Consulting

Even though I’ve been a consultant for most of my life—first as a solo consultant, then as part of larger organizations such as Gigster, and now running an entire consulting firm at Nebulab—I’ve always found consulting very ephemeral and hard to define. Most days of the week, my idea of consulting is the art of navigating tension and offering perspective.

Furthermore, while most people think of consultants as outsourced workers, there are actually three types of consulting. Like many of those who over-intellectualize the subject, I’m most fascinated by researching and advancing the third type, collaborative consulting (which is also the most fun!).

These are some of my foundational reads about consulting over the years:

• Managing the Professional Service Firm: the bible of consulting, covering everything from delivery to business development to people management.
• The Trusted Advisor: how to build, maintain, and leverage trust in a consulting engagement to get results, both for the clients and ourselves.
• Flawless Consulting: an overview of the different types of consulting relationships and how consultants move between them.

I would also strongly recommend Tom Critchclow’s content, which is all excellent.