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

Looking at the title I thought and expected to be shown how consultants are inefficient and bad value for their employers. I worked at the same company that Kihn, and can tell you he accurately observes some of the idiosyncrasies of consulting life. He didn't tell me anything I didn't already know. The book is at times, entertaining, and other times long winded. For the entertainment I give it two stars. However, it falls short of what the title sets it up for.

The only proof that management consultants are "Stealing your watch" is Dilbertesque observations of the sometimes illogical and strange goings on in the consulting world. You could write about the unique and sometimes absurd world of engineers, doctors, etc, and claim that the profession was inefficient. His view is one sided. To listen to Khin every engagement is a bunch of BS artists sitting in front of a dazed, bewildered and hopeless client, and I know that is not true. If he really felt that he wasn't providing value and was "stealing your watch" how did he ethically justify staying so long?

Had he titled it, "The crazy world of management consulting and my life in it" I would have given it three or four stars, as it would have lived up to its billing, but to present it as an expose of the industry it fails short.

This is a great book, largely because it is very different from the sensationalist, anger-fuelled words on the back of the cover (and rather removed from its title, too).

It is a very well written, humorous description of how management consultancies work, seen from the eyes of a junior staff member. I recognised almost every situation as part of my own experience many years ago (roughly from the same time the book was written). The jargon, the mechanics, the lifestyle: it is almost a training manual on what to expect.

The book captures the nuances, the subtleties, the sometimes glamorous and the mostly unglamorous (or downright depressing) experiences every consultant has had. The depressing parts (insane hours, characterless hotels, bad food, unbearable work events, personal sacrifices, etc.) are the funniest, as they are the ones that mostly ring true and are forever fresh in any consultant’s memory.

The cynical description of consultants as highly aware of their superior education and intellect compared to their clients, and how they learn to annihilate their egos, hide their lifestyle, and be invisible to be effective, is very accurate.

Is the book about lies and consultants scamming clients? Absolutely not. In fact, the book very well describes how consultants tend to land in poorly run companies with mediocre managers, and work insanely hard to, in the author’s words, “accomplish in very rapid order a daunting, discreet piece of fact-finding and analysis, that they are then required to present in exceedingly clear and convincing form to their client”. Which is also why it’s irrelevant that they don’t have experience in the business they are analysing. The book is also very good at explaining how consultants are used to point out the obvious when office politics don’t allow it, so the client ends up doing the right thing (or to serve the client’s interest). Are consultants Boy Scouts? No. Grow up.

Finally, for those who’ve seen the show of the same name: other than a couple of character names, there is close to nothing in this book that made it to the show. The show is an idealised, glamorous version of Consulting most consultants wish they had experienced, or at best have experienced glimpses of. This book is the reality: all the way to the awful cafeteria food and the single cubicle for five people.

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.

Ultimately - and this is why the book fails - you just don't care. You don't care about the author in real life - he wanders through the pages without a life. You don't care about the persona - he wanders through the pages without a life. How can one man be TWO schlemiehls? Not even this wondrous puzzle is enough to rescue the book. And that's a pity.

"Marty" (he never grows up) is bright without being smart, verbal without being...well...interesting. He has experiences that could have taught him about the world, not only of consulting, but of people. Instead, he produces just one witty riff of lamentation after another. Too bad there is no melody. You read and read, hoping to see that this fellow has learned something, even if surrounded only by stick figures. He never does. They always are. Aren't we so, so very perceptive, world-weary, blah blah blah? At the end, you realize there is no end. Unhappy Martin did not go to a good enough B-school (it was only Columbia!) to become king of Corinth and doesn't have the guts to dig a deep enough hole to win the name of Sisyphus. Oh, First Tier Consulting Company (never named), just fire this kid. Do him a favor. Give him no choice except to learn about himself.

Yup, I've consulted for years, and I've met lots of people who consulted for other firms. Martin, Martin, Martin - listen to them, hear them. They are just plain folks trying to get by. They are not "consultants"; they are "people who consult". There are no "clients"; they are just plain folks who hire consultants and who try to get by. Of course they're funny. Of course they make mistakes. That's what folks do. But folks persevere - not just survive, Martin, they persevere. You need to learn that. You need to like them, Martin. It's quite your only choice.

