To the shores of Tripoli

In 1804, it was the Marines that got sent in. Two hundred years later, it was the consultants.

There is a fascinating story in The Boston Globe today about Moammar Khadafy's engagement of The Monitor Group a few years back  "to enhance international appreciation of Libya."

The highly-respected Cambridge firm, founded by Harvard Business School professors including strategy guru Michael Porter, took on a number assignments culminating in a 22-page proposal for a book to be published. The proposal stated: “The book will allow the reader to hear Khadafy elaborate in his own words, and in conversation with renowned international experts.’’

As they did their work, the Monitor consultants had reason to doubt the Libyan leader's commitment to the spirit of the whole thing, as the Globe story points out:

"Monitor sent about a dozen consultants to Tripoli to produce the strategy for economic reforms, which Porter unveiled in a speech in Tripoli in front of Libyan officials in 2007. He realized, however, that the reforms were going nowhere when a person who opposed them was appointed head of the group charged with implementing them. Porter quit a few months later."

In fairness to Monitor, the firm did demand that Libya begin to settle its differences with the rest of the world -- including its role in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 -- before taking on the assignment. Libya experts quoted in the story, however, fault Monitor for allowing Khadafy to believe that he and his country could become a major player on the world stage. Furthermore, they said that the Monitor work enabled the embattled leader to avoid coming to terms with  the limitations of his ideas and his significance in the global affairs, setting the stage for the violent revolution now underway.

Advising leaders throughout history has always been a tricky, and sometimes dangerous, business. Just consider Thomas More's relationship with Henry VIII. As we noted in an earlier item, change begins with the leader becoming the first to look in the mirror and seeing what he needs to do differently.

Given their client's temperament and history, we are impressed that the Monitor people even tried.