The New Consultant's Quick Start Guide

Introduction

Why This Guide?

Books make a difference in people’s lives. Just last week I met Marin Burton, a senior faculty member at the Center for Creative Leadership, where I am on the board of governors. She shared that she first learned of me when she was a freshman at the University of Wisconsin. Marin had discovered the excitement of facilitation and developing others, much to the chagrin of her father, who wasn’t certain she could make a living using these frivolous skills. Coincidentally, her father and I had a mutual friend who worked at S.C. Johnson in Racine. He recommended one of my books, The Business of Consulting, and Marin’s father gave it to her. The book reassured both father and daughter that one could make a living in the field of consulting. Marin now has a PhD, develops global leaders, and still has the book and the note I wrote to accompany it 20 years ago.

There is more to this brief coincidence than that we both grew up in Wisconsin and that we are in the same profession that we both love. It is really about consulting. Consulting is not just about making a living. It is about making a difference. As a consultant you will have many Marin-Magic Moments. People will stop you at conferences and tell you how you changed their lives. After a project with a client, employees will tell you what a difference your support made in their departments. And you will bump into people after an event or a training class when they reiterate a simple statement that you ...