In a classic Season 8 Seinfeld episode, Elaine enters the “muffin top” business.

You see, Elaine’s million-dollar idea is that the top of a muffin is objectively the best part, so why not sell just the tops?

However, she discloses to her business partner that the trick to the perfect muffin top is to make the whole muffin and toss the ‘stump.’

They do just that at their new bakery, ‘Top of the Muffin To You!’, and their sales boom.

Yet they’re left with the issue of what to do with the unused muffin stumps.

They try donating them to shelters who are offended they weren’t given the best part of the muffin.

They enlist Kramer to drive them to the dump in Long Island, where the stumps-only load is again deemed problematic and refused.

Faced with an urgent, growing problem, they hire “The Cleaner” - "someone who makes problems go away.”

That “Cleaner” turns out to be the perpetually ravenous Newman who, armed with a briefcase of cold milk, proceeds to save the day by eating the stumps himself.

❓✍️ Here’s a one-question pop quiz based on this week’s Consultant’s Quandary service model framework:

Which consulting archetype would you categorize Newman’s engagement with Elaine’s muffin top bakery?

A) Spaghetti-thrower (customized-generalist)

B) Tradesperson (productized-generalist)

C) Special ops (productized-specialist)

D) Trusted fixer (customized-specialist)

Hit ‘reply’ and let me know A, B, C, or D. If you’d like, add a sentence about your reasoning. (I won't share your answer!)

I’ll include my answer in tomorrow’s email.

💡

-Wes