When it comes to solving complex problems, we often perform elaborate rituals in the guise of best practices that promise a world of order, certainty, and control. But reality paints a far different picture, which practitioners are often reluctant to discuss.

A witty yet rigorous journey through the seedy underbelly of organisational problem solving, The Heretic's Guide to Best Practices pinpoints the reasons why best practices don't work as advertised and what can be done about it.

"Hugely enjoyable, deeply reflective, and intensely practical. This book is about weaving human artistry and improvisation, with appropriate methods and technologies, in order to pool collective intelligence and wisdom under pressure."--Simon Buckingham Shum, Knowledge Media Institute, The Open University, UK

"This is a terrific piece of work: important, insightful, and very entertaining. Culmsee and Awati have produced a refreshing take on the problems that plague organisations... If you're trying to deal with wicked problems in your organisation, then drop everything and read this book."--Tim Van Gelder, Principal Consultant, Austhink Consulting

If you want to become a better consultant or are seeking to learn more about entering the consulting field, this guidebook offers the perfect starting point. Whether you're considering your options after college, looking to switch careers or already working at a consulting firm, you'll find a trove of invaluable information here. You can learn how to develop interpersonal skills that can help you succeed; improve your project management skills; approach the problem-solving process; present recommendations; and communicate clearly.

Not everyone succeeds as a consultant, but it's not because they aren't smart enough. It usually boils down to a misunderstanding of the consulting role-being unaware of what to do and when to do it. In this business, timing can mean everything.

Discover tips and strategies that can help you succeed as a consultant in this guide to consulting essentials. It's time to separate yourself from competitors and further your career with The Consulting Way.

This amazing handbook clarifies practical R&D creative problem solving for innovation success. Modern creative thinking procedures provide the skills necessary for profitable innovation. High quality solutions appear only after effort to generate and select from perspectives and ideas that create new innovation possibilities. Everyone in R&D wants to achieve high quality solutions to problems. Innovation success depends on it. Yet few people have access to the new creative thinking procedures that lead to the highest-level outcomes. These procedures focus people on the real issues within an innovation problem and on its quality solution. In this book, you will learn three types of procedures to help solve innovation problems creatively: Creative thinking procedures to shift R&D paradigms and produce unexpected innovation ideas Procedures to change the climate so new innovation ideas flourish Procedures to stop pigeonholing people, including yourself, so you stop stifling creative thinking Here's what else you will find. You will discover advanced procedures to carry out the three key creative steps to shift paradigms and solve problems more creatively. You will learn how to conduct problem solving creativity innovation meetings In R&D. You will discover procedures to manage and motivate people to help creative thinking for innovation in R&D. You will find procedures to help the submission of new innovation ideas and proposals. If you are a leader, you will learn procedures to adjust your leadership style to help creative thinking at work. WELL WORTH OWNING

A Practical Guide to Writing a Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA Grant provides F-Series grant applicants and mentors with insider knowledge on the process by which these grants are reviewed, the biases that contribute to the reviews, the extent of information required in an NRSA training grant, a deeper understanding of the exact purpose of each section of the application, and key suggestions and recommendations on how to best construct each and every section of the application.

A Practical Guide to Writing a Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA Grant is a solid resource for trainees and their mentors to use as a guide when constructing F30, F31, and F32 grant applications.
Covers F30, F31, and F32 grant applicationsDetailed overview of the review process Key suggestions on how to best construct each section of the applicationIncludes a checklist of required items "

If you work in an organization of any size, you probably run into consultants on a regular basis. In the last decade or so, the consulting industry has become more diverse, more sophisticated and more pervasive to the point where, like it or not, consultants are now integral to how most organizations work. Despite improvements in consultant selection processes and in the management of consulting projects, the ways in which most client organizations work with consultants have not kept pace with these developments. The results are waste, frustration and loss of value. In many organizations, this is significant enough to warrant a change in approach. To make this change succeed, you need to build your organization's capability to work with consultants in an integrated way, developing the attitudes, the mental models, the knowledge and the behaviours that enable you not only to apply consulting resources appropriately, but to maximise your organization's ability to assimilate and benefit from the work consultants do. This book will help you do this.

