To fulfill her desire of working with industry experts on product design, Dorothy Peng departed Interpublic Group’s RGA in September 2023 after more than eight years to join Deloitte Consulting in January 2024.
In her first public interview since joining Deloitte, Campaign speaks to Peng to find out if her work philosophy has changed since she joined moved to a consultancy, the various client challenges in a consultancy environment, and the importance of uplifting other women as a veteran.
Innovating in a different environment
Previously, as the senior vice president and managing director of Asia at RGA, Peng worked on experience design for brands like Nike, McCormick and Nikon, but was seeking a different challenge. She says she enjoyed her time at RGA, crediting the experience with significantly shaping her professional development.
In particular, she highlights the diverse projects, collaborative efforts with colleagues, interactions with clients, and the management of office operations as rewarding. Establishing and expanding RGA’s offices across Asia also provided her the chance to evaluate her capabilities in a varied environment.
Anyone who joins a consultancy from an agency inevitably brings up the debate around how management consultants like Accenture Song are increasingly competing with creative agencies and have started acquiring boutique design firms.
Peng does not shy away from this, pointing out that even though consultancies and agencies draw from the same talent pools, the notable difference is that consultancies sometimes engage in conversations with clients earlier in the process.
“The philosophy leans more upstream. For instance, when you consider management consulting alongside digital, the beauty lies in my ability to bridge business and strategy. It’s this bridging aspect that’s particularly interesting,” explains Peng.
“I can collaborate with industry professionals to integrate management consulting strategy with design strategy, which is quite distinctive. Something must be said about bringing a bit of magic to the logic. I believe that’s the beauty of design—the ability to crystallise and highlight the exciting aspects of a product in a way that resonates with what customers need or to define the product-market fit clearly.”
Peng explains Deloitte’s approach encompasses a complete end-to-end service, which intrigues her greatly. While she is unable to share specific examples of projects because of non-disclosure agreements, Peng explains clients often discuss their crucial business strategies with Deloitte, so integrating them with customer perspectives and ensuring the product resonates with them is vital. She points out this connection is where there is a need for more investment in understanding and effort.
“This philosophy extends beyond strategy and conceptual thinking to include execution and operational support, covering the full spectrum of work. It’s about applying a touch of magic to the logical aspects of business and ensuring end-to-end implementation,” says Peng.
“Moreover, it’s not solely about crafting campaigns; there’s a significant emphasis on utility. The utility aspect is crucial to ensure that there’s a compelling reason for customers to engage with a product, and this applies broadly, not just in B2C contexts but also in B2B relationships.”
Peng adds that what she values most in a consultancy is noting her work’s impact on business at a strategic level. “Discussions with clients often revolve around understanding their goals, whether business or digital transformation and how we can support those objectives,” she says.
The importance of design
Brands are increasingly acknowledging the critical role of speed-to-market and the necessity of outstanding design for achieving success. They aim for high-quality, exceptional designs to swiftly attract customer attention.
However, merely having a plethora of products or innovative ideas is insufficient if these offerings do not align with customer needs and desires, leading to a lack of resonance and success in the market.
The focus of Deloitte’s approach is not merely on the attractiveness of innovative ideas but on assessing the desirability, viability, and feasibility of a product, with the goal of creating something that customers genuinely desire. This strategic differentiation is deemed essential. Additionally, the success of these endeavours hinges on the people in Deloitte.
“It involves a holistic approach, considering various company dimensions, such as workforce or process transformation, making our conversations and solutions multidimensional,” explains Peng. “The discussions I engage in often revolve around the business case for a product, emphasising the necessity of ROI for any new product creation or venture pursued.”
She adds: “This ROI is anticipated based on customer spending or the potential market opportunity size. While these conversations are crucial, it’s important to note that other divisions within Deloitte handle specific aspects of bringing a product to market, such as achieving certain sign-up rates or other market entry metrics.”
Ultimately, Peng says her primary aspiration is to deliver work significantly benefiting her clients. Success is measured for her in several ways, including the adoption rates of products the company implements, the net promoter scores (NPS) indicating customer satisfaction, and feedback on customer experience.
“The growth and retention of my team, which I am focusing on expanding aggressively, are critical [also] indicators of success,” she adds.
Leading the way forward
In Singapore, where the presence of women on boards has increased across listed companies, statutory boards, and institutions of public character (IPCs), the top 100 listed companies still show a lag in female representation.
As of June 2023, women’s participation in these companies’ boards rose to 22.7% from 15.2% in December 2018, approaching a voluntary target of 25% by 2025 set by the Council for Board Diversity.
