What They Actually Teach You in a Consulting Firm could’ve been a more fitting title for Dork, because author Sidin Vadukut takes readers on a laugh-out-loud journey through the chaotic life of freshly-graduated-from-an-Ivy-league-business-school Malayali hero, Robin Varghese. This "consultant in the making" takes his first shaky steps into the world of management consulting, and boy, does he stumble. Vadukut’s sharp wit cuts through every page, making the book an absolute hoot from cover to cover.
At its core, Dork is kind of like a desi take on What They Don’t Teach You at Harvard Business School - only with a hefty serving of absurdity, a dash of slapstick, and a whole lot of ridiculous plot twists. Just think: take the basic consulting principles, add one hilariously clueless protagonist, stir in some laughably outrageous mishaps, and voila! You get Dork: The Incredible Adventures of Robin Einstein Varghese.
So, what exactly does our hero, Robin, learn in "Consulting Land"? Quite a bit, actually…mostly about the absurdity of the industry itself:
- First up, presentations: Turns out "high-end consulting" means recycling internet slides with a few fancy tweaks.
- Next, jargon: At consulting firms, layering your speech with impenetrable corporate-speak is practically an art form. If your sentences don’t sound like an AI-generated business generator, are you even consulting?
- Ethics? Overrated. After all, fleecing clients with a straight face is practically in the job description.
- Real solutions? Meh. Robin learns quickly that many consultants create more problems than they actually solve.
Robin’s journey through consulting’s "black box" rings uncomfortably true for anyone familiar with the industry, even as it’s wildly entertaining. Along the way, our hero tumbles through bouts of hilariously inebriated escapades, stumbles through projects he doesn’t remotely understand, and slowly grasps that half his firm’s partners know absolutely nothing. The rest? Mostly just expert backstabbers.
Yet, just as Robin’s about to lose it all, he somehow pulls off an improbable transformation: one day, he's a barely competent newbie; the next, he's an unexpected hero and even a media darling. How does this happen? Well, let’s just say it involves plenty of blunders, a good bit of luck, and some solid "fake it till you make it" philosophy.
Dork is much more than an office comedy - it’s a peek into the mind of a cubicle-bound consultant as he navigates (or stumbles through) the absurd culture, petty politics, and sometimes nonsensical practices that come with the job. Vadukut’s debut is a hilarious, insightful, and downright entertaining start to the Dork trilogy, making it a must-read for anyone who's ever felt out of place in a corporate jungle.
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