Stories about consultants
Pattern Recognition đź”—
by William Gibson
The consultant allergic to brands. Marketing agencies that wield global influence over culture.
Satin Island đź”—
by Tom McCarthy
Then the Great Report would not be something that was either to-come or completed, in-the-past: it would be all now. Present-tense anthropology; anthropology as way-of-life. That was it: Present-Tense Anthropology™; an anthropology that bathed in presence, and in nowness—bathed in it as in a deep, bubbling and nymph-saturated well. And yet … And yet … And yet. The Great Report still had to be composed. That was the deal: with Peyman, with the age. Even if it wasn’t composed in a way that conformed to any previous anthropological model, it nonetheless had, somehow, to find a form. It was all a question of form. What fluid, morphing hybrid could I come up with to be equal to that task? What medium, or media, would it inhabit? Would it tell a story? If so, how, and about what, or whom? If not, how would it all congeal, around what cohere? How could I elevate the photos I had pinned about my walls, the sketches, doodles, musings, all the stuff cached on my hard-drive, the audio-files and diaries not my own—how could I elevate all these from secondary sources to be quantified, sucked dry, then cast away, to primary players in this story, or non-story? Above and beyond this, how could life as lived become transmogrified from field-work into work, the Work?
The Sleep Consultant đź”—
by Robin Sloan
A one-off print run zine fiction from Robin Sloan. The corporate sleep consultant asleep for 5 years. Now online!
The Art of Gig đź”—
by Venkatesh Rao
A wonderful madcap dash through an engagement as an indie consultant deploying Structured Conversation Operations and encountering McKinsey (who come in like a SWAT team). Love it. Read it here.