in christoph waltz Consultant
Ever since Christoph Waltz played the charming, ruthless Nazi officer Hans Landa Quentin Tarantino Inglourious Basterds, he has been Hollywood’s go-to figure for portraying villains designed to scare the hell out of you. The fact that the waltz is also often funny is just an added bonus. His latest star turn sees him as Regis Patoff in the Amazon Prime Video horror-comedy series Consultant (Based on the book of the same name by American novelist Bentley Little).
Patoff is a cuter-than-you consultant who takes over a mobile gaming company called CompWare in the wake of its CEO’s horrific death-by-shot gunshot. Soon, Patoff – who may or may not be a literal demon from hell – infuses himself into the personal lives of his new employees, skillfully manipulating them. He also displays a vicious, bullying streak.
During his opening conversation with CompWare employees, Patoff says, “To the wonderful faces I see below, thank you for being an important part of CompWare’s success. I look forward to getting to know all of you personally. You are valuable. And for those who work remotely, you have exactly one hour to be here in person or your employment contracts will be terminated.
change in public opinion
Patoff’s satirical portrayal (consultants are hell-spawn!) is significant, as it is consistent with the consulting industry’s declining powers and failing public image in recent years. Since February, The Big Four – Deloitte, KPMG, Ernst & Young, and PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers) – have all announced massive lay-offs, Deloitte being the latest. Cumulatively, more than 10,000 people in the industry have been laid off recently. For politicians in the US and UK in particular, affiliations with large consultancy firms are now seen more as a liability than an asset. Incumbent US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has faced a sustained attack from opponents during his 2020 presidential campaign, in regards to his stint with McKinsey in 2008. The allegation was that Buttigieg helped McKinsey fix bread prices for the Canadian chain Loblaws.
big four
This is a significant change in public opinion, and at a fairly rapid pace. As recently as the late 2000s, consultancies were at their zenith for wielding power and influence through both corporate and government clients. A consultancy job at one of the Big Four was highly sought after, to say the least, at some of the most prestigious colleges in the world. And while the perceived value doesn’t disappear overnight, the past few years have eroded a lot of goodwill and cultural imprint.
Recently, two major non-fiction books have appeared that have put forth compelling cases for the rampant corruption and inefficiency displayed by large consultancy firms. the new York Times Reporters Walt Bogdanich and Michael Forsythe When McKinsey Came to Town: The Hidden Influence of the World’s Most Powerful Consulting Firm paints a disturbing picture. Through in-depth reporting through firsthand accounts and both public domain and privately obtained text, the authors detail how McKinsey recommended deep cuts to Disney’s workforce. They reportedly ignored the impact on safety and maintenance, leading to accidents during the ride, not to mention the suicides of laid-off employees. McKinsey also recommended “turbo-charging” sales of OxyContin, one of the drugs at the center of America’s crushing opioid crisis.
sparkle of professionalism
And that’s just the corporate side of things: The havoc wreaked by way of government clients is deftly described by Mariana Mazzucato and Rosie Collington. The Big Con: How the Consulting Industry Undermines Our Businesses, Influences Our Governments, and Distorts Our Economies, The authors compare the working style of today’s consultancy firms to the “confidence tricks – or ‘cons'” of America’s Gilded Age in the late 19th century, arguing that large-scale consultancy contracts (but specialized formally the UK, the focus of the book) have undermined labor protections, union-busting, price-fixing, and other shady business practices. As the authors point out in the opening chapter, “Today the consulting industry is not just a helping hand; Its advice and actions are not purely technical and neutral, facilitating more effective functioning of society and reducing ‘transaction costs’ of clients. It enables the realization of a particular vision of the economy that has caused dysfunction in government and business around the world.
The book also describes how consultancies liberally use buzzwords to give their half-baked or poorly thought-out ideas a gloss of professionalism. Puerto Rico is handed a “plan” to revive its economy and the million-dollar idea turns out to be to drop any pretense of labor protections and privatize key public institutions, essentially targeting society’s most vulnerable. Leaves the squares on their own.
still from consultant
When we see Regis Patoff inside Consultant, fully dressed in a suit and tie, we see a complete lack of empathy, a certain silver-tongued menace and the impossible-to-miss airs of the bigger, more sinister engines at play. Today journalists, writers and the public at large are engaging with the consultancy industry – and they only have themselves to blame.
The author and journalist is working on her first non-fiction book.