The Consultant's Handbook: A Practical Guide to Delivering High-value and Differentiated Services in a Competitive Marketplace

INTRODUCTION

The objective of this book is to provide a practical context as well as tips and actionable guidelines to those working with or interested in consulting.

Suitable audiences include soon-to-be graduates interested in the consulting profession, consultants aiming to accelerate their careers through the acquisition of new ideas, and experienced practitioners wishing to complement their own experience with that of others.

Beyond the realm of consulting, the topics presented in this book could also be applied by a wide range of professionals whose roles involve frequent interactions with internal or external stakeholders, in order to improve their effectiveness and to navigate around common obstacles.

This book is designed to be easy to read, as too many consulting-related books are not. The content presented should be easy to absorb and to connect with one's own experience. The very practical approach adopted as well as a rich variety of examples are intended to make the concepts discussed easy to implement with immediate benefit in a wide range of daily situations, irrespective of the reader's experience level. The content has been organized to take the reader on a logical journey through some of the most important considerations in the practical world of consulting. Each chapter will provide a foundation for the ideas presented in the next. It is therefore recommended that the chapters are read in sequence.

Part I, Consulting Fundamentals, introduces some of the underlying ...