The Paradox of Consultation

Consult or apologize - which is harder to do? Think about it this way: more often than not, it is easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.

But while this may be true for reckless behavior of transgression or infidelity, this may not necessarily explain why consultation is often so poorly conducted in the worlds of business and politics.

Perhaps it all boils down to self-interest: people in business and politics consult to the extent that their vested interests are protected and, even better, enhanced. As such, the higher up in hierarchy, the more extensive someone should tend to consult, because his position and success should rest on the support of many others. But given the difficulty in dealing with objections, which surely would arise sooner or later throughout the consultation process - particularly as the scale and scope of consultation increase with the number of participants - one may choose not to consult unless one absolutely has to do so.

That's why forcing consultation is a virtue of democracy, with which both the ruling and shadow parties have to relentlessly master the support of the critical mass to secure their political positions. Democracy, however, is hardly a relevant ideology in the corporate world, and is but a fantasy for the majority of population in many parts of the world. Little wonder why many business leaders, let alone the socialists and autocrats, are so poor in consulting others' opinions - that is, if they care to do so.

But which is worse: lacking consultation or pretending to consult - as in opening a Facebook account for 3 hours for inviting public comments by the Hong Kong Government, or conducting controlled live interviews with the Russian public by Vladimir Putin?