Customer Reviews

Soldier of Fortune 500: A Management Survival Guide for the Consulting Wars

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4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
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The title alone was an indication that "Soldier of Fortune 500" was going to be a lively read and Romaine didn't disappoint. Written in a style that reminded me of a cross between Robert Ludlum and Michael Moore, Romaine had me with him as he hopefully plunged into the consulting ranks only to be engulfed in corporate cronyism, cooked books and tilted playing fields. The cast of characters he encounters, all real but with their names changed to protect the "innocent," are sharply drawn and added an element of conflict I haven't found in most business books. After all the dull stuff I've read about Enron, Global Crossing, etc., etc. I found "Soldier" to be entertaining as well as enlightening. I enjoyed it so much that I'm hoping someone will turn it into a movie. Even if that doesn't happen, I'm looking forward to Romaine's next book.

This book is an excellent inside look at the politics and, often, the pettiness that drives corporate projects. Anyone who is a consultant needs to read this so they will know how to spot the landmines in the corporate terrain, avoid the politically incorrect steps we all make, and get with the program to be a successful consultant. The Big Consulting Firms will do just about anything to maximize their billable time, while squeezing out the Independent Consultant. Read Steve Romaine's book and learn how to win! At the end of every chapter there are great tips and guidelines for success.

This is truly "inside information" if you're one of those managers who has to deal with consultants. The author tells an eye-opening story and offers plenty of good advice which could save you some headaches or even your job. I didn't really understand the whole Enron/Andersen story until reading
this; now I do. This should be required reading for anyone who works in the corporate world.

Anyone who has worked as an executive in a large company (as I do) will directly relate to Steve's book. You will either see yourself as the lone wolf trying to do what is right for the company and what you were hired to do; or, unfortunately, you will see yourself as one of those more focused on posturing for your next postion and protecting your job, unable to make your own decisions, so you waste company money on consultants to tell you what to do. Steve tells an interesting true story of how many top corporate executives in large companies really work. He does so as an excellent writer. As he paints the scenes, you are visually stimulated, feeling as if you are part of the action. He also clearly demonstrates how consultants are more interested in getting more business than in solving client problems. MBA programs should use this as a text to illustrate how businesses allow executives to perform poorly, and how personal agendas and relationships get in the way of making good business decisions.

Mr Romaine knows how to tell a good story. And he has a rare ability - he has distilled his experiences in some of America's most visible companies, and transformed them into a management playbook. Life's textbook is seldom so well documented.

Soldiers of Fortune 500 takes Andersen Consulting (now Accenture) and Nationsbank (now Bank of America) to task for spending too much money on an ineffective information technology program. Romaine expands this personal story (in which he partook as a consultant too) to condemn the consulting industry in general. If only the consultants and clients listed were able to defend themselves...

The subject is germane today, but the book has not stood the test of time. Perhaps intended as the Liar's Poker of the consulting industry, it ends a more specific diatribe against the parties listed.

This is a "must read" for any consultant and more importantly any one who works with or hires consultants. From my perspective (as a finance professor) perhaps the book's greatest benefit is that Romaine lays out a rarely talked about conflict within the nexus of contracts: the shareholder vs. the consultant. While not necessarily always opposed to each other, the consultant has a much shorter time horizon and hence differing incentives. Given the fact that incentives matter, the book is a good introduction to an overlooked conflict that is worthy of future academic research.

oh and it is interesting too! :)

Jim Mahar
http://www.financeprofessor.com

Steve Romaine argues that contract workers, including consultants, present new challenges for management, sometimes overlooked. This is the first book I've found that addresses the issues facing today's corporate manager, offering useful guidance in this area. I like that the book is based on personal experiences and reads more like a novel then the typical business book. I especially liked the chapters on IBM, Chase Manhattan, and Bank of America, where different styles of management are contrasted based on the personal observations of the author. In my opinion, Soldier of Fortune 500 breaks new ground for managers dealing with consultants, outsourcers, and other contractors.

To correct a previous "reviewer," as author of Soldier of Fortune 500, I have received numerous personal letters from college professors regarding the book. One stated it was "a good resource for faculty and students." A University President noted in his letter, "the topic is both important and timely." Another University President wrote, "it is clear that your book offers a uniquely personal and in depth perspective of the perils and promise of management-consulting relationship." Subsequently, as suggested by another, I sent emails to professors from select colleges who were teaching business management and / or who had published articles in this area. This was not a bulk email as previously suggested.

Steve Romaine
www.sof500.com

I enjoyed this book. Its a great blow-by-blow story of how business works (or doesn't) seen by an insider. Romaine sees the problem as that of consultants with their own agenda huntng for follow on business, lining their pockets but eventually failing to deliver what they pronmised at the expense of their clients. He's right of course, but he never seems to ask the next question - how is this allowed to happen? He thinks that better control of consultants is the solution. I'm not sure. I wonder if this isn't just a bandaid on a broken leg.
I question whether the issue isn't that the corporations he describes aren't fundamentally disfunctional, driven by ego and riven by infighting. Why did NationsBank need to be the biggest? Did the hunt for growth from takeovers not just hide their technology and management problems for longer? From the book it appears that taking over other banks did not deliver the synergies and cost savings promised through technology, so they cut staff (and often customers left too as service worsened) to make savings committed and quickly moved on to the next takeover. It seems like pyramid selling - its great whilst it lasts, but cannot go on for ever.
Unless corporations can deliver new functions, better service or other breakthoughs, then new entrants or others in the business are bound to eventually win out in the marketplace. Corporations can grow stodgy, hidebound and stuffed with too many managers at the top and lose sight of customers and their business. Takeovers, downsizing, outsourcing and consultants only put off the day of reckoning. Its honest management with an unrelenting customer focus that organisations need. Using and controlling consultants better is but a small part of it.
Thanks for a good read Steve, but eventually I was disappointed that you never dug to the bottom of the issues.