However, 13 of these companies still operate with all-male boards. Statutory boards have reached 32% female board representation, meeting CBD’s target of 30% in 2022. The largest IPCs are close to their 30% goal, with 29.5% of board seats held by women. Upcoming regulatory guidance aims to further promote diversity in board succession planning.
The slow progress towards equal representation in boardrooms can be attributed to various factors. Traditional corporate cultures and societal norms often perpetuate gender biases, hindering women’s advancement to leadership roles. Additionally, a lack of female mentors and role models in top positions may prevent women from aspiring to these roles or receiving the support needed to attain them.
The gap in representation also reflects broader issues of gender equality in the workforce, including disparities in opportunities for advancement and challenges in balancing professional and personal responsibilities.
Peng acknowledges that in consulting, as in many fields traditionally dominated by men, the most straightforward approach to success is to do her work well. Quality is paramount; and without it, she warns that women might get caught in a cycle of repetition. The work must stand on its merit first and foremost.
“I also recognise the importance of my role as a model for younger women who see me as a representation of their future possibilities,” explains Peng. “I advise women to understand their worth and excel in their work. Additionally, women must advocate for themselves, as many tend to under-protect their interests.”
Being a member of the Pass Her The Mic initiative, a Women Leading Change Program winner at Campaign Women Leading Change 2023, has been advantageous for Peng.
She explains it is essential to have a community where women can support one another, as not everyone is comfortable taking the spotlight.
“Knowing others are ready to share the responsibility makes the journey less isolating. The initiative, including training and sessions, has been highly beneficial and empowering,” explains Peng.
In The Big Con, Mariana Mazzucato and Rosie Collington claim that our overreliance on the consulting industry has negative consequences for society, inhibiting knowledge transfer and corporate and political accountability. The authors expose how consultancies’ goal of “creating value” may not align with addressing major issues such as climate change, arguing convincingly for greater transparency and a revitalised public sector, writes Ivan Radanović.
This blogpost originally appeared on LSE Review of Books. If you would like to contribute to the series, please contact the managing editor at lsereviewofbooks@lse.ac.uk.
In their book The Big Con, Mariana Mazzucato and Rosie Collington warn that relying on consultancies harms the public interest. Asking what happens to the brain of an organisation when it is not learning by doing because someone else is doing the doing, they conclude that societies must return public purpose in centre of attention.
The authors’ thesis is that overreliance on consultancies harms public interest, disables governments, and threatens democracy.
In 2021, the consulting industry was valued at over 900 billion dollars. Its ninefold rise since 1999 is the result of rising reliance of states on consulting agencies. The authors’ thesis is that overreliance on consultancies harms public interest, disables governments, and threatens democracy. They investigate this trend and how to reverse it.
The “Big Con” is the term Mazzucato and Collington use to mark the biggest auditing, accounting, and consulting agencies such as Ernst & Young (EY), KPMG, PwC, Deloitte, McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Accenture and others. The consulting market emerged during early industrialisation, when engineers, periodically recruited by major industrial firms, formalised their work. In the 1920s many consultants, among them James McKinsey, cooperated with American businesses. The popularity of management consultancy rose in 1970 when BCG introduced the matrix for mapping the profitability of business portfolio. After two years, this tool was used (and paid for) by more than 100 enterprises. American firms, on the wings of the Marshall plan and later IT management projects, have spread throughout Europe.
Golden years
The election of the right-wing populists Margaret Thatcher in the UK (1979) and Ronald Reagan in the US (1981) occurred after a decade of economic turmoil, led by the end of the Bretton Woods system and two major oil crises. The opinion that the responsibility for the turmoil lay in how states were run mushroomed. The neoliberal credo was that the only value creators in society are markets, and with Thatcher and Reagan, favour was refocused from the worker to the citizen-taxpayer.
The neoliberal credo was that the only value creators in society are markets, and with Thatcher and Reagan, favour was refocused from the worker to the citizen-taxpayer.
Contrary to the belief that the essence of neoliberalism is to slash public spending, Mazzucato and Collington suggest “it is more precise to describe it as public spending redirection towards the stronger role of the market” (49). In Thatcher’s era (1979-1990) government expenditure rose in real terms by 7.7 percent (43). In Reagan’s (1981-1989) federal spending rose by almost nine percent annually (43). From the US to Australia, thousands of neoliberal reforms such as privatisation, deregulation or outsourcing states had to be implemented, and advised. The authors show us that the annual public spending for consulting in the UK from 1979 to 1990 rose fortyfold – from 7.1 million to 290 million dollars. The 1980s saw the advent of a new management doctrine. In place of earlier stable forms of organisational life emerged the model of flexible “learning organisations” which view instability as an opportunity. The main goal becomes maximising value for shareholders. In the 1990s, that led to the popularisation of storytelling in politics and business. It is no longer a product or brand that is sold, but the story about value, challenges and business success through positive change, peddled by elite consultants or management gurus.
