But you'd best not ignore them. They might provide the critical enhancement you need to maintain your company's competitive edge. You know your business better than anyone else because you are more closely involved with it. Sometimes too close. The answers and solutions may already be present within your organization, but are obscured by the status quo and routine running of business activities.
Some firms engage consultants because they face organizational problems of overwhelming scale.
Others simply want a sounding board to evaluate ideas of their own. When effective executives encounter a problem, challenge or opportunity, they attack it differently than their less effective peers. Less effective managers mistakenly believe that it's their personal job to have the answer. What they frequently hear is the sound of one hand clapping. The real prize goes to those who get the best answers in play, regardless of the source of the answers.