Economists Vs Consultants

[Marq]

So have you noticed lately that one cannot seem to find an 'economist' to chat to?

Now we have a passel of 'political analysts' on the tv and elsewhere.

I have also noticed that the 'consultant' is back in action. There are more and more of them popping up again.

Seeing as there are no more 'economists' to play with, I'll kick off with this story:-

A physician, a civil engineer, and a consultant were arguing about what was the oldest profession in the world.

The physician remarked, "Well, in the Bible, it says that God created Eve from a rib taken out of Adam. This clearly required surgery, and so I can rightly claim that mine is the oldest profession in the world."

The civil engineer interrupted, and said, "But even earlier in the book of Genesis, it states that God created the order of the heavens and the earth from out of the chaos. This was the first and certainly the most spectacular application of civil engineering. Therefore, fair doctor, you are wrong: mine is the oldest profession in the world."

The consultant leaned back in her chair, smiled, and then said confidently, "Ah, but who do you think created the chaos?"

[Marq]

We have seen an explanation of the difference between mediation and counselling thread here. My thought on that, was that a mediator deals with third parties and a Councillor deals with the client only. It seems in the explanation given that this is not the case - so I got to thinking there's a chine of individuals passing themselves off along the lines of -

Advisor's, Collaborator's, Mentor's, Facilitators, Consultants, Developer's, Enabler's, Coach's, Trainer's, Agents, Brokers, Mediators and Councillors

Is there any real difference here? Have we lost the art of explaining who we are as a result of the Marketing BS in telling everyone who we are not?

And you will notice I did not include 'economist' in that list. They are in a marketing sphere all on their own.

[Dave A]

You got me playing. I came up with these groupings:

Advisor, Mentor, Consultant, Coach, Trainer, Councillor - advises, does not represent.
Agent - representative
Developer, Enabler - driver role
Mediator, Facilitator, Broker - assists negotiations/communications between two or more parties
Collaborator - is a party.

[Marq]

I met these guys this morning who tell me they are Facilitators of leadership amongst other things. When I asked what that really meant....the answer was Change and Transformation Consultants. Ok so now I am up to date and know what happened to those guys from the early nineties. They seem to still be doing this in the Universities and government organisations today, which begs the question ....why? Surely this has been achieved and like the Y2K phenomena, the 'consultants' and related list of words grouped in this thread have made their millions and moved on?

Thats where all the thoughts come from? Does it really matter what these terms mean? As long as you use them and flash them around with other fancy words that nobody understands, especially Government people, then big contracts flow.

I have now seen this work in a couple of sectors by a couple of 'high flyers'. I have learnt from them and here is the plan

• You get an idea for a 'plan'. It must involve no real work and not create further dependencies down the line.
• Stake out a specific government department.
• Put together a group of individuals who have high qualifications - phd's and master degree stuff, maybe a leader in their field.
• Tell the group its all for the higher cause and what a good thing this will be for all.
• Organise top level meetings with serious government official types.
• Confirm their budget.
• Show them how the 'plan' fits in with saving their world.
• Get sign off on the 'plan'
• Collect lots of clip and paste stuff from the internet.
• Do the survey/plan/environ study/research paper. Create tons and volumes of paper and make lots of long sentences and big words so that nobody will read it.
• Present paper with large party plenty booze and a great speech.
• Apparently here in Durban one can get the deputy mayor for very little. (The DA says he will attend the opening of anything - even an envelope)
• Anyway launch paper with flair.
• Be seriously confident throughout the whole process.
• Tender invoice.
• Pay off Doctors and team
• Go on long holiday
• Ask to be involved in next idea that the government has...make it theirs.

Ok so I am looking for a 'plan', a couple of Doctors...entomology will be ok, someone who knows someone in a department...anyone will do..a big photostat machine and a travel agent.

Who wants in?

[Dave A]

Sounds good

At times I feel like I've been doing that for years already, just without the money

[wynn]

One more, "Guru"

[Dave A]

As in "financial guru" - maybe Bernard Madoff has taken the shine off the guru tag for a while.

Guru - It's a bit of a catch-all, isn't it.

Good one, Wynn

[wynn]

Keeping it local "Fundi"