More Secrets of Consulting: The Consultant's Tool Kit

Developing MORE of your soft and thinking skills. This builds on the first book in this series and is the same caliber, class and application value as the first. More insight from a consultant/leader/teacher with years of experience. I classify this book and the first as wisdom that few will purchase, fewer will take the time to understand, and the gold that many people search for "as consultants" and never find.

On a superficial level, one might say that this book is more about the principles of self-esteem than more "tips and tricks" on giving advice / being a consultant. However, after I thought about this for a while, I would have to agree with Mr. Weinberg that the principles of self-esteem really are the secret to being a good advice giver. This wasn't exactly what I was expecting in this book, but it doesn't diminish the importance or power of the material. Just buy this book and improve your life. I add Mr. Weinberg to a short list of those authors and persons in my life that have made me a better person and provided some direction to the chaos of the universe. That may sound overly dramatic, but for me it's true. Thanks, Gerald!

If you have ever attended one of my presentations, you know that frequently I recommend Gerald (Jerry) Weinberg's The Secrets of Consulting, published in 1985. I've even commented that I've had to purchase half a dozen copies of it because I lend it out and it never comes back. I recommended this book to everyone, even non-consultants because the subtitle, The Guide to Giving and Receiving Advice Successfully, is a valuable topic no matter how you earn your money. In 2002, Weinberg published More Secrets of Consulting: The Consultant's Toolkit. This is a sort of sequel to the original volume, with more of a focus on traditional consulting over general advice giving tips. Traditionally, sequels don't do as well as first releases, and Weinberg addresses this starting on the first page of the book: [When I mentioned to my pal Michelle that I was writing a sequel to The Secrets of Consulting, she shook her head in disbelief. "Why don't you quit while you are ahead. Don't you believe your own preaching? What about The Law of Raspberry Jam?"1 Michelle was referring to the law that describes how any Great Message gets diluted when carried too far: the wider you spread it, the thinner it gets."] From there, Jerry goes on to say that he is writing this book because the first one earned more dollars for consultants who read it, perhaps $10,000 per year, in Michelle's case. I believe that my own consulting revenue had increased by at least that much, maybe twice or three times that, since I first read The Secrets of Consulting. Not because I learned how to put more tricky language into my contracts, but because I learned how make my services more valuable to my clients. The big question, though, is whether this sequel will have the same effect of making me more valuable to my clients. You may have read one of Jerry's books on system thinking, or even the Psychology of Computer Programming. If you have read his later works, you'd know that Jerry has been working on the softer sides of systems, especially through his Amplifying Your Effectiveness work. This work is based on Virginia Satir's writings and More Secrets builds upon Satir's Self Esteem Toolkit: The Wisdom Box The Golden Key The Courage Stick The Wishing Wand The Detective Hat The Yes/No Medallion Plus Jerry's additions: The Heart The Mirror The Telescope The Fish-Eye Lens The Gyroscope The Egg The Carabiner The Feather The Hourglass The Oxygen Mask For each of these tools, Weinberg explains how it can help, what happens when it isn't used properly, and what lessons learned he's collected about why they are important parts of a consultant's toolkit. If you you were wondering about the footnote in the quote above, Weinberg make frequent use of footnotes to his other writings, especially references to the original Secrets. While I definitely do not see these as ads for his other works, I did find them a bit distracting. This volume of Secrets focuses inward, on a consultant's i

If you've ever had problems in an engagement, and you've already read Secrets, read this too. Weinberg includes numerous know-yourself ideas to become a better consultant. A common consulting mistake is to spend time on work that shouldn't be done at all, or that the the client doesn't want or doesn't value. But, it's sometimes difficult to detect those problems. Two of the tools, the Wisdom Box and the Mirror can help you address these problems.The WIsdom Box helps you determine when you shouldn't bother doing the work. As Weinberg says, "Anything I shouldn't be doing, I shouldn't be doing. Period." Easier said than done sometimes. Weinberg helps you detect when your Wisdom Box is telling you something that you otherwise can't hear -- when you're entering a situation you shouldn't even start.Sometimes, clients engage us to perform work they don't value. In that case, the Mirror is an asset. I used the mirror once when I was working with a management team who didn't value testing, but knew that the parent company would ask them about the testing. Instead of taking on testing for the project, I committed to help with project planning, set up testing, and look for a permanent test manager who could work the day-to-day issues. If they couldn't commit to the planning and setup work, they wouldn't actually hire anyone, but my consulting job would be complete.With the Mirror, you completely commit to part of the project, and provide feedback to the company. You have a chance to see how the project proceeds, and if either you or the client doesn't like where you're going, you stop. I found the patterns of consultant reactions and Weinberg's tools and suggestions for dealing with those reactions helpful. You will too.

If you were to buy this book and the previous one, "Secrets of Consulting", and read them, then your next step should be to place one in each of your hip pockets. For that is the only part of being a consultant not covered in these books. Wrapped in the guise of folk wisdom, the advice given here could and should be part of a business degree. For, no matter what the circumstances and the size of the companies represented on both sides, a business deal still reduces down to individuals who trust each other enough to "like" each other in the business sense. Truthfully, and to contradict the author, there really are no secrets to being a successful consultant. The ways to be successful are just the basic business rules that apply elsewhere, in that you need to find out what the customer really wants and deliver it at a cost that is good for you and acceptable to them. This is not easy, and the best advice is to listen hard, explore all options and most of all, be prepared to contradict the buyer when it is in their best interests. Even when it may not be in your best interests, at least in the short term. It is a fallacy and cowardly to try to follow the mantra that the customer is always right. They are not, and that is more a part of the consultant's life than any other profession. In many ways, you are being paid to tell your customers when they are not right and to do anything other than that is a moral breach of your contract. Weinberg spends a great deal of time in explaining how to deal with this critical situation and that advice hits the dime-sized target. No one writes business advice better than Wienberg. If he ever decides to give up writing about business, he could make a career out of writing personal self-help books. It will be on my top ten books of the year list.