Author Dan Predpall says "in the nearly forty years that I've been a consultant, working for large consulting firms, and starting several small businesses, I've never seen a better time to become an independent consultant and monetize your skills and knowledge." Dan wrote this book with two audiences in mind: aspiring consultants, and established consultants. For those interested in starting a home business, this book is a great "training manual" that will provide the guidance needed to get off to a good start. Established consultants will find many actionable tips and techniques that will "unlock their potential" and accelerate growth. More specifically, the book covers: Seven essential factors that combine to create a powerful "consultant's mindset" How to describe your service offering in a way that prospects want to know more Discover six "influencers" that, if used in your proposals, will reduce purchase anxiety and increase buyer interest How to create a lead generation system that will fill your sales funnel A framework for writing successful proposals Marketing on the Internet: a new frontier where consultants can market their services The Consultant's Problem Solving Framework, a nine-step process for solving your customer's problems every time. How to communicate with your customers so they come back for more Why project management can be your best marketing tool A complete business plan for starting your consultancy How to create your very own "roadmap to success" in consulting

Aunt Tilly just can't get it together. After a successful beginning as a restaurateur, she moves her restaurant to an upscale community and flops. Literally within weeks of declaring bankruptcy she invites a restaurant management consultant to analyze her operations and save her business. This book describes how, with the consultant's expert help and advice, Aunt Tilly roared back and succeeded beyond her wildest dreams. It's about how to run a dining room, a kitchen, a bar, and the restaurant's financial and administrative operations. Written as Aunt Tilly's journey from near-failure to hard-won success, this book is straightforward, practical and gives you a rare insight into the author's proven experience and knowledge of running a successful restaurant and helping countless other restaurant owners to achieve their own success. Learn the most common mistakes made in running a restaurant Implement the Vital Restaurant Measurements that will set you on the road to success Hire and retain the best staff for your business Run your restaurant professionally Discover the 101 ways that employees steal from restaurants and bars James A McCain is a senior business consultant whose experience includes work with many Fortune 500 companies, including GE, Sears and Prudential, and hundreds of consulting engagements with small and mid-size firms. He has advised countless restaurant owners on the keys to success and sustained profitability and is a recognised expert in the field of restaurant business management.

Ever felt like your life is stuck in 1st gear yet, your mind is continuing to speed up the creativity highway? We are created to be achievers. What if you could really experience unlimited power? Do you believe we are created to be exceptional? "This book, "8 Ways To Be 10 X Better" compels us to associate on a higher track, to take ownership of our destiny and ascend to employ our gift of efficacy. The blueprint of our lives has been drawn yet we have the innate ability to be elevated and create a new map of our world. What we believe is what we achieve. What we achieve is what we design. Find the higher purpose that we have been charged with and connect to the greatest exploration beyond our being; doing what's achievable yet, unbelievable. What else is there besides this life -- a higher purpose? Is it possible that we know what to do yet, why do we hesitate? Are we capable of designing our future success by choice instead of force? We have the criteria to evolve to genius level right now. We can create majestic moments to cherish on this journey. So, do we chase the fleeing dust of this life while our true self yearns to converse, comprehend and connect to infinite love we call the Divine? This choice is and will always be...yours." In this book, "8 Ways To Be 10 X Better" we encounter the sometimes hidden concepts that can make the major difference in a person's motivation. This book will grab you from the start and increase your commitment to nonstop momentum to your best life. The critical component of empowerment and high performance are clearly articulated and displayed in the pages of this book. A key attention-grabber is that you really get maximum understanding of the title by the smartly laid out 8 Ways via the chapters 1 through 8. It takes you from "Breakthrough" like a blast from a cannon and prepares you for other levels of clear inspiration in the chapters of "Inspire" and "Mastery." You will welcome the break after Mastery and then instantly get e

Cross Company Check is a comprehensive, field-proven professional tool for self-analysis for small and medium-sized, owner-managed companies. Objectives of the instruments are among others: demonstrate entrepreneurial potential and problem indicators through self-knowledge to release new energies and thus to pave the way for new successes. Used properly you can save considerable costs with this instrument. Especially if you want to make use of external support to complete

