We had a big do recently in our swanky offices for the Alumni of our firm. It was quite instructive as to the effectiveness of our sales arm, the acumen of our leadership, and the seriousness by which we take these type of events.
Strategyman was there to take it all in....
The leading strategy houses have got this down pat - they recognise that a key source of future revenue is the gang that have left and know that they can rely on their alma mater to make them look good in the next place.
The next tier of consultancies struggle to compete with this sophistication. They can't get beyond the club of general professionalism vs 'elite wankocrats'. And that's because their main sources of revenue don't really have proper competition (it's a closed shop of the big 4) - it's all 'rules-based' (accountancy, tax, regulation, deals). Whereas the strategy houses have to make the rules and put a glossy layer of C-level sexiness on top of it all.
But times are changing. Consultancies are becoming less and less relevant without some sort of secret sauce beyond flogging other people's platforms. Let's see how it evolves.
But we have to do these events don't we? And at times we might even enjoy them