There is an entrenched relationship between the consulting industry and the way business and government are managed today which must change.Mariana Mazzucato and Rosie Collington show that our economies reliance on companies such as McKinsey Boston Consulting Group Bain ampamp Company PwC Deloitte KPMG and EY stunts innovation obfuscates corporate and political accountability and impedes our collective mission of halting climate breakdown.The Big Con describes the confidence trick the consulting industry performs in contracts with hollowedout and riskaverse governments and shareholder valuemaximizing firms. It grew from the 1980s and 1990s in the wake of reforms by both the neoliberal right and Third Way progressives and it thrives on the ills of modern capitalism from financialization and privatization to the climate crisis. It is possible because of the unique power that big consultancies wield through extensive contracts and networks as advisors legitimators and outsourcers and the illusion that they are objective sources of expertise and capacity.