SAVE TIME, ANXIETY, STRESS -- AND MONEY
Whether you call yourself a sole proprietor, freelancer, subcontractor or free agent you are self-employed. June calls you an indie and regards all indies as creative.
Whether already in business or planning to start your own business, you need this book. Accountant and author June Walker, in straightforward language and with concrete examples, tackles the most vexing problem facing the self-employed -- the intimidation that results from lack of knowledge about taxes and recordkeeping.
The Confident Indie is written for you -- bright, talented entrepreneurs who don't understand the tax implications of your solo ventures. This indispensable book will help you survive and succeed in a business environment where the tax laws and regulations are structured not for indies but for the corporate world.
Informed by the author's long experience with the self-employed, you'll develop the indie-business savvy to move forward with confidence toward success.
You'll learn . . .
How to prove to the IRS that your endeavor is a business, not a hobby
How a home office, no matter how small, can mean big tax savings
How to deduct travel expenses
When a gift to Mom can be a legitimate business deduction
How to make estimated tax payments
The advantages of sole proprietorship
Why you should not incorporate
How start-up costs differ from other business expenses

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
While working for an industrial design company June Walker became aware that the skilled technical consultants with whom she dealt were at a loss about tax matters. As an artists' representative she came to realize that artists were equally in need of sound tax advice. The whole self-employed sector of the economy, she eventually saw, was not being properly served.
With enormous respect for the talents and imagination of the independent professional, June Walker called upon her education and experience in math, science, art, business, and accounting to develop an accounting practice that would educate the self-employed about the business side of their endeavors. Today her clientele is composed exclusively of the self-employed, or, as she calls them, "indies."
In her thirty years of business she has expanded her reach to writing books, writing for magazines, presenting seminars and workshops, and using her website and blog at junewalkeronline.com to provide accurate, easy-to-understand, simply-written tax and recordkeeping advice to an ever-growing indie workforce.
After many printings and editions, June bought back the rights to her earlier book, Self-employed Tax Solutions, from her publisher The Globe Pequot Press. On January 1, 2013 THE CONFIDENT INDIE was published by Indie Power Media. It includes much of the material from her earlier book -- revised and updated -- with additional 21st Century content on income, expense and taxes.

Some say that it is getting harder and harder for chiropractors to become successful. The median chiropractor earned $85K/yr. in 1985 yet today the median is only $67K/yr. At first glance it appears we are in a dying profession. However, many chiropractors continue to earn 4 to 5 times the national median wage. What separates one doctor from another? How is it that one doctor can earn $250K/yr. while another can barely put food on the table? This book can teach you what separates the haves from the have not's. It can teach you the keys to running a successful chiropractic office that is not only enjoyable to work in but one that is also extremely profitable. It can teach you how to better manage patients and get them motivated to finish your treatment protocols. It can show you how to become a better healthcare leader and how to better manage your staff. But most of all it will give you a sense of direction. All of these things can be yours, but you must first take responsibility for your business. Nothing in life just happens and neither will your office flourish without proper work and leadership. If you keep doing what you are doing you will keep getting what you are getting. If your business is struggling it is not because it is spring break or Christmas holidays, it is because of who you are and what you do. Socrates stated, "A unexamined life is not worth living." And a business that you don't control is not worth having. This book is teaching you how to gain back your control. Getting a grip on your business is the first steps in controlling your life and your income.

Since 9/11, business and industry has paid close attention to security within their own organizations. In fact, at no other time in modern history has business and industry been more concerned with security issues. A new concern for security measures to combat potential terrorism, sabotage, theft and disruption -- which could bring any business to it's knees --has swept the nation. This has opened up a huge opportunity for private investigators and security professionals as consultants. Many retiring law enforcement and security management professionals look to enter the private security consulting market. Security consulting often involves conducting in-depth security surveys so businesses will know exactly where security holes are present and where they need improvement to limit their exposure to various threats. The fourth edition of "Security Consulting" introduces security and law enforcement professionals to the career and business of security consulting. It provides new and potential consultants with the practical guidelines needed to start up and maintain a successful independent practice. Updated and expanded information is included on marketing, fees and expenses, forensic consulting, the use of computers, and the need for professional growth.Useful sample forms have been updated in addition tonew promotion opportunities and keys to conducting research on the Web.

