An interesting perspective on the Democratic race from The Decembrist: “It’s time to argue that Senator John Edwards’ contribution to the party and to modern liberalism may be more important, more daring, and more lasting [than Dean]. His contribution was in challenging the lazy assumption of ‘universalism’ that has dominated the language and program of liberals and Democrats.”
From today’s Financial Times: “France Telecom stunned the management consulting industry on Thursday when it emerged that in 2002 the French operator spent an estimated 1.5bn ($1.9bn) on consultancy out of total revenues of 46bn.”
I don’t think it’s the management consulting industry that should be stunned, it’s the rest of us. Fortunately, new CEO Thierry Breton has cut 444 million from the company’s spending on consulltants, lawyers and bankers. If we could find out what companies are spending on consultants, I suspect it would provide a reliable inverse relationship to the quality of the firm.