ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the question why privileged young women and men with plenty of job opportunities would be willing, even eager, to submit to it. In the light of the somewhat unattractive features of the industry, it asks where the appeal of it may lie, providing a boardroom twist to the timeless question ‘what makes people work’. The chapter argues that work was equally important for the constitution of personhood. It focuses on the wider category of self-improvement as motivating their activity, for three main reasons. On the one hand, it has long been established in anthropology that people do not react to economic incentives in a spasmodic fashion. On the other hand, receiving large salaries often seemed perfectly in line with projects of self-improvement. Lastly, consultancy companies went through constant and surprisingly elaborate efforts to construct their profession as more than just a means to earn large amounts of money.
