- Corporate consulting remains strange and mystifying; few outsiders truly understand what consultants actually do.
- They show up in swanky boardrooms armed with slick PowerPoint presentations, speak in long streams of technical jargon, and somehow walk away with hefty hourly fees.
- The consulting profession is now being lovingly roasted on social media, thanks to a hilarious content creator known online as Jack Kim.
- Better known on Instagram as the Korean Consultant, Kim has attracted a rapidly growing following by doing what few consultants dare to do: openly make fun of the profession from the inside.
The Gen Z Consultant Who Turned Meetings into Comedy
Apart from being a part-time comedian, Kim is an actual consultant who shares career advice about job hunting, salary progression, and the realities of corporate life.
The hilarious Gen Z consultant is popular with corporate audiences across the United States and the United Kingdom.
But what has really made him famous are his sharp, witty satire videos that recreate the utter chaos of modern corporate consulting meetings.
In these short clips, Kim plays multiple characters, each portraying an accurate stereotype of the corporate consultant.
There’s the overconfident strategist who begins every sentence with “Just to level set…”, the boring, robotic analyst obsessed with “aligning assumptions,” and the overly philosophical team member who insists on “taking a step back” to deliver a completely useless 3,000-foot bird’s-eye view.
Within seconds, the meeting descends into absolute chaos as members of the think tank talk over each other.
Forty Seconds of Pure Corporate Nonsense
A typical Korean Consultant video lasts less than a minute, but it perfectly captures the exhausting reality of corporate jargon.
In one of the skits, a consultant begins confidently:
“Just to level set and make sure we’re strategically aligned, I think there’s an opportunity to reframe the ask to maximize value-creation initiatives…”
Before anyone can even understand what that means, another overzealous participant barges in with an even more confusing statement about “cross-functional alignment” and “execution road maps.”
Soon, another consultant interrupts with the classic line: “Let’s take a step back,” which leads to an abstract lecture about “preserving optionality in the long term.”
Meanwhile, absolutely nothing of substance is said.
The meeting then ends abruptly when one participant casually announces they have to jump into another meeting.
“Let’s review this offline, and Rupert, why don’t you send a follow-up meeting request?” someone says in closing.
Total time elapsed: 40 seconds.
Why This Satire Hits Close to Home
For decades, consulting has carried the reputation of being the “brains for hire” profession, an elite industry filled with highly educated professionals who solve complex business problems.
Yet many people suspect that a lot of talking happens instead.
Consultants are famous for bandying buzzwords such as:
- Pressure-testing assumptions
- Redesigning workflows
- Driving alignment
- Leveraging synergies
- Reframing the ask
These phrases often sound impressive in meetings but leave everyone wondering what was actually addressed.
The Korean Consultant brilliantly shows how entire meetings can pass without anyone communicating a clear idea.
His videos join a growing genre of comedy that pokes fun at corporate culture.
Even YouTubers like Dan Toomey have gained popularity for satirical content that exposes the absurdities of corporate life.
So, what exactly do consultants do?
According to the Korean Consultant, they schedule meetings.
Check out the Korean Consultant’s YouTube Channel.
Also read YouTuber Dan Toomey’s hot take on consultants and consultancy firms.
