The Lords of Strategy: The Secret Intellectual History of the New Corporate World

In what amounts to a vigorous defense of management consultants, Kiechel explains how business became an intellectual endeavor over the last half century, maturing from commonsense practice to theory-driven discipline, and how ideas now underpin the way corporations function today. “What companies didn’t have before the strategy revolution,” he writes, “was a way of systematically putting together all the elements that determined their corporate fate.”

In … [ Read more ]

The Flawless Consulting Fieldbook and Companion : A Guide Understanding Your Expertise

Following on the heels of the best-selling Flawless Consulting comes The Flawless Consulting Fieldbook and Companion. Whether you work as a consultant or you work with consultants, this relentlessly practical guide will be your best friend as you discover how consulting influences your business- and real life-decisions and those of others.

The Flawless Consulting Fieldbook and Companion is packed with:
* Sample scenarios
[ Read more ]

Flawless Consulting: A Guide to Getting Your Expertise Used

The second edition of Peter Block’s Flawless Consulting gracefully updates what many consider the best resource of its kind. New chapters on implementation, “whole-system” strategies, and ethics are included, but in general it simply fine-tunes Block’s proven advice to match the transformations that business and society have undergone since initial publication two decades ago. “The days of long studies and expert-driven answers are passing,” the … [ Read more ]

Consulting Demons: Inside the Unscrupulous World of Global Corporate Consulting

This expose is sure to incite envy and lust for the power and influence consulting entails, while simultaneously inciting dismay at the underhanded tactics consultants apparently use as a matter of course. Pinault, an international player in a number of major consulting organizations, narrates the story of his life as a participant in a number of corporate takeovers, reengineerings and project startups. The book is … [ Read more ]

House of Lies: How Management Consultants Steal Your Watch and Then Tell You the Time

With sharp wit, consultant Kihn tears down myths surrounding the highly profitable and revered management-consulting industry. Presenting stories from his own career in a large management-consulting firm, this tell-all book sketches a picture of a consulting firm with teams of brilliant professionals who are hired by companies that pay millions of dollars in fees for an analysis of their organization and its processes. The author … [ Read more ]

Flawless Consulting: A Guide to Getting Your Expertise Used

The second edition of Peter Block’s Flawless Consulting gracefully updates what many consider the best resource of its kind. New chapters on implementation, “whole-system” strategies, and ethics are included, but in general it simply fine-tunes Block’s proven advice to match the transformations that business and society have undergone since initial publication two decades ago. “The days of long studies and expert-driven answers are passing,” the … [ Read more ]

Guerrilla Marketing for Consultants: Breakthrough Tactics for Winning Profitable Clients

Jay Conrad Levinson’s Guerrilla Marketing revolutionized the way marketers do business by defying the conventional wisdom that effective marketing means spending big bucks. He devised highly successful marketing strategies that rely on creativity, imagination, and energy-instead of money-to get the job done. Now, Guerrilla Marketing for Consultants applies the power of guerrilla marketing to the hypercompetitive business of consulting.

Editor’s Note: take a look at … [ Read more ]

Soldier of Fortune 500: A Management Survival Guide for the Consulting Wars

A must read for any consultant or more importantly any one who works with or hires consultants. Perhaps most importantly from a financial perspective, Romaine lays out a new conflict within the nexus of contracts: the shareholder vs. the consultant. While not necessarily against each other, the consultant has a much shorter time frame and hence differing incentives and we know that incentive … [ Read more ]

Flawed Advice and the Management Trap: How Managers Can Know When They’re Getting Good Advice and When They’re Not

Chris Argyris, professor emeritus of education and organizational behavior at Harvard University, argues that most business advice given to managers by experts is impossible to execute. By becoming better judges of the limitations and value in business advice, managers can get more value from it. This book is not easy reading, but is well worth the effort.

A New Brand of Expertise, How Independent Consultants, Free Agents, and Interim Managers are Transforming the World of Work

This book looks at the enormous benefits to companies and independent consultants of the booming “free-agent” marketplace. It clarifies the dynamics of the transaction, including how companies can leverage this highly experienced breed of professionals on a project or interim basis, and how consultants can better position themselves for success. It gives plenty of case studies and practical advice, and explains how this new brand … [ Read more ]