Outsourcing blame to consultants

I have read that one reason why executives hire consultants is to outsource blame for an unpopular decision or strategy. Like, if something bad happens, they can say something like, “Hey, it wasn’t my fault, I hired McKinsey, the best!”

But if everyone is aware of that strategy, what’s the point? Wouldn’t the strategy be ineffective if the people you were trying to deceive already knew what you were trying to do?

pretty sure the executive is still the first to go if they’re the ones responsible for outsourcing in the first place.

No.
They hire consultants to find someone else in the company to blame.

Your “if” isn’t necessarily true, so your “then” is irrelevant.

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No one got fired for buying IBM.

[until they did]

I guess some people are still suckered. But jeez, it does become transparent after one’s first run-in with the strategy.