Preparing Better Consultants

This volume focuses on a relatively neglected area of management consulting, the education of consultants. In today’s business world, we find training programs provided by consultancies, certification programs provided by professional organizations, on-the-job training of consultants with formal or informal supervision, self-taught professionals, and some academic programs and courses. Is that enough? No, better consultants are needed to handle the complexity and changing nature of business. Academe is in the best position to provide the critical thinking preparation necessary. Yet, academic institutions have been slow in embracing this challenge. The role of academia needs to grow in magnitude and in certain directions that educate consultants beyond industry training practices. Chapter authors provide examples of innovative programs, topical approaches for courses, and thoughtful reflections on the role academia can play in preparing better consultants. There are lessons for business schools, consultancies, and aspiring and practicing consultants.

"If more business books were as useful, concise, and just plain fun to read as THE MCKINSEY WAY, the business world would be a better place." --Julie Bick, best-selling author of ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW IN BUSINESS I LEARNED AT MICROSOFT. "Enlivened by witty anecdotes, THE MCKINSEY WAY contains valuable lessons on widely diverse topics such as marketing, interviewing, team-building, and brainstorming." --Paul H. Zipkin, Vice-Dean, The Fuqua School of Business It's been called "a breeding ground for gurus." McKinsey & Company is the gold-standard consulting firm whose alumni include titans such as "In Search of Excellence" author Tom Peters, Harvey Golub of American Express, and Japan's Kenichi Ohmae. When Fortune 100 corporations are stymied, it's the "McKinsey-ites" whom they call for help. In THE MCKINSEY WAY, former McKinsey associate Ethan Rasiel lifts the veil to show you how the secretive McKinsey works its magic, and helps you emulate the firm's well-honed practices in problem solving, communication, and management. He shows you how McKinsey-ites think about business problems and how they work at solving them, explaining the way McKinsey approaches every aspect of a task: How McKinsey recruits and molds its elite consultants; How to "sell without selling"; How to use facts, not fear them; Techniques to jump-start research and make brainstorming more productive; How to build and keep a team at the top its game; Powerful presentation methods, including the famous waterfall chart, rarely seen outside McKinsey; How to get ultimate "buy-in" to your findings; Survival tips for working in high-pressure organizations. Both a behind-the-scenes look at one of the most admired and secretive companies in the business world and a toolkit of problem-solving techniques without peer, THE MCKINSEY WAY is fascinating reading that empowers every business decision maker to become a better strategic player in any organization.

Marc Cosentino demystifies the consulting case interview. He takes you inside a typical interview by exploring the various types of case questions and he shares with you the acclaimed Ivy Case System which will give you the confidence to answer even the most sophisticated cases. The book includes over 40 strategy cases, a number of case starts exercises, several human capital cases, a section on marketing cases and 21 ways to cut costs.

Cheng, a former McKinsey management consultant, reveals his proven, insider'smethod for acing the case interview.

How can you take your skills and expertise and package and present it to become a successful consultant? There are proven time-tested principles, strategies, tactics and best-practices the most successful consultants use to start, run and grow their consulting business. Consulting Success teaches you what they are. In this book you'll learn: - How to position yourself as a leading expert and authority in your marketplace - Effective marketing and branding materials that get the attention of your ideal clients - Strategies to increase your fees and earn more with every project - The proposal template that has generated millions of dollars in consulting engagements - How to develop a pipeline of business and attract ideal clients - Productivity secrets for consultants including how to get more done in one week than most people do in a month - And much, much more

A parable to help you succeed in today’s challenging environment from the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of Who Moved My Cheese? A young man lives unhappily in a valley. One day he meets an old man who lives on a mountain peak. At first the young man doesn’t realize that he is talking to one of the most peaceful and successful people in the world. But in the course of further encounters and conversations, the young man comes to understand that he can apply the old man’s remarkable principles and practical tools to his own life to change it for the better. Spencer Johnson knows how to tell a deceptively simple story that teaches deep lessons. The One Minute Manager (co-written with Ken Blanchard) sold 15 million copies and stayed on the New York Times bestseller list for more than twenty years. Since it was published a decade ago, Who Moved My Cheese? has sold more than 25 million copies. In fact there are more than 46 million copies of Spencer Johnson’s books in print, in forty-seven languages—and with today’s economic uncertainty, his new book could not be more relevant. Pithy, wise, and empowering, Peaks and Valleys is clearly destined to become another Spencer Johnson classic.

Everything you need to know to succeed in today's fastest growingsector of the consulting market. Jim Ainsworth is an extremely successful financial planningprofessional with more than 30 years in the business. In How toBecome a Successful Financial Consultant, he tells you everythingyou need to know to move into financial consulting. He familiarizesyou with all the types of planning that financial consultants dealwith, as well as the various investment vehicles. And, based on hisown experiences and those of other successful financial consultantsacross the nation, he supplies you with a proven blueprint forsuccess. You get expert advice, guidance, and insiders' tips on howto: * Get the education, experience, and licensing you need to qualify. * Get certified (and whether you need to). * Develop a surefire success plan. * Set up a practice and attract clients. * Network, market, and sell your services. * Set fees and collect other forms of compensation for yourservices. * Avoid the 10 most common mistakes that beginners make. * Get the most out of meetings and professional conferences. Written by Jim Ainsworth, a financial planning professional with 30years in the business, this valuable guide provides professionalsinterested in making the move into financial consulting witheverything they need to know to make a living investing otherpeople's money. Drawing on his personal experiences and those of colleagues acrossNorth America, Ainsworth covers all the bases. He begins bydescribing the three major groups of financial planners and theseven different styles of asset management and helps you to decidewhich is right for you. You find out all about the various types offinancial planning that most consultants deal with--includingestate planning, retirement planning, and family financialplanning--and the best investment vehicles currentlyavailable. Ainsworth then cuts to the chase and provides the nuts-and-boltsinformation you need to make it as a financial adviser. Writing ina down-to-earth style, he tells you what type of education andexperience you need to become an effective financial consultant,how to become licensed, how to get started in business, how to setfees and receive compensation, how to market your services andpromote different financial instruments, and much more. He showsyou how to develop a surefire success plan, and he supplies expertadvice and guidance on how to avoid the top 10 beginners'mistakes. Throughout this book, Ainsworth advocates taking a holisticapproach to financial planning--one that takes into considerationnot just people's differing needs, but their contrasting attitudesabout money and investments. To that end, he provides insightfulprofiles of the different types of "money personalities" in thefinancial world and shows you how to identify and successfully workwith each type. How to Become a Successful Financial Consultant is your completeguide to making it in today's fastest growing sector of theconsulting market.

Delivers the essential practical skills needed to consult and make sharp, well prepared interactions in a wide range of business situations This comprehensive handbook covers the fundamental skills and attitudes required by successful consultants from novice to practitioner level, irrespective of their specialist area. It untangles the key variables present in any consulting service and introduces practical ways to improve their effectiveness based upon the author's experience of helping consulting organisations to develop and excel in the marketplace. The book explores consulting ‘from the ground up' steering away from theory and focusing instead on practical application, providing a solid platform upon which to build further domain-specific competence. The Consultant's Handbook provides: An understanding of the key variables that can be addressed in order to improve one's own consulting performance A set of simple practices that can be implemented with immediate benefit to the reader Practical insight into day-to-day real life consulting interactions Confidence to implement the new ideas and approaches