Cover Story
C o n s u l t i n g
Ja n u a r / Fe b ru a r 2 0 0 5
15
Inside a Wall Street–wary world,
can IBM put clients first?
The name John L.Burns is not one commonly
as s oc iated with the rise of IBM Co rp .
N one t hele ss ,
Thomas Watson, Jr. — the man credited with propelling IBMinto the computing age — felt compelled to mention Burnsin his 1990 autobiography, a text penned some 35 years afterthe two men had worked together.Throwing one last elbow, the then 76-year-old Watson
spelled out how, back in the mid-1950s, Burns — a senior part-ner at Booz Allen Hamilton — had accepted his invitation tohelp IBM’s management team craft one of the company’s mostexpansive reorganizations to date, only to become president of RCA, an “aspiring” IBM rival, a short time later.Clea r ly, one could surmise that Watson intended to settle
a sc o r ewhen he revealedwhat appeared to be something mo rethan coincidentaltiming as far as the suddenupward trajec-tory of Burns’c a r e e r. Given that consultant bashing has longbeen a favorite sport of CEOs, Watson’s musingswouldh ar d-
ly appear noteworthy, except for the fact that the companyhe’s credited with having brought into the age of computingno longer fancies itself a computer maker as much as it doesa consultancy.It’s doubtful that Watson and the consultant he skeweredwould have predicted such a development. IBM’s multiprongedclient relationships may have led some to imagine the companybecoming an IT-friendly telco or a financing behemoth.No matter. Consulting services is where IBM has placed itsbets. And unlike any consulting concern before it, IBM ispoised to bring change to the consulting profession in bothsweeping and complex ways, the most profound being theexposure it brings to its new line of work.One of the great untold stories of the last century was thecritical role consultants played in America’s post–World War
II economic expansion. But that role has been all but obscuredby a willingness on the part of consultants to yield the spotlightto their client leaders. More often than not, consultants and themanagement insights they sold seldom entered the public’spurview — unless, of course, a CEO believed that his consul-tant was worthy of a comeuppance, à la Burns. Now, at thestart of a new century, Burns’s one-time client is attempting toreveal to the world at large what it deems to be an entirely newmarket — a $500 billion opportunity to which IBM saysstrategy consultants now hold the key.
ByJack Sweeney
The Consultant’sConsultant
In 1955, IBM Corp. enlisted Booz Allen consultant John L. Burns tohelp with the creation of a new IBMo rganization, one well suited to itsgrowing comp u te rbusiness. Burn s( right) sits beside Booz AllenH am i lton fo unde rs Edwin Booz (mid-
dle) and James Allen (left).
1947
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