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<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=1 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><SPAN class=TopStory>Not impressed!</SPAN>
<SPAN class=Subheadline></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>Henley Morgan
Thursday, August 10, 2006
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<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=88 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>Henley Morgan</SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>USUALLY, news of a high-powered individual or company entering a market to offer competing services would be cause for concern among established providers who have been toiling to eke out a living in a situation where there are already more dogs than bones. I hardly think, though, that there are many business consultants losing sleep over the announced launch of a new consultancy firm, Heisconsults, by former Prime Minister PJ Patterson.<P class=StoryText align=justify>It is unlikely that the services offered by Mr Patterson will be the same as those sold by the career consultant. Although both may specialise in offering professional advice and expertise, business consultancy has been undergoing rapid change with the main commodity being knowledge and the know-how in applying it (knowledge) towards solving complex problems. Politicians who enter the consulting profession in their twilight years tend to specialise in peddling influence. For the career consultant, it's what you know that matters; for the career politician turned consultant, it's who you know.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Inevitably, some will still see an element of unfair competition, particularly in a small market like Jamaica, should they ever have to engage Mr Patterson in head-to-head combat for business. What should be of greater concern, not just to consultants but to every Jamaican, is the apparent desperation of two former prime ministers (Seaga and Patterson) to earn a living at a stage of their lives when they are well past the age of retirement, and for them to be doing so in a manner that reduces them to mere mortals.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Former Prime Minister Edward Seaga essentially took a job in academia as a Distinguished Fellow; a position with a big title, a salary and tenure but in which it is easy to become forgotten. He would have better served posterity and his legacy had he followed the example of former US president Jimmy Carter who established the Carter Centre on the campus of Emory University to promote democracy around the globe. Consider the potential impact on Jamaica had he sought to establish the Seaga Centre for Truth and Reconciliation on the campus of the University of the West Indies to facilitate study and reversal of the garrison phenomenon, which today holds the country in a vice-like grip of murder and social instability.<P class=StoryText align=justify>With his reincarnation as a consultant, Mr Patterson seems destined to follow Mr Seaga down the path to insignificance and ultimately oblivion. Prior to his departing office, there was a reported attempt by Professor Calestous Juma, of the J F Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, to establish the PJ Patterson Institute of Science, Technology and Innovation on the campus of the University of Technology. Professor Juma correctly reasoned that given Mr Patterson's international standing, he would be well positioned to attract the resources and support necessary to establish the institute. Now, there is a role fit for a former prime minister.<P class=StoryText align=justify>There is an even better opportunity Mr Patterson may wish to consider. I previously put forward the idea of a National Centre for Community Transformation (NCCT) as one that is worthy of serious consideration by a man of his national, regional and international status. Properly conceived and implemented, such an institution could effectively address some of the vex
<SPAN class=Subheadline></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>Henley Morgan
Thursday, August 10, 2006
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=88 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>Henley Morgan</SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>USUALLY, news of a high-powered individual or company entering a market to offer competing services would be cause for concern among established providers who have been toiling to eke out a living in a situation where there are already more dogs than bones. I hardly think, though, that there are many business consultants losing sleep over the announced launch of a new consultancy firm, Heisconsults, by former Prime Minister PJ Patterson.<P class=StoryText align=justify>It is unlikely that the services offered by Mr Patterson will be the same as those sold by the career consultant. Although both may specialise in offering professional advice and expertise, business consultancy has been undergoing rapid change with the main commodity being knowledge and the know-how in applying it (knowledge) towards solving complex problems. Politicians who enter the consulting profession in their twilight years tend to specialise in peddling influence. For the career consultant, it's what you know that matters; for the career politician turned consultant, it's who you know.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Inevitably, some will still see an element of unfair competition, particularly in a small market like Jamaica, should they ever have to engage Mr Patterson in head-to-head combat for business. What should be of greater concern, not just to consultants but to every Jamaican, is the apparent desperation of two former prime ministers (Seaga and Patterson) to earn a living at a stage of their lives when they are well past the age of retirement, and for them to be doing so in a manner that reduces them to mere mortals.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Former Prime Minister Edward Seaga essentially took a job in academia as a Distinguished Fellow; a position with a big title, a salary and tenure but in which it is easy to become forgotten. He would have better served posterity and his legacy had he followed the example of former US president Jimmy Carter who established the Carter Centre on the campus of Emory University to promote democracy around the globe. Consider the potential impact on Jamaica had he sought to establish the Seaga Centre for Truth and Reconciliation on the campus of the University of the West Indies to facilitate study and reversal of the garrison phenomenon, which today holds the country in a vice-like grip of murder and social instability.<P class=StoryText align=justify>With his reincarnation as a consultant, Mr Patterson seems destined to follow Mr Seaga down the path to insignificance and ultimately oblivion. Prior to his departing office, there was a reported attempt by Professor Calestous Juma, of the J F Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, to establish the PJ Patterson Institute of Science, Technology and Innovation on the campus of the University of Technology. Professor Juma correctly reasoned that given Mr Patterson's international standing, he would be well positioned to attract the resources and support necessary to establish the institute. Now, there is a role fit for a former prime minister.<P class=StoryText align=justify>There is an even better opportunity Mr Patterson may wish to consider. I previously put forward the idea of a National Centre for Community Transformation (NCCT) as one that is worthy of serious consideration by a man of his national, regional and international status. Properly conceived and implemented, such an institution could effectively address some of the vex