- The only book of its kind dedicated to beginning a security consulting practice from the ground-up

- Proven, practical methods to establish and run a security consulting business

- Newchapters dedicated to advice for new consultants, information secutiry consulting, and utilizing the power of the Internet

- The most up-to-date best practices from the IAPSC"

This is a practical guide on what good consultants do. If you are a consultant, this book tells you how to sell your professional services. If you are in charge of hiring consultants, this book shows you what to look for in a consultant. The author is a former Fortune 500 corporate manager who hired and fired numerous consultants and contractors. This no-holds-barred guide is written by someone who has been on both sides of the table.

NOT A STAND ALONE STUDY GUIDE. This book is designed to accompany the Salesforce Certified Sales Consultant Exam Preparation class offered by Stony Point. A student in this class will learn how to be a Salesforce Sales Cloud Consultant. This book should only be purchased by students who will be attending class. This in person, three day class is delivered by a senior instructor with many years of real world consulting experience and is specifically designed to prepare consultants to pass the Salesforce Certified Consultant Exam. The instructor will cover all the key sales automation concepts within Salesforce in addition to sharing real world experiences and best practices. This book and the class present a broad range of topics cover just about everything on which a student will be tested. These topics include but are not limited to: Software Development Lifecycles, project management strategies, the Force.com architecture, the model, view, controller design pattern, and typical salesforce automation goals. There is in depth coverage of system security topics such as: Users, Licenses, Profiles, Field Level Security, Permission Sets, Delegated Administration, Record Security, Organization Wide Defaults, Role Hierarchy & Roles, Sharing Rules, Account Teams, Sales Teams, Territory Management & Queues. The object model related to sales force automation is thoroughly covered as well with sections on: Accounts, Contacts & Person Accounts, Opportunities, Products & Price Books, Quotes, Forecasting, Assets, Contracts, Leads and Campaigns. Finally, topics concerning integration, success metrics, analytics and best practices will be explored. As a participant in the class, each student will be given a practice learning environment to use during hands-on exercises during the class. The student will be able to use this learning environment indefinitely after the class without any additional fee. Stony Point is a leading provider of Salesforce training for sales people, customer service personnel, marketers, system administrators, developers and consultants. Stony Point delivers public and private classes virtually and in-person at locations throughout the world. Please visit www.stonyp.com for more information on the classes and services offered.

Family businesses need a similar transformation if they seriously intend to become global players in the world market. A transformation that is intrinsic, primordial, intense and painful but which then opens the doors into a world that they did not even know, exists. A world of global influence, great wealth and power and the potential to leave behind a legacy that lives on long after the founders have gone the way of all life. The choice is ours. It is not an easy choice. It is not a quick fix transformation that will happen without serious effort. It is not a course of action that will not meet opposition from other caterpillars. However as I said, the choice is ours to make.

If you have clients, at some point you're going to have an unhappy one. Everyone does. Successful professionals are not the ones who never have client problems, but the ones who handle those problems well. This book offers simple, effective guidelines for managing client and stakeholder conflict. These eight easy steps will help you resolve the emotional disruption, fix the problem, and strengthen your client's confidence in you and your service. When clients complain, most of professionals want to rush right into addressing the issue that the client complained about. But in most cases, that's the worst thing you can do. You need fix both the problem and the relationship. Too often, the problem gets fixed, but the relationship and the client's trust remains damaged. Trust is a delicate thing, and once violated, very difficult to restore. This book provides a no-nonsense, systematic approach to neutralizing the client's negative emotions, reframing the client's understanding of the situation, and, finally proposing a solution. This easy-to-follow sequence is especially useful when tempers are flaring and stakes are high. It can make the difference between losing a client or building a deeper relationship based on trust. While this 8-step approach was designed to help geeks, engineers and analysts navigate the choppy waters of human emotion, it is a clear, cogent approach to restoring trust that has proven useful to anyone in a tricky situation.

