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Million Dollar Consulting® Notes

Having just completed conducting the 11th Million Dollar Consulting® College, and always learning more than anyone else, I’ll share some insights:

  • If you don’t understand something, do two things. First, question it immediately, because otherwise the ensuing structure will have a weak foundation. Second, try to apply it in your circumstances to integrate the learning.
  • People learn in different ways, so notes, recordings, mind maps, and holographic telepathy are all fine with me. But if you don’t have three things (or less) emphasized for you to move forward at the end of the day, you may have quantity but nto quality.
  • The 1% solution: tools for change® says that if you improve by 1% a day, in 70 days you’re twice as good. But if you don’t learn carefully and instead become confused, the opposite can actually occur. People can get dumber.
  • When creating pragmatic representations of conceptual images, whether brands or graphics or process visuals, it is ALWAYS better to work with a small team you trust for quicker and higher quality results.
  • Failing, and learning as a result, among peers is better than mindlessly succeeding among inferiors.
  • Emotion is as important as intellect in integrating learning.
  • The female advantage in learning: less ego investment and more openness. The male advantage: less tendency to take disagreement personally and to focus on the issue not the person.
  • Groups don’t bond through dumb ice-breaking exercises. They bond through sharing challenge, contributions, disagreements, and socializing.
  • All groups claim that they want to stay in touch and reconnect. The ones that do most successfully always have an organizer or organizers who take on that responsibility.
  • If the facilitator isn’t learning constantly, he or she should go into another line of work. Simply doing something well and receiving plaudits is like watching people applaud a movie you’ve already made years ago.

I’m asked why I left organizational consulting after such success, and my reply is that I got bored, because there are primarily 11 things that are going on, and to say to a CEO, “It’s numbers 3, 7, and 10, that will be $245,000,” was not going to fly.

  1. Leadership is inept in that key people are not serving as avatars of the behavior they are seeking in others.
  2. Team building is sought when, in actuality, the organization has committees and needs committees, not teams.
  3. There are silos headed by powerful people defending turf.
  4. Problem solving is prized over innovation and “black belt nine delta” nonsense takes over people’s minds like a bad science fiction movie from the 50s.
  5. There is excessive staff interference instead of support, typically from HR, finance, IT, and/or legal.
  6. There are too many meetings that take too long and are overwhelmingly focused on sharing information, the worst possible reason to have a meeting. The organization’s talent and energy are squandered internally instead of applied externally.
  7. The customer’s perceptions of the organization’s products, services, and relationships are different from the organization’s perception.
  8. The reward and feedback systems are not aligned with strategy and are not encouraging and discouraging the appropriate behaviors.
  9. Strategy and planning are mistaken for each other.
  10. Career development and succession planning are not wedded.
  11. The organization is bureaucratic, in that is focuses on means and not ends.

© Alan Weiss 2008. All rights reserved.

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Posted by Alan Weiss on November 16th, 2008 filed in Consulting Philosophy |

7 Responses to “Million Dollar Consulting® Notes”

  1. Pulok Says:
    November 17th, 2008 at 1:44 am

    Hi Alan,

    Thanks for the wonderful post.It is the most cherished recent post. I know a guy called Mark Collard who had written books about team building and games. I am eagerly waiting for his next book ‘Count
    Me In: Large Group Activities That Work’

  2. Alan Weiss Says:
    November 17th, 2008 at 8:20 am

    I once opened a chapter board meeting by smashing a bag of ice with a mallet. “There,” I said, “the ice is broken, let’s get down to business as adults without stupid games.”

    On another occasion, a woman did an ice breaker for 90 minutes, when my presentation was scheduled for 30 minutes in front of, guess who, meeting planners international.

  3. Alan Weiss Says:
    November 17th, 2008 at 10:45 am

    By the way, we’re deleting the URL you supplied with your comment since it’s a (rather poor) promotional site. Please don’t attempt to do this or we simply won’t allow you to post. Don’t try to “game” me. That’s why I write that the blogosphere is filled with crap most of the time.

  4. Laurent Duperval Says:
    November 17th, 2008 at 8:28 pm

    I like that ice breaker, is it copyrighted? :)

    Maybe I’ll use a blender instead.

    L

  5. Stephen Says:
    March 9th, 2009 at 5:11 pm

    Hi Alan,

    Could I use your 11 points, with correct attribution of course, in some of my material?

    If someone has already said it well why re-invent the wheel. They always turn out round. ;-)

    Thanks,
    Stephen

  6. Alan Weiss Says:
    March 9th, 2009 at 5:19 pm

    Thanks for asking, you can with the following:
    1. My name and copyright.
    2. The source (here) with a link.
    3. “Reprinted with permission” to protect yourself.

    If that works for you, it works for me.

  7. Stephen Says:
    March 9th, 2009 at 5:45 pm

    Works for me, thanks!

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