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

by Martin Kihn (Author) "No storm is perfect, of course-but the Rainmaker tries to brew one..." (more)
Key Phrases: New York, New Jersey, Feedback Camp (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Complete with an appendix of terms like "brain dump," "pulse check" and "swag" (an acronym for "smart wild-assed guess"), this somewhat disjointed, highly intelligent and deeply funny debut memoir skewers a segment of the economy that nearly every white-collar worker has learned to fear and loathe: consultancies. Kihn, who has been nominated for an Emmy as a comedy writer, went to Columbia Business School and has spent the last few years working as a consultant; he writes the "Consultant Debunking Unit" column for Fast Company. Kihn argues that many consultants know little or nothing about the firms they're hired to help; furthermore, he contends, they often offer companies information that companies already have. For him, the consulting industry is a shell game, imparting an air of authority and expertise rather than actual authority and expertise. To achieve the illusion, Kihn says, consultants use mechanisms ranging from legions of Harvard MBAs in Oxford shirts to reams of incomprehensible blather presented as winning corporate wisdom. His reconstructed dialogue from within his (unnamed) firm and from his time serving clients is alone worth the price of admission, as is his relentless taunting (by name) of McKinsey, Deloitte & Touche and others.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
With sharp wit, consultant Kihn tears down myths surrounding the highly profitable and revered management-consulting industry. Presenting stories from his own career in a large management-consulting firm, this tell-all book sketches a picture of a consulting firm with teams of brilliant professionals who are hired by companies that pay millions of dollars in fees for an analysis of their organization and its processes. The author contends that consultants merely provide information the client already knows, and he offers insight into the effect consultants have on the company's employees and their culture. Language plays an enormous role in dealings both within and outside the firm, and the inclusion of a dictionary of important words for management consultants is revealing and entertaining. No activity avoids Kihn's scathing pen, including his highly critical analysis of business books. This will be popular among those engaged in consulting as well as clients who pay dearly for their advice. Mary Whaley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Business Plus (March 21, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446576565
• ISBN-13: 978-0446576567
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #767,739 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars If you are a consultant you will relate to parts of it..., July 18, 2005

By	Garrett "G" (New York) - See all my reviews

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.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Light Entertainment, April 17, 2006

By	Marshal Berthier "Marshal Berthier" (Colorado USA) - See all my reviews

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.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Right Up There with Stanley Bing, September 7, 2005

By	Kendall V. Scott (Coram, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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!