HOW CONSULTANTS CAN REALLY MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
A timeless lesson on how consultants can make a difference for an
organization...
Last week, we took some friends out to a new restaurant, and noticed that the
waiter who took our order carried a spoon in his shirt pocket. It seemed a
little strange, but I ignored it. However, when the busboy brought out water and
utensils, I noticed he also had a spoon in his shirt pocket, then I looked
around the room and saw that all the staff had spoons in their pockets.
When the waiter came back to serve our soup I asked, "Why the spoon?" "Well," he
explained, "the restaurant's owners hired Andersen Consulting, experts in
efficiency, in order to revamp all our processes. After several months of
statistical analysis, they concluded that the spoon was the most frequently
dropped utensil. This represents a drop frequency of approximately 3 spoons per
table per hour. If our personnel is prepared to deal with that contingency, we
can reduce the number of trips back to the kitchen and save 15 man-hours per
shift."
As luck would have it I dropped my spoon and he was able to replace it with his
spare spoon. "I'll get another spoon next time I go to the kitchen instead of
making an extra trip to get it right now." I was rather impressed.
I noticed that there was a very thin string hanging out of the waiter's fly.
Looking around, I noticed that all the waiters had the same string hanging from
their flies. My curiosity got the better of me and before he walked off, I asked
the waiter, "Excuse me, but can you tell me why you have that string right
there?"
"Oh, certainly!" he answered, lowering his voice. "Not everyone is as observant
as you. That consulting firm I mentioned also found out that we can save time in
the restroom." "How so?" "See," he continued, "by tying this string to the tip
of you know what, we can pull it out over the urinal without touching it and
that way eliminate the need to wash the hands, shortening the time spent in the
restroom by 76.39 percent."
After you get it out, how do you put it back?" "Well," he whispered, lowering
his voice even further, "I don't know about the others, but I use the spoon."
Once upon a time there was a shepherd tending his sheep at the edge of a country
road in rural Wyoming.
A brand new Jeep Grand Cherokee screeched to a halt next to him. The driver, a
young man dressed in a Brioni suit, Cerrutti shoes, Ray-Ban glasses, Jovial
Swiss wristwatch and a BHS tie, jumped out and asked the herder "If I guess how
many sheep you have, will you give me one of them?"
The herder looked at the young man, then looked at the sprawling herd of grazing
sheep and replied "Yes".
The young man parked the SUV, connected his notebook and wireless modem, entered
a NASA site, scanned the ground using satellite imagery and a GPS, opened
a database and 60 Excel tables filled with algorithms, then printed a 150 page
report on his high-tech mini printer. He turned to the herder and stated "You
have exactly 1,586 sheep here." The herder answered "Say, you are right. Pick
out a sheep".
The young man took one of the animals and put it in the back of his vehicle. As
he was preparing to drive away, the herder looked at him and asked "Now, if I
guess your profession, will you pay me back in kind?"
The young man answered "Sure". The herder said immediately "You are a
consultant."
"Exactly! How did you know?" asked the young man. "Very simple", replied the
herder. "Firstly you came
here without being invited. Secondly you charged me a fee to tell me something I
already knew. Thirdly you
do not understand anything about my business. And now, I'd really like to have
my dog back."