management consultants
 

thoughts of the portrayal on showtime's house of lies?

in latest episode - don cheadle's character mentions the main characters are on the road 3 nights a week "as the mileage rewards accumulate"

a previous episode had a virgin america exterior

I love this show!

It's not all that realistic a portrayal of life in management consulting (and some of their explanations of terms are nonsense), but it's quite fun.

My general hope is that people watch the show and will believe that's what it's all about.

I'm pretty sure the portrayal is mostly B.S. But I generally enjoy the show.

do consultants who really add value refer to themselves as "management consultants" or something more specific?

I suppose it depends on what they do - if they advise management on a variety of topics, it seems like a neat 'catch all'. Someone who only advises on e.g. downsizing, outsourcing etc. may use a more narrow description.

Haven't seen the show, but wanted to point some of the newer folks here to arguably the greatest thread of FT: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...-35-000ft.html

I've never seen this show. Is it necessary to start from the beginning or is it easy to follow starting a current episode?

As a rule of thumb, consultants in the top 3 companies (McKinsey, Bain, BCG) will describe themselves simply as "Management Consultancies", whereas the next tier are keen to differentiate themselves from the larger accountancy type firms and so will often refer to themselves as "Strategy Consultants".

This has not been my experience, and I am a "management consultant" or a "strategy consultant" or whatever the kids are calling it these days.

I usually just say I'm a consultant. If people ask what kind, I say "management consultant." If they continue to ask questions, I describe my firm and what we do.

+1 on this comment. I am in the same field.

The show has some overlap in what really happens with consultants. However, the show also describes every possible cliche about the industry.

It depends what type of firm you work for and the culture of that firm. Am I on the road Monday to Thursday and back in the office on Friday? Sometimes. But more likely I'm either doing two week jaunts overseas or doing Sunday to Sunday trips because I like to explore the places I visit more often than not.

The show is great though - quite comical.