I have heard versions of this from Brian Sommer over the years now, but I am glad he has blogged about the split between the two Andersens and how he felt on one bank of the turbulent river. What Brian describes makes you just shake your head and wonder what the firm could have done with just slightly well defined rules of engagement. But then again may be not.
As Brian says, Accenture partners should be glad they de-coupled from Andersen. But they may not have run far away enough. Through the 90s, the combined firm used to lose more business because of itself rather than its competition deserving to win. There are plenty of clients who admired its staff training (in spite of jokes about young consultants and school buses), work ethic and discipline but could not stand its pricing model, and its style of steamrolling client middle management and going to the top. You continue to hear that complaint, fairly or unfairly, about the surviving Andersen - Accenture.
