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| Ideas |
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"Through our intelligent insights, we are proud to share perspectives on topical growth and value creation issues with a clear point of view, concisely and relatively jargon-free."
-- Unnamed Consulting Firm
The world of consulting is bursting with "new" ideas--some of which are good and others that are just stinkers. In both cases, firms race to market touting their latest ideas to revive a slumping organization, or add that last piece of the strategic puzzle to "propel a company to greatness."
The biggest problem with good ideas is that everyone has them.
Put five people from almost any company in a conference room with a white board and an assignment to fix something, and you'll get some good ideas. Ask most executives if they're aware of the latest ideas to bring more profit or growth to their businesses, and you're likely to see nods.
The challenge for consultants is to offer ideas that clients want to buy, not just the ones they can easily get from their own teams or the latest business bestseller. What clients really want to know is how they can use a good idea, when they can implement it, and what results they can expect.
You can tell a client to "leverage social networking technologies for consumer value creation," but unless you have a specific, directional plan of some kind--you're just blowing smoke, and your client knows it.
The best ideas are one part blue sky plus two parts healthy dose of reality. That's what clients want to hear from their consultants, and that's what they'll buy.
A colleague once told me that every good idea eventually turns into a lot of hard work. Do some of that hard work before you present an idea to a client and watch your results soar.
Enjoy this month's issue.
And send me an email if you have comments.
P.S. Don't miss the next session in our Path to Profit webcast series. This month's program, Creating a Killer Web Site, focuses on six specific strategies to help you get a bigger bang for your web buck.
Mike
McLaughlin
Editor
Management Consulting News is a publication of MindShare
Consulting.
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| MCNews 12 Index of Professional Services |
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The US stock market--fueled by concerns over the subprime mortgage meltdown--has swung widely in every direction this summer.
The US Federal Reserve Bank tried to soothe the market with a highly publicized shift in a key interest rate, but that didn't help most of the companies in the MCNews 12 Index.
For the first time this year, the composite YTD return on the MCNews 12 Index fell below the return on the S+P 500. If an investor had made a $1,000 investment in the MCNews 12 stocks at the beginning of the year, the market would now value that investment at $988.06.
Declines in the share prices of eleven of the twelve companies dragged down the performance of the index. Four companies, Infosys, Wipro, BearingPoint, and EDS, suffered double-digit declines. But, there’s room for some optimism. Accenture, Hewitt, and IBM turned in strong performances despite treacherous market conditions.
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MCNews 12 Index |
YTD
Change |
S+P 500
YTD Change |
| August |
988 |
-1.19% |
4.02% |
| July |
1101 |
10.15% |
8.39% |
| Jan to June |
1059 |
5.94% |
4.97% |
The MCNews 12 Index reflects general investor sentiment about the state of the global professional services industry.
The twelve publicly-traded companies included in the MCNews 12 Index account for roughly $80 billion in combined annual revenue, and serve clients around the world.
Learn more about the MCNews 12 Index 
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| Interview:
Robert Sutton |
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  Whatever these creeps are called, many of them are clueless about their behavior. Even worse, some of them are proud of it.
You don't have to be in the workplace for long before you run into someone who is rude, nasty, or vindictive.
It usually takes just one toxic encounter for you to realize that the person is a jerk. Robert Sutton, a professor of Management Science at Stanford University, has studied the impact of workplace bullies on productivity, morale, and organizational performance. The new isn't good.
Sutton's latest book, The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't, confronts the sensitive issue of managing assholes in the work environment.
We asked Sutton how executives can deal with assholes, and also what consultants can do if their clients are bullies.
Read
our interview with Robert Sutton
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| The
Writing on the Wall, by Alan Weiss |
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 The Subtle Difference
There is a subtle but dramatic difference between thinking you are trying to sell a client something, and believing that you are one of the few people who can really help the client.
That debate occurs strictly inside of your own head, but it's the kind of "self-talk" which differentiates the pedestrian salesperson from the client partner in consulting. An overwhelming number of consultants I meet seem to think that they are engaged in an adversarial duel, with one side "winning" and the other "losing."
Read
the article
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| Powerbrokers as Presenters |
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by Dianna Booher
 While position has its privileges, it also has its pitfalls. In the critical area of communication, few managers have the luxury of honest and consistent feedback. In fact, the higher you go in an organization, the more difficult it is for you to get an accurate assessment of your communication style.
If you're the boss, people will naturally pay more attention to your preferences, respond more quickly to your requests, and give heartier approval to your ideas. Don't assume this means your communication is clearer, your ideas have more merit, or your customers and colleagues embrace your actions with more enthusiasm.
Read
the article
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| Special Report: One Piece of Advice |
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Complimentary Special Report: The One Piece of Advice You Can't Generate Leads Without
We've read a lot of advice about B2B lead generation, but what is really important? This thirty-six page report answers that question with ten all-new articles written by B2B lead generation experts.
Download this complimentary report now at www.raintoday.com/leadgenadvice.cfm.
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| Coming
Attractions |
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"The first place to look for leadership is within yourself."
James M. Kouzes is a leadership expert and a professor at Santa Clara University's Leavey School of Business. He's the coauthor, with Barry Z. Posner, of more than a dozen books on leadership development, including the award-winning The Leadership Challenge, A Leader’s Legacy, Credibility, and Encouraging the Heart.
The Wall Street Journal has called Kouzes one of the twelve best executive educators in the US. His clients include Accenture, Applied Materials, AT&T, Bank of America, Boeing, Charles Schwab, Dell Computers, and a host of other companies.
For twenty years, The Leadership Challenge has been a trusted resource. Kouzes and Posner recently released the fourth edition of the book with updated research and case studies. Join us as we ask Kouzes to let us in on the latest practical leadership tools and tips we can apply at work, home, and in our communities.
The next issue of Management Consulting News will be published October 2, 2007.
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