A little over a month ago I wrote a post that argued that many large corporations needed "corporate jesters" to give them some outside perspective. You can read the original post here. Basically my argument is that many firms become so insular and so sure of themselves that they become arrogant and ignore or dismiss information or news that doesn't agree with the corporate perspective. Additionally, it is never a "good thing" in most corporate cultures to be the person who bucks the system or brings in the "bad news", so organizational hierarchies act as filtering mechanisms for information that travels on the way up, and senior executives are too busy to find out the entire truth for themselves. Would GM have had as many problems if their executives had to go out and purchase their own cars, and their own gas? Maybe, but maybe they would have understood the reasons consumers were leaving them.
David Riveness contacted me based on that original post and asked me to review his book "The Secret Life of the Corporate Jester". It is a book that uses many common fables to illustrate points about how management works and the need to introduce some other perspective into the situation. Riveness suggests that people can be "jesters" and be successful inside an organization. I think that's true, but only in the right organizations with the right culture and leadership. Otherwise, I suspect that the best "jesters" may be outsiders - a trusted business partner or academic, a neighbor or a friend. The challenge with too many consultants is that this is the role they often SHOULD play, but too often don't play because it will cost them business in the short run.
You can find David's book on Amazon. I'd suggest sending it surreptitiously to your senior management team. Most senior managers live in a bubble, never meeting customers or interacting with the market, fed information by the people around them. In my experience I think most senior managers and executives need a jester, inside the firm or outside, to help sift the information and provide a different perspective. In the hustle and bustle of back to back meetings, decisions, firefighting and other tasks we call on executives to do, there's very rarely a chance to stop, reflect and consider different perspectives or insights.
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