I told him that while the trip had been very informative and that I had taken a lot of notes and even prepared a detailed report of the plant out of sheer self-interest, it was hardly extensive automotive experience. Prasad chuckled and I chuckled along to give him company.

He told me that management consultants always had to prove to their clients that they knew their business well. Otherwise Dufresne would never have any credibility in front of them and no client would take us seriously when we told them how to run their businesses better. Now that he had pointed out that I was an expert, Prasad explained, the entire JHA team was content with Dufresne. They would listen to anything we had to say because we had an expert on the team.

Gradually, as he waited for me to say something, it dawned on me how the benefits of this approach far outweighed the ethical shortcomings. This way Dufresne could do its job better and the client would have greater faith in our work. And, as you know by now, without faith there is really no management consulting.

I nodded enthusiastically and assured Prasad that everything made perfect sense to me. But, I asked, what should I do if anybody ask me questions about automotive engineering? About auto projects I had done before? Should I just bluff and give them a nonsense answer?

He thought for a while and then gave me a great solution: I was to decline responding on the basis of client confidentiality. Yes, I knew the answers to the questions but saying anything would violate my agreement with previous clients.

WHAT A MASTER STROKE! This also gave JHA the confidence to open up to us more.

It seemed to me that Prasad had not only made a strategic coup but also had a plan for every contingency. And at that moment, in that conference room, I knew that one truly had to be a superb consultant to become a partner. Only a partner could have known how to take my one-day industrial trip to Teynampet and convert it into a means of delivering greater value to JHA.

When I went back to my laptop I was in awe of Prasad’s abilities.

The rest of the day was spent in planning for the days ahead. I had to make forms and spreadsheets for my data collection and also fix up a set of interviews for tomorrow with people in JHA’s supply chain team.

The real work starts tomorrow.

We had lunch delivered to us in the conference room at around 12.30 p.m. and I literally swallowed the vegetarian thali without chewing. I briefly choked on a medium-sized whole karela.

We reached the hotel around 9 p.m. and I immediately called Gouri from my room. (The mobile signal at JHA is very, very poor.) We spoke for a while before I went downstairs to eat dinner with the team. Prasad told us to get a good night’s sleep before we actually dived in from tomorrow.