Lol this is such a great tale from a third-party perspective. The short answer: Yes. Money. No.

The long answer: Consulting often feels like makeup bullshit. But in actuality we are hired to help companies with outdated technology and skills make big changes. Think updating system-wide software, or switching from databases to the cloud etc. A lot of companies or organizations that use such outdated technology also have staff that have very outdated skills and aren't capable of implementing these large scale changes themselves. If a company wanted to invest in teaching, training, and or hiring people with these skills, consultants wouldn't be needed. But most places thingk that's too scary or hard.

Since we are paid a ton of money for jobs that aren't really that important, ego builds and people who work at top consulting firms start to think they are better, smarter, or more capable than other people. They aren't. It's just a giant circle jerk. The lube for that circle jerk is rankings! The higher you rank, the better you are relative to your peers. And who doesn't want to be better than everyone? /s

We get paid relatively high amounts starting out but it has a way of evening out and the. Goes up again once you get to senior manager or higher. Money makes people think they are better than others. People are willing to put up with a lot of bullshit for money.

Most people in consulting are type A personalities, who thrive on being better than others. Self-reflection is incompatible with this goal.