• The Consulting Principle

    by Alexander Becker on December 05, 2006 | Link

    It is the consulting principle which makes outside brains so effective and part-time lovers so irresistible.

    Consulting is the business of providing advice to clients for a fee in order to help them solve a particular problem or range of problems within a certain area of business. So far so good. But there is more. One aspect of consulting makes it extremely powerful and unleashes great amounts of creative energy on both sides of the business.

    In every society some men are born to rule, and some to advise.

    Ralph Waldo Emerson determines the difference. The mutual exclusivity between consultant and consulted. Knowing what should be done and getting explained what has to be done are definitely related -- the difference being what actually gets done.

    Sometimes it takes an expert to point out the obvious.

    Let's change the quote by Scott Allen to sometimes it takes an outsider and it becomes even more obvious. The advantage of a third party is that it is a non-party, an outsider to begin with. Keeping the distance is crucial. It is essential to maintain a neutral overview and to continually stress the separation from the subject to be altered.

    Consulting is the art of keeping the exact amount of distance. The distance to select, to pick brutally honest what you like to preserve and to determine and ultimately discard everything else with the same honesty and maximum clarity. You are not involved, after all.

    Consulting is virtual reality. Reality with the option to tune out -- or tune in and actively engage and change the program you don't like. The beauty of consulting is that you can do whatever you want to, you can say whatever you want to and you can leave whenever you don't want to anymore.

    Consulting is giving advice, while being detached from the actual implementation, only to come back later and scrutinize that very implementation. Working beyond hierarchies and across disciplines is another key to outstanding success, in fact, ignoring the boundaries is almost a guarantee for success.

    You invite me and you pay me to drop all politeness and to tell you the truth. We call this professionalism. Your weakness laid bare before me is part of the deal. Examining your dark side, your inefficiency and your unproductivity, even your laziness, your gluttony, and your sloth are my business.

    Keep the distance and do not give in to the tension and the promises. Stay separated and affect and shape things from a distance. That's the only way it works. Ever.

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