James Parker is a former McKinsey consultant focusing on strategy of companies. I also wanted to learn more about his book on strategy of professional firms, and his experience of working in Zaire.

Listen to the podcast here.

James Parker:

  • a partner at Parma Consulting Group (strategy consulting partnership, focused on financial institutions, professional services, information intensive businesses and not-for-profit);
  • an author of Changing the Leopard’s Spots. Renewal of the Professional Firm – a summary of the strategic positioning choices for professional firms;
  • Lecturer at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University;
  • was a consultant at McKinsey & Company for 7 years;
  • was a manager at Barclays Bank International for 9 years;
  • has studied at the University of Oxford and INSEAD.

In the episode we discussed:

  • his 3 years as a manager of the Barclays Bank in Zaire:
    • it was the name of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1971 to 1997,
    • James was also an Honorary British Consul at the same time there,
    • why the country is so poor while with it’s resources it’s one of the richest country in the world,
    • a book Tales from Zaire James wrote with stories about his time there,
    • we spoke about the corruption and (almost no) taxation there,

“if there was any tax, it would be going straight into the pocket of the people running the government”

  • studies of Russian literature at the University of Oxford and his favourites – War and Peace and Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy;
  • Seven Basic Plots as a book he wish he read earlier in his life;
  • behind the scenes of his book Changing the Leopard’s Spots. Renewal of the Professional Firm;
    • WTS Global and strategy of professional firms;
    • two markets of professional firms;
    • how tax advisors sometimes are different from law practices;
    • a reference in The Trusted Advisor by a guru of leading professional services firms David Meister, to the book of James;
    • Cutting the tail as a strategy;
  • what are top 3 things James would do, if he was leading a tax practice;
  • for a large corporation it’s important to have a tax strategy;
  • comparison of high and low tax countries.