In the midst of the dot-com tailspin, I heard a former CEO of the late, once-great Arthur Andersen speak in a general way about the challenges of client consulting. Human nature being what it is, he said, it is far easier to embrace the status quo than to challenge the business model of a “good” client.

Models that are so arcane that the CEOs of the firms running them don't even understand them complicate the dynamic. And it ...