Getting Started in Consulting, 4th Edition

Chapter 4 Technology for the Next Nine Seconds

A woman wrote me quite indignantly after I wrote a book called The Million Dollar Consulting™ Toolkit (John Wiley & Sons, 2006), which she had read it about six months later. She castigated me for not including the latest developments in technology. I asked her if I should visit everyone who purchased the book and insert new pages every month or so. She indignantly wrote a nasty review on Amazon.com!

Thus, take what follows as my attempt to align you with productive and supportive technology, knowing full well that you may be supersonically transported around the world by the time this is published!

The Greatest Technology Myths

In consulting, technology is an augmentation, not the solution. Our job is to improve the client’s condition through our expertise and advice. It is not to do so by doing the client’s work. That is what coders do and other technology subcontractors do who often call themselves consultants. But they’re not; they’re simply temporary employees.

Alanism

A contractor provides a pair of hands. A consultant provides a brain.

Technology is changing hourly. I currently see holographic images give me directions in airports. We can take part in virtual meetings and delegate work to virtual assistants. Yet we still hear lame excuses such as, “I’ll be out of town, so I can’t make a decision or get back to you until ...