Category Archives: Consulting Philosophy

When I was in fourth grade, we were informed one afternoon at gym period that the girls’ gym teacher was ill, so only the boys would be going. The girls threw a ballistic hissy-fit, and demanded that the boys not be allowed to go, either.

The teacher, in some mystical, arcane, deluded philosophy, decided that a lesson would somehow be taught by acceding to the girls’ demand, so that no one went to gym class, and we all had to study our history books. The only real history accomplished was a lasting enmity against the girls in a pre-raging-hormone year.

I find consultants today who don’t want to share their intellectual property through fear of theft! Invariably and ironically, these are NEVER highly successful consultants. They are people hoarding their ideas (which apparently aren’t all that hot, anyway) like money under a mattress, where neither the dollars nor the ideas serve as currency or gather interest.

The most successful thought leaders—Marshall Goldsmith, Seth Godin, Malcolm Gladwell, David Maister, Dan Pink, moi—generate ongoing IP and broadcast it at 100,000 watts: in books, audio, video, speeches, and so forth. That’s because the more you intrigue others with provocative and controversial ideas, the more others want to spend time with you and invest in their development with you.

So if you’re afraid that someone else may take your IP and make use of it without paying you, then by all means take the position that they can’t have it, and neither of you will be able to use it. Find one of those equally antiquated 50s air raid, back yard bunkers, and hide your IP in it.

But don’t expect to reach the fifth grade any time soon.

© Alan Weiss 2013

If you want to be heard outside of the herd, you must become comfortable with unique views and distinctive approaches. If you can’t provide them, you’re just one of the crowd. And the crowd isn’t impressive.

On Facebook, you find a combination of dopey (often contradictory) platitudes posted by people who want to look profound by quoting something that’s not very profound. Then there are the people with “agendas” that work their way into every conversation (“Dancing with the Stars” would be better if it weren’t for the Republicans”). There are those who obsessively need to be “liked” even by complete strangers, and consistently revolving glam shots that cry out for therapy.

On Linkedin we have the perfervid job seekers and those who think endorsements from strangers will carry weight with other strangers. We have a peculiar tribe of people whose common denominator seems to be that they need to be accepted—by anyone, in any manner. Endorse me!

Twitter, which at least offers the challenge of the mental discipline of trying to post something of value in a very limited space (if you’re not one of those posting that you’re about to take a shower), has “tweet critics.” These are the people who start a tweet with “but” or “unless” or “except” to try to prove someone else imperfect in an observation. These are the equivalent of the anal-retentives who spend hours searching for typos to play “gotcha,” and believe they’ve had a productive day.

This isn’t generational, it’s common sense. If you want to stand out, move out. Out of the crowd, out of the herd mentality, out of the tribal comfort zone.

Publish the provocative. Speak of the unprecedented. Act as a leader, not a follower.

It’s easy to step away from the herd once you realize you don’t need its protection, and understand that it’s quite likely to run over a cliff or into a predator.

© Alan Weiss 2013

What if you stopped consulting? Or stopped coaching? Or training?

What if you simply expressed your expertise?

I believe that writing, speaking, facilitating, training, consulting, coaching, ad nauseam, are merely transportation devices for our expertise. Some are “locals” and make a lot of stops, some are expressways, some are bullet trains, and some are a walk in the park.

Clients seek expertise which will deliver results. The particular methodology through which expertise is expressed is diverse and varied. When methodologies (approaches, technologies, etc.) become too convoluted and abstruse, they dull and dampen the expertise. Picture a wonderful lamb shank that has to be approved by three chefs and tested nine times. It’s bland and cold by the time it reaches the hungry diner, despite being certified, approved, tested, and otherwise anointed.

Stop agonizing over “pitches” and “delivery” and assorted related issues producing angst. Focus on a conversation with the buyer (and important others) which focuses on objectives and results with your expertise as the navigational system.

Sometimes you might need gyroscopes, compasses, chronometers, and celestial navigation.

But sometimes, true experts get there with dead reckoning. If you and I can see the goal, then we generally can determine what the shortest route is. Otherwise, what use is expertise?

© Alan Weiss 2013

Thinking big is about thinking laterally, not about drilling down. Too many people learn more and more about less and less. Think differently.

An example: A great many people talk about customer evangelism. Why not talk about the epiphanic customer, who has a sudden revelation about the product or service? On the road to Damascus, Paul is said to have had an epiphany which changed his attitude completely around.

Why don’t companies engage in marketing that turns those opposed completely around, sort of a “martial arts” of reversing existing momentum in your favor?

You won’t arrive at such things by drilling down. You need to rise above the daily, the tactical, the mundane.

© Alan Weiss 2013

Don’t be alarmed because you don’t know the buyer’s company or industry as well as the buyer does. You never will.

The key is to create a metaphor that you own to draw the buyer OUT of his or her world and INTO yours. For example, let’s take a very common topic—leadership—and a banking executive who says, “How are you different from other consultants in leadership?”

“Do you have GPS in your car?”

“Yes, why?”

“That GPS provides the destination you enter, your current position, time to the destination, alternative routes, points of interest, and so on, right?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I provide LGPS—Leadership GPS. I help you and your key team to agree on destinations, appreciate alternative routes, always understand exactly where they are and what options they have, and how to adjust their speed when needed. Would you like to know how it works?”

“I would.”

“Then let’s be pragmatic and not theoretical. Give me a key leadership or change initiative you’re facing, and I’ll show you how we’d work together.”

Knowledge of banking (or of any content) is never important. Move the buyer in your world via metaphor. That will set you apart from the crowd.

© Alan Weiss 2013