately describes a lot of the unspoken rules. Such as never eating in groups in the caffeteria.

There are a few funny bits as well.

I certanly wouldn't compare it to Liars Poker (not even in the same league) and the point about not having a point is well taken, its a bit rambling.

If you are a consultant you won't be able to put it down. Everyone else will just scratch their heads.

Saw the recommendation in the Economist; read the reviews here; checked it out from the library, which is what I recommend for you. One time through and you will be done, and you probably won't touch it again until you clean off your bookshelf. It's an okay read - not profound, but then it doesn't pretend to be.

I'm a former consultant, although been out of it for over twenty years. It's good if the story about the industry gets out, but it really shouldn't take this book to do it. How the industry works, how lame and pretentious some of the outfits are, including McK, really shouldn't be news by now. The story about the parts company is really the news. Real business people, real experienced combat veteran business people, make hash of consultants all the time, and it doesn't take a Harvard MBA to develop that skill.

In 2006 any policy/strategy consulting work being done is probably a form of surrogate warfare between insiders, and unless the firm's senior management is really stupid (a possibility never to be ruled out) probably always has been.

I must admit that, probably like many others, I was attracted by the subtitle, "How Management Consultants Steal Your Watch and Then Tell You the Time". However, the book doesn't even come close to meeting this. It turns out to be a "biography" of the author's two years of (rather bland) experience in (too much) detail. Overall disappointing, and I wish I had read something more beneficial.

I do admit that there are some interesting paragraphs, but overall, nothing that is new and worth the time to read.

I couldn't put this book down. The "consultant speak" glossary
in the back of the book is worth the price alone. At times,
the book would have benefited had Kihn's editor been more aggressive: the 3-4 page "consultant speak" monologue was a bit tedious ; the description of the plane ride could have been cut by a few pages. But it's almost shameful to direct such petty gripes at a true masterpiece. I wonder if, like the "counseled out" "alumni" of his former firm, Kihn is also invited back to parties and presentations of his former employer. A $5 rebate should go to every individual who finds the spot where he slips in the motto of his alma mater.

I found the idea of a revealing book about consultants fascinating, so I bought "House of Lies." What a disappointment. It's more of a juvenile attempt at fiction and humor than anything at all insightful. Wish I had read the book jacket first, where Martin Kihn's blurbs are words like "funny" and "wit." No offense to my consulting colleagues and friends, but funny and witty are not the adjectives that come to mind first. Even the author makes fun of himself and the whole idea for writing the book, and his composite characters. The book is more laughable than funny. The author sums it up himself on his own website:

Q. How many publishers turned your book down before Warner bought it?

A. I was too depressed to count, but there were at least fifteen. The most common comments were (1) there is no market for a book on management consulting, and (2) the writer is too self-obsessed. There were other comments that my agent didn't read to me.

There's a market for books about management consulting, as other books have proven. I vote for the self-obsessed and other comments his agent did not read to him. Warner must not have asked its consultants for advice before publishing the book.

The title of this book appeals two audiences:

(1) Consultants: "How we steal your watch"
(2) Social commentators: "How my watch is stolen"

However, readers hoping to come away with a diatribe about how top-tier consultancies are conspiring to take their clients for a ride (2) will be disappointed. Instead, this book seeks to humorously heighten readers' sympathy for the preposterous position (1) consultants are put in. What good is Kihn's background in media at a tire manufacturer's? (p 5, 140) How much insight does one expect to get from a consultant speaking extemporaneously on a deck he's never seen before? (p 79)

While this is a much-needed satire in a field that takes itself too seriously, Kihn sticks too closely to his roots. Think of this book as tongue-in-cheek PowerPoint bullet graph/chart/list layout meets Pop-Up Video parenthetical humor.

Yet writing for Pop-Up Video constrained both the length and content of Kihn's "snarky" commentary. Unsure how to impose structure on his new, less constraining subject, Kihn half-heartedly "architects" the following deck:

*Top-tier Management Consulting for Absolute Blithering Idiots (the world is a tool of the McKinsey-HBS complex)
*Consulting Craft Skills for a Well-Stocked Tool Kit (there is no tool kit)
*In the Client's Own Godforsaken Town (tool kit hits the road)
*Analyze This: A Minute History of Classic Consulting Texts (tool kit dedicated to print)

He then proceeds to "bucket" his "brain dump," under these headings which results in a product more reminiscent of Joycean stream of consciousness than a deliberate argument. Hence the critique that his work is "disjointed," or that someone has shuffled his slides. While some might argue that this was a calculated move to remain "true to life" on Kihn's part, that his life as a consultant could most accurately be portrayed as a shuffled deck, it makes for rough-going for those more interested in gleaning his argument rather than an artistic rendering of this disjointed state of mind.

As demonstrated by his overly thorough documentation of the McKinsey-Harvard complex (pgs 55, 56, 57, 58, and 59) and the downside of driving a rental Taurus (anecdotes 1-12), the humor of this book can become stale as its writer continues to elaborate long after the proverbial music has ended.

Overall, this book is worth a few hours' diversion, but only the consulting audience will be haunted by Kihn's humor.