Consultants do the unthinkable

Wed, Nov 28, 2001 page24

Consultants do the unthinkable

COLLABORATION The spirit of solidarity that was born of the Sept. 11 attacks spurred seven arch rivals to come together to author a comprehensive report on the financial aftermath of the world-altering event
- NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE
Kathryn Wylde did not think twice about asking a half dozen consulting firms that have always viewed one another as arch competitors to work together on a study of the terrorist attack's economic impact.
"Ignorance is bliss," Wylde, president of the New York City Partnership and Chamber of Commerce, said with a wry smile.

At a meeting at the US Federal Reserve on Nov. 15, more than 70 management consultants from competing firms collaborated on a pro bono project to determine the impact of the Sept. 11 attacks. The group's joint report, which forecast US$83 billion in losses for New York, was an important tool for city planners.

PHOTO: NY TIMES

But she learned quickly how unusual the collaboration was when, at one of the first meetings in late September, the financier Henry Kravis looked at the participants and said, "Now I've seen everything!"

The firms' joint report, which was released last week and which forecast at least US$83 billion in losses, was an important tool for city planners.
But for the consulting industry, its making was an unprecedented test of how such highly competitive and ordinarily secretive rivals would function as a unit. As it turned out, it was a sometimes messy process that left both bruised feelings and new friendships in its wake.
"I didn't appreciate, when first thinking about it, what a unique situation it was," said Wylde, whose group represents major employers and business leaders. "But I was confident that all this talent could in fact be corralled and pushed in one direction."
Crunched out in five weeks as a pro bono project, the study involved more than 70 management consultants from Booz-Allen & Hamilton, A.T. Kearney, McKinsey & Co, the Boston Consulting Group, Bain & Co and PwC Consulting. KPMG, the tax and accounting firm, also took part.
The firms jumped at the chance to participate in part because the project was a networking godsend for an industry hit hard by the recession. Booz-Allen, A.T. Kearney and PwC have laid off employees this year, and many firms are seeking more pro bono work, both to keep staff busy and to drum up business.
Especially attractive was the fact that the board included some of New York's most illustrious business leaders, including Kravis, the founding partner of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co, and Sanford Weill, the Citigroup chairman. Consultants rarely get to meet Kravis three times in five weeks, as some did during this project.
Still, the spirit of solidarity that was born of the attacks inspired the consultants to levels of cooperation that were once unimaginable, participants said. At one point, for example, McKinsey helped PwC assess how the downturn in advertising would affect media companies.
"The attacks put me into as deep a funk emotionally as really I've ever been," said Scott Corwin, a vice president at A.T. Kearney. "This project personally gave me a way for me to channel the grief I felt, the sadness I felt, the overwhelming sense of lack of control about the world we live in."
At a first meeting, where the firms were divvying up sectors of industry to study, top partners anxiously tiptoed around one another. Most had rarely met anyone from a competing firm. "It was almost like a tea party," said Joanna Barsh, a McKinsey director. "Everybody had white gloves on. Everybody said, `What would you like to do?,' `Oh please, what would you like to do? After you.' I was surprised. These are all type-A people."
Still, tensions rose and fell as three levels of consultants got down to the meat of the report. At each firm, a "sector team" produced initial findings, mainly based on Federal Reserve data and interviews with the business community. A group of team leaders met to integrate the information, and seven senior partners, one from each firm, made decisions on how to proceed.
At first, much time was spent debating logistics, such as how to alert people to meetings on short notice. "It wasn't as bad as, `Should we use blue pencils or red ones?' but it got close to that," one participant said.
"It was the best of consulting and the worst of consulting," Barsh said. "It was really easy to get to work. They were all professionals. On the other hand, you had seven consulting firms, all simultaneously trying to help."
While egos were mostly parked at the door, the participants engaged in much jockeying. Younger staff traded information about their workplaces, perhaps with an eye toward future jobs. The core team of seven senior partners was dubbed alternately "The Island," as in the setting for the television show "Survivor," or the "Seven Samurai."
Even the food drew notice. People grumbled when McKinsey called a 5pm emergency meeting and served only bottled water. Booz-Allen, which donated office space to the project, won kudos because Reginald Van Lee, a managing partner, made sure Krispy Kreme donuts and hot lunches were routinely served.
The worst sticking points in the process in wrangling over what role Lower Manhattan should take in the city's future and which firm should write the final presentation.
Participants debated whether to urge the government to subsidize the rebuilding of office space in Lower Manhattan or to let the private sector do the job. Ultimately, they chose the private sector.
Some feelings were bruised at the project's end when one partner rewrote the final slide presentation before a report to civil and business leaders, including former president Bill Clinton.
Still, participants said they wound up the project feeling a mixture of relief and pride, and many made new friends. Plus, one manager has a new view of his job.
"Here, for the first time," he said, "I could say I was actually doing something for society," said Anand Raghuraman, a team leader on the project for A.T. Kearney.
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