Why consultants love to manufacture mystique, even at the cost of clarity?

People like to see their life lessons as epic and problems as super-complex.

The stories we tell ourselves add meaning to our existence, and lend our memories the aura of adventure and romance. Quite subconsciously and subtly, we tend to exaggerate our struggles, and paint our dilemmas as unique.

Yet I have always believed that the most profound ideas – and all challenges and opportunities – can be distilled down to simple truths.

In line with this worldview, at my firm Resonance, we operate with the philosophy of demystifying complexity. It’s about cutting to the heart of the matter, separating the wheat from the chaff, shutting out the noise, shining a laser beam on the issue at hand – say it the way you will, but you get my drift?

On occasions, we have had to make concessions to mystique or complexity. In dealing with luxury branding, for instance, there is a wonderful saying, “Do not let in daylight upon magic.” This was originally said in the context of the British monarchy needing to preserve its mystique. When dealing with luxury, we need to be assumptive and imply, never be explicit or over-explain.

Also, brands are complex entities, and while their essence may be a simple distillate, they are imbued with nuances. One needs to dissect and decode this while analysing a brand, and if it is a new brand, then embed it with such layered meaning.

But as a general guiding principle, demystification remains our mantra. Addressing a problem may take process, rigour and tools, but in its essence, it is seldom too complicated for its own good! And unless we have a simple, clear and concise problem statement, the solution can never be elegant and effective.

And that’s where, in our early days, I got a pushback from a friend who was a Big 4 consultant.

The gist of his argument was this – if the problem you are setting out to solve is so simple to begin with, then what is the perceived value addition you are offering to the client. So what you need to do is present the problem in all its dimensions and complexity, to the extent that it scares the wits out of the client. Only then you step in like a knight in shining armour and unveil the solution. This is what the big consultants do, and this is what fetches true premium.

On the face of it, it makes perfect sense. And since co-creation is the name of the game, it allows clients to co-resolve impossibly intricate problems, stage winning comebacks, and emerge as heroes in their mental scripts. And who am I to argue with the biggies of the consulting world?

But deep down, it seems dishonest to me at many levels. Not only is it manipulative, but also misplaced.

Human beings want to solve a riddle, get out of the maze. When an appliance or vehicle breaks down, you want it fixed as smoothly as possible. You don’t want to linger over a fancy 3D visualisation of the problem, providing granular diagnostics.

Or maybe you do.

What do YOU think?

#demystification #simplesolutions #consultants #clientsuccess #honesty #ContextLedCommunication

(Rajeev Shukla is Co-founder & Managing Partner of Resonance Consulting, a branding and communication firm offering services that include Insight Mining, Brand Strategy, Identity & Design, Communication, Employer Branding & Employee Engagement, CSR Advisory. )