Business consulting vs. channeling: What is the difference?

This article focuses on the intriguing question how channeling, essentially a religious activity, is practised and constructed within the modern Western business culture. Two major aspects emerged from the analysis of observations and interviews with clients and channels: the essence of client-channel relationships and the nature of the exchange between them. These aspects are compared to one-to-one management consultancy situations. The results show that the fundamental principles that help define client-channel and client-consultant relationships, i.e. perceiving the client as an independent and autonomous individual and cultivating equality between client and channel/consultant, are similar. Furthermore, both channels and consultants are expected to follow similar professional codes of behavior and communication. These findings lead to the conclusion that channeling, in spite of its focus on accepting guidance from 'external' entities, enters the business domain by embracing existing relationships and linguistic structures.