The Secrets of Consulting

Highlights

• My definition of consulting is the art of influencing people at their request.
• Being called a consultant doesn’t make you a consultant, either. Many people are called consultants as a way of glorifying their dull jobs.
• By asking for the consultant’s help, the client is saying, sometimes nonverbally, “I need you. I can’t say so directly, so find a way to help me without destroying my sense of worth.” The wise consultant answers in a way that recognizes the client’s self-worth, but also doesn’t compromise his own.
• The First Law of Consulting: In spite of what your client may tell you, there’s always a problem.
• The Second Law of Consulting: No matter how it looks at first, it’s always a people problem.
• The Third Law of Consulting: Never forget they’re paying you by the hour, not by the solution.
• Once you eliminate your number one problem, number two gets a promotion.
• Most people—that is, most groups of people—function quite logically most of the time. And most of the time they don’t need consultants. The time they do need a consultant is when logic isn’t working.
• Consultants are less adapted to the present situation, and therefore are potentially more adaptable. Their perception of now/then trade-offs is different from those close to the problem, which makes them a valuable source of ideas, as well as people not to be trusted.
• The toughest problems don’t come in neatly labeled packages. Or they come in packages with the wrong labels.
• Repeatedly curing a system that can cure itself will eventually create a system that can’t.***
• Make sure they pay you enough so they’ll do what you say. Another way to state this is The most important act in consulting is setting the right fee.
• The purpose of consulting is not to make me look smart, but it’s not to make me look dumb either.
• Most people instinctively apply The Inverse Gilded Rule to their consultants. If they catch you lying, they’ll figure out that you must have something to hide. Even if it merely sounds like you’re lying, you’re in trouble. We consultants ought to bend over backward to understate our qualifications, but insecurity makes us all victim to occasional exaggeration.