Creating the impression of value
Today, consultants are seen as experts who transfer know-how and utilise advanced management techniques to improve clients’ businesses. The enormous rise of consulting in the last four decades is explained by the “value” they create for states and companies. However, according to the authors, consultants do not always meet expectations and they seldom transfer knowledge. Created “value” is often unclear and depends on the perception of the client. Consultants hustle to create the impression of value.
Created “value” is often unclear and depends on the perception of the client. Consultants hustle to create the impression of value.
There are many examples where engaging consultancies has backfired for states. In developing countries such as Nigeria, Mexico and Angola, hiring consultancies was a condition of their IMF loan agreements (50). The authors focus on wealthy countries, arguing that even if contracting consultants experienced in the implementation of complex macroeconomic programmes could be justified in developing countries, it is less justifiable in developed countries, which should ostensibly have high competency in these areas.
Unmet deadlines, spiralling costs
Consultancies often fail to deliver on their promises. In 2010, Sweden started the construction project for a new university hospital in Stockholm which would be the most advanced in Europe. Its operations were to be grounded in “value-based healthcare”, a concept designed by management guru Michael Porter. Costs were initially valued at 1.4 billion euro, with the project set to be completed in 2015. City authorities opted for a public-private partnership which contracted consultants from PwC and EY who claimed they would ”maximise the value and keep the costs under control” (145). Representatives from the construction company Skanska stated that this model would “transfer the risk from the state and taxpayers to the private sector” (145). However, the costs immediately surpassed the projections because vital equipment had not been included in the budget The project, beset by problems, was passed to BCG, who had nine consultants working on its implementation while earning a monthly salary of almost 70,000 euros over six years. Another consultancy, Nordic Interim AB was then contracted for an additional 12 million euro, and when the hospital was eventually finished in 2018, costs a billion euros higher than the original estimate.
Absence of accountability
It is not all about money. Consultancies contribute to many undemocratic practices, maintaining what Acemoglu and Robinson named as extractive institutions. Often, they act as a mechanism for public wealth extraction, whereby states recruit consultants when they want to “hedge” the political risk of unpopular economic measures. The states maintain legitimacy, and consultants get their share of political influence. Authors emphasise the example of Puerto Rico, which faced bankruptcy in 2016. Then-President Obama initiated the creation of an Oversight Board to supervise the bankruptcy process. Keeping reputational risk low, Washington ensured that the majority of members of the Board were of Puerto Rican heritage. The Board did not hire a large staff, to avoid looking like it was setting up a parallel government. Instead, it brought in consultants. Instead of the state, McKinsey engaged in the privatisation of public enterprises, healthcare reforms “based on value”, slashing public spending and restructuring debt. Moreover, McKinsey owned $20 million of Puerto Rico’s bonds: consultants were set to profit from the very same debt they were helping to restructure.
Regaining control
Even though consultancies did not cause the maladies of neoliberal capitalism, they have profited from them. Without transparency and democratic permission, they erode the capabilities of states and enterprises. Because knowledge is not cultivated within state workforces and institutions, a dependency on the “expertise” of consultancies spirals.
[Consultancies] erode the capabilities of states and enterprises. Because knowledge is not cultivated within state workforces and institutions, a dependency on the “expertise” of consultancies spirals.
The last section of the book is about “climate consulting”. Omnipresent and long-term, climate change is ideal ground for consultants. Competition is fierce; consultancies’ “websites are replete with beautifully designed free reports on sustainability issues for every sector, from oil and gas to healthcare” (190). They promise solutions, pitching themselves as an avant-garde of change.
The key takeaway, according to Mazzucato and Collington, is that we must challenge the predominance of consultancies. With their ultimate goal of “creating value”, they advise both the fossil polluters and the governments mandated to reduce emissions. Moreover, states are catalysts of technological change for public good, while the private sector only invests in fundamental research when it becomes enticingly profitable.
Putting aside the authors’ techno-optimistic view – which holds that climate change mitigation is mostly a technical issue regarding innovations for green transition, which is being debunked – their final suggestions are valid. A new narrative and vision for the role of the state, recovering public capacities, embedding knowledge transfer into consulting contracts’ evaluation and mandating transparency are, undoubtedly, desirable. The book’s importance lies in how it reveals the political implications of the consulting industry. Whether we choose “green growth” or abandon the growth imperative, one thing is certain: democratically elected governments are key actors. Only they can mobilise the resources required for achieving “moonshot” missions, the most urgent of which is climate change.
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