But I'll give you two stars for several reasons. People who run business schools might benefit from this book - they can learn who not to let in. People who plan to go into business, indeed, into any profession, might benefit from this book - they can learn what not to become and who not to befriend. People who are already in business might benefit from this book - they can learn who not to accept on the consulting team. You are a witty fellow, Martin, if mostly froth and little beer. You show some promise, although that promise will take you only so far. And you do like dogs.

David Block
[...]

If you buy a cookbook, you don't want to read about gardening. If you buy a book that promises to tell you how "management consultants steal your watch and then tell you the time" you want to read juicy stories, true examples, and some tips on how to protect you from consultants. Too bad Kihn's book title is grossly misleading. There is not a single case study or proof of a consulting company lying to its clients in his book.

The author gives his account of life as a (junior) consultant. He does so in a very funny and engaging fashion. Kihn reveals many aspects of how consultants feel every day and what they encounter both as team members as well as on the client's site. Thus the book is a good read for people who think about entering a consulting career, though less for managers who engage consultants. Beware - just because Kihn did not like the consulting business does not mean that the reader or job applicant might not like working in the consulting industry. Many of his dislikes might be related to the company he worked for...a company he never dares to name in the book. For example, Kihn loathes team dinners with his colleagues, while most consultants I know love team dinners because they allow everybody to relax and summarize the day's work over drinks and food. Kihn is at his best is when he talks about the consulting life with regard to hotels, rental cars, and maximizing frequent flyer miles.

The book could easily stand on its own feet with a more honest title like "My short life as a management consultant - some truths of a less than glorious career" or similar. It is surprising that Warner Business Books and their editors would allow such a gross mismatch of the current book title and content.

Ah yes, management consulting. having worked in that field for 15 years, I have to say Mr Kihn has accurately depicted many situations i've been in from writing/re-writing powerpoint presentations in the wee hours to the dreaded team dinner .... hilarious, and true.

Although it's probably not true, I occasionally got the sense while reading the book that the author had the germ of the idea for it while employed at a job with which he was no longer enthused. He then decided to quit and go to business school in order to begin the process of gathering the raw material for the present work. Whatever its origins, if the result had been a novelization of his time as a management consultant, a re-written book might have been more enjoyable. As it stands, it's likely to be of interest only to those who are pre-disposed against management consulting as a profession or the private sector in general.

Profanity and political opinions (perhaps a more accurate, if not better, title for this book) are interspersed among the chapters of this work. While they may serve the function of signaling to his NYC friends that despite going corporate he's still a stand-up guy who holds the "correct" views, they have no place in this book and do nothing to provide insight into the topic at hand. I can, however, see where those interjections might have helped to get the author's book optioned for TV.

Although I spent years as a consultant, I never worked as a management consultant and have no stake in the industry. I feel no obligation to defend management consulting when its members go astray or are improperly employed. I appreciate the humor at the expense of those who blindly use consulting terminology to cover for a dearth of knowledge that is applicable and useful in addressing a real business problem. Nevertheless, a work of non-fiction (even a biographical one) shouldn't wallow in subjective experience if it aims to characterize an entire sphere of activity. I can't help but think that a lot of what Mr. Kihn writes about management consulting is projection. His sense of his own limitations and feelings of being lost get translated into an industry-wide pathology. For those who like the mugging-for-the-camera snarkiness of Jon Stewart, this book may be a winner. Those readers who would like to do more than confirm their own biases could start by looking at other works such as "The World's Newest Profession" and "The Lords of Strategy." While far from perfect, these books at least provide some history and balance.

From his LinkedIn profile I learned that the author went on to positions in strategy and analytics. His current employer shouldn't be surprised when he publishes a book in the future that glibly explains that segmentation is rank bigotry and data can mean anything you want it to. But hey, as long as it's funny….

I liked Martin's book. I bought it because, as a consultant, I wanted to get that insider view of how big consulting firms work. How they get their clients. How they go about their business. And how they justify their fees, which are much, much larger than mine.

That's why I can only give this book 4 stars. Martin's writing is hilarious. I enjoyed the stories, the references, and the fake book-within-a-book he crafted as he went along. But the essential thing I was looking for is missing: how big consulting firms get clients. That happens off stage. Martin speaks from the analyst's point of view, not the rainmaker's.

Everything else was entertaining and face-smackingly raw and honest. It's a book I will recommend to other business owners.

Very funny and insightful book on machinations at management consulting firms like McKinseys in the early 2000s. Different to the show but similar witty dialogue.

good humor