Book Review: Secrets of Consulting

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I'm of the opinion that pretty much everyone in the "knowledge economy" is a consultant.

What Secrets of Consulting does -pretty well-is boil down a lot of the truths about working with people (his first rule is, "no matter what, it's ALWAYS a people problem") into simple little proverbs (hey, like the one I just cited!)

Some others

  • Clients always know how to solve their problems, and always tell the solution in the first five minutes
  • Study for understanding, not for criticism
  • Once you eliminate your number one problem, number 2 gets a promotion
  • You'll never accomplish anything if you care who gets the credit

My feelings on this book were roller-coaster like. I started off very excited, then got fatigued with it in the middle, and pressed on, found some reward at the end.

If I had one criticism, it would be length and flow (ok, that's two). I felt like the points could have come across a bit more succintly and I just wish that the "story" had gripped me a bit more.

However, if listening skills and communication are areas of development for you (I know they are for me), this may be worth picking up.