In his Friday Rant, Mr. Busch asked if kicking out consultants was a smart cost cutting strategy. I promptly answered, Hell, No and pointed out my posts on why Consultants are Cheap, it’s easy to get maximum value from consultants, and that any we don’t need no consultants here logic is flawed. (I also pointed out that there are better ways to cut costs, as I chronicled in my recent posts on ways to avoid the graveyard, more ways to avoid the graveyard, and even more ways to avoid the graveyard, and that if a company is seriously looking to trim labor costs, it should consider firing its overpaid, under-performing executives. [And if you’re wondering, I fully support Obama’s desire to limit executive pay. There’s no way you should get 20 Million for running a company into the ground. If it was up to me, I’d limit base pay to 1 Million and additional compensation to performance based awards as a percentage of total profit or revenue improvement. I’d still allow for unlimited pay with unlimited performance improvement, but you’d have to earn every penny.])

Let’s face it … with your head down in day to day operations, you’re not going to be up on the latest cost savings strategies, market conditions, or technology improvements … whereas an expert will be breathing the latest strategies and technologies for improving performance and cutting costs day in and day out. Furthermore, as pointed out in this recent article from Chief Executive, using external expertise is in harmony with the modern approach to business which is all about [staying] lean & agile, [being] virtual, and outsourcing. Furthermore, as the author astutely points out, economic turmoil creates unusual problems which might need extraordinary solutions … which are only going to come from an expert.