House of Lies, Martin Kihn
House of Lies, Martin Kihn
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House of Lies
How Management Consultants Steal Your Watch and Then Tell You the Time

Author: Martin Kihn

Narrator: Johnny Heller

Unabridged: 8 hr 29 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Business Plus

Published: 01/09/2012


Synopsis

The basis for the Don Cheadle series currently available on Netflix, an accurate and darkly hilarious behind-the-scenes look at the twisted world of management consulting.

“[A] highly intelligent and deeply funny debut memoir skewers a segment of the economy that nearly every white-collar worker has learned to fear and loathe: consultancies.” —Publishers Weekly

Once upon a time in Corporate America paid certain people huge fees to tell organizations what they were doing wrong. These men and women really knew next to nothing. They trashed business, destroyed careers, and wasted time and money. They called themselves Management Consultants. . . .

When Martin Kihn joined a powerhouse New York consulting firm, he thought his job was to help organizations. In reality, the consultants spent precious work hours prowling for new clients, and offered little or no useful information. From power breakfasts with mind games to the screaming indignity of “Feedback Camp” in New Jersey, House of Lies reveals the truth about a “profession” that could threaten your job, your career, and your life . . . and even throws you some lifelines should the suits start circling your company.

“With sharp wit, consultant Kihn tears down myths surrounding the highly profitable and revered management-consulting industry. . . . No activity avoids Kihn’s scathing pen, including his highly critical analysis of business books.” —Booklist

“Exceedingly smart and funny . . . Kihn’s breezy, Jay McInerney-inspired writing renders the damnable daily life of the management consultant precisely, often hilariously.” —Salon.com

“Funny, lucid, and lacerating.” —Graydon Carter, editor-in-chief, Vanity Fair
 

About Martin Kihn

Martin Kihn is senior vice president, strategy, for Salesforce Marketing Cloud. Previously, he spent five years as a leading Gartner analyst covering marketing, advertising, and data.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Michael on April 25, 2012

If you buy a cookbook, you don't want to read about gardening. If you buy a book that promises to tell you how "management consultants steal your watch and then tell you the time" you want to read juicy stories, true examples, and some tips on how to protect you from consultants. Too bad Kihn's book......more

Goodreads review by Paul on May 10, 2021

Very Disapointed I was a big fan of the television show and not a fan of consultants, so this book would have seemed ideal to me, but it never delivered on its promise. I was hoping for fun stories of big consulting jobs with nothing to show, but 90% of the book is just the author whining about how m......more

Goodreads review by Trinh on July 31, 2013

Absolutely hilarious! Feels like a consulting version of Leveraged Sellout. For a more "insider" read I'd strongly recommend "Consulting Demons" by Pinault.......more

Goodreads review by Ankur on December 10, 2019

Extremely accurate representation of the nuances of corporate consulting with the hilariously bang on specifics......more

Goodreads review by Rajesh on April 25, 2012

There are over half a million management consultants around the world, and they all gripe when asked the single common question wherever they go: "What is it that you actually do?". Well, they are capable for entering in any organization, monitor its business & people for a period like an big-brothe......more