Do you want to be an independent management consultant? Or are you already consulting part time and want to figure out how to grow your business into a full time practice? Then this is the book for you. The Intentional Consultant details the personal story of the author who created a sustainable independent management consulting practice of over 20 years. The author reveals her secrets to success and useful steps to consider for those who intentionally plan to have a career as a business consultant and entrepreneur. Why do you want to be a consultant? What is it that you will be consulting about? Who will be your clients? Why will they come to you? Why will they pay you? How can you quit your day job to be able to work as a consultant full-time? What do you need to do to be able to build the consulting practice to sustain it over time? These are some of the core questions that this book will address. Many people dream about owning a business and what some people don't realize is that all businesses start small. And unlike many other businesses that sell products, consultants sell themselves. If you have the dream that you can be a business consultant, that you have skills that can be turned into services of some sort that customers will be willing to buy, then you can become a business consultant. You can become an intentional consultant. An intentional consultant is a person who plans their consulting practice and builds it for sustainability. It is not happenstance. It is not accidental. It is not something that you do until you find another job. It is what you choose to do to develop a sustainable livelihood for yourself. And it can happen, but you must follow a process and be committed to it and probably work harder than most people, especially early on. So to change your dream into reality you must follow the process. Some of the process steps include preparing yourself to be consultant-things like gathering experiences, developing your initial business plan and building your credentials. The rest of the steps to building a sustainable consulting business are shared in detail in this book.

SAP implementations are always a challenge. An enterprise will deploy its top resources, human and infrastructural, towards a SAP implementation--and yet fall short. "Why?" Simply because it is the nature of the beast. Typically, SAP implementations are large and complex, involving multiple locations, stakeholder groups and business interests. During an implementation, multiple issues can rear their heads. These issues can be functional, technical or financial. Not least, issues are human. Conflicts between project team members and stakeholder groups are often cited as reasons for less-than-stellar SAP implementations.

Now veteran ERP consultant "LaShonda Rahming" brings you expertise that will help you make your SAP implementation a success story. In "SAP Lessons Learned: Human Capital Management" she showcases the collected wisdom of thirteen leading consultants who share experiences that run the gamut from tackling post go-live resistance to increasing end-user productivity. You will find that the book brings you, in a voice that is easy to read, assimilate and put to immediate action, critical material on how to overcome common and not so common challenges within the SAP human capital management space. Among other things, you will find out how to gather detailed requirements that can be used to select your implementation partner and understand valuable information needed during your implementation, increase your understanding of change and project management and--if your SAP implementation went live already--learn techniques to increase end user productivity. This last item, although crucial, is often overlooked. As the author shares with us, a Gartner study shows that 76% of end users have a failing or substandard understanding of new systems software. Similar to the medical industry where most deaths occur due to iatrogenic death (death induced in a patient by physician's activity), this is also true in the SAP end user community where most errors and lack of efficiencies is caused by lack of end user productivity.

Whether you are a SAP consultant or a manager driving an internal ERP implementation, "SAP Lessons Learned: Human Capital Management" has lessons for you that will help you minimize the gotchas and lead your SAP implementation towards success.

If you want to be an effective leader--at any level--you should pay attention to vision. Leaders who communicate a strong vision are seen by their bosses and coworkers as more effective in several important areas than those who do not. The content of your vision affects employees' perception of your organization. Your articulation of the vision affects their perception of your leadership effectiveness. Taken together, vision content and vision articulation give your employees, colleagues, and other stakeholders a powerful image of how good your organization is how skilled you are as a leader.

