—fad surfer or fad-surfer n.
Academics have even coined the phrase "fad surfing" to describe the take-up and discarding of trends based on bestselling books. But is this burgeoning industry selling lasting solutions or are they the modern equivalent of the snake-oil salesman?
—Keith Austin, "Flavour Of The Month," Sydney Morning Herald, May 15, 2002
To set off civil war among your friends, just start to talk about the care and control of consultants. Almost everybody has a happy tale or a horror story.
You've heard about teams of arrogant MBA's to came and charged $ 999,999.00 to comfort a nervous CEO with what he wanted to hear, while managers down the line buttoned their lips in rage. You've seen senior partners in the big consulting firms sell a deal to top management and then send in squads of overpriced juniors to waste everyone's time getting educated. Mainly, I'd guess, you've heard of buzzword gimmicks being pushed out where they don't fit.
"Too many consultants and clients end up fad-surfing together rather than working on the real problems," argues Eileen C. Shapiro, a consultant herself with Boston's Hillcrest Group, Inc.
—T. George Harris, "Fad-Surfers, Risk-Dodgers, and Beloved Companies," Harvard Business Review, January 1993 / February 1993
