It has been pointed out that Management Consultancy is one of the oldest professions (not the oldest we hasten to add!).

As reported in the Old Testament, following the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, their leader Moses found himself the sole judge of disputes which arose among the people. (It was not then standard practice to include dispute-resolution processes in Enterprise Bargaining Agreements and the like!)

Moses was rather overworked, and the number of disputes made him, as solitary judge, something of a bottleneck. As a result, the people “stood by Moses from the morning into the evening” waiting for him to make decisions.

Seeing an obvious need, Moses’ father-in-law Jethro decided to launch his management consulting career. In what has been noted as the earliest recorded set of recommendations from a management consultant, Jethro offered a range of advice:

To Moses’ great credit he seems to have embraced this inspired advice from his consultant!

Go to Consulting Services

Go to Philosophy

Go to Fun Stuff

Credit: The earliest version of the above we have been able to identify appeared in a 1986 issue of “Roundup”, a newsletter produced by the Interchurch Trade and Industry Mission (ITIM).