"The Company Analysis Guide" is intended to consultants for the best use of skills in order to achieve a brilliant result for the client. Of course, this tool can also be of significant benefit for a well-organized consulting firm, if it is used properly. On the other hand, this guide gives the client an insight into the professional work of the external analyst. It creates significantly more security through transparency for the client. The entrepreneur, who prefers the self-analysis, receives a professional working directive for his particular use. Based on a sufficient self-criticism, and the consistent use of this tool, a "changing-in-the-right-direction" result is to be expected. A useful tool for ambitioned analysts, whether externally or internally, consultants or entrepreneurs

Consulting Best Practices is a complete "How to" book on running a consulting organization. The book is based on the author's 18 years of experience in IT management and 13 years in the IT consulting industry. During those 13 years the author performed many different roles. These roles included billable consultant, project manager, managing consultant, services sales executive, and owner of a consulting company. The author worked for both small niche organizations as well as global services leaders. The book is a condensed version of all the knowledge the author gained in working in these environments. And, because he spent so many years as a client for these services, the best practices described in the book are supported by experiences gained as a consulting services customer. The book was inspired by the fact that while many consulting organizations are successful operations, there are always one or two areas of weakness that impede the company from achieving its potential. Having worked in both small and large consulting companies, the author has compiled all the best practices he felt were relevant to the industry and presents them in five well defined sections. Section I provides a complete list of services' characteristics that consulting companies can use to compare against their own marketing approach. Differentiating services and capabilities is essential in today's competitive market. This section guides the readers through the elements needed to build credibility through marketing while emphasizing the unique qualities that will make a services organization standout. Section II presents the basis for why Services Salespeople need to understand the services industry, the customer mindset, presales planning, how to position the company and its capabilities, understanding the competition and partnerships, and how to negotiate and close business. The nine chapters in Section II provide a detailed explanation of the role of the services sales executive and critical functions of the sales support team. Section III provides an in depth discussion on best practices for delivering engagements and insights on improving process and procedures within a consulting organization. An Engagement Methodology is defined by describing the critical components that make up an engagement. The management aspects of delivery are discussed as well as the key elements of risk management, communications, and documentation best practices. Section IV discusses the human factors in building and managing a consulting organization. Positive behaviors in the workplace and at the client site are critical to the success of the company. Management holds the responsibility to develop a collaborative culture that integrates operations, sales, delivery, and management. These four chapters explain the critical elements of the best practices model for organizational behavior in a consulting environment. Section V concludes the book with a discussion on operational management best practices of re-using knowledge in an efficient manner. It also has a chapter that reviews approaches to growing a consulting business through development of new services as well as best practices on how to optimize the use of the Internet. There is also a chapter in this section that speaks to the best practices that clients should use to govern consulting engagements. Finally, the last chapter in the book focuses on why consulting companies will find value in hiring outside consulting services to improve their operations. The book contains an extensive Glossary of Terms to assist readers who are not familiar with IT or the services industry. Everyone in the consulting industry will find something of value in this professional business book. The writing style is easy to read and the thoughts are concise, yet adequately supported by examples and business logic. As one (CEO) reviewer quoted: "The book is the definitive playbook for building a great Service Delivery Busines

Whether yours is a small one-person hop or a large mega-consulting powerhouse, the revised edition of "The Consultant's Scorecard" helps you move past the same old promises and provide cold, hard proof of success--which you must offer if you want to compete in today's fiercely competitive and fast-growing consulting industry.

Jack and Patti Phillips have fully updated their authoritative work to put you in the best possible position to sell your services to clients who demand proof of unmistakable financial value. On the flipside, this book helps clients determine the validity of prospective consultants' promises and track progress after hiring.

"The Consultant's Scorecard" offers simple data collection techniques for measuring the value of a project in six key areas: Client satisfaction New knowledge and skills acquired by the client Successful project implementation Business unit impact Return on investment Intangible benefits

In addition to enabling you to measure your contribution, this process provides a framework you can use to focus on results throughout the consulting intervention.

The key concept in any consulting project today is "accountability." Senior managers are being held more and more accountable for the consulting fees they pay out--so they're requiring more accountability from consultants. "The Consultant's Scorecard" helps both parties involved in the process form rocksolid measurements of the value of any project.

PRAISE FOR THE PREVIOUS EDITION OF THE CONSULTANT'S SCORECARD:

""Jack Phillips's unique approach to measuring the return on investment of consulting makes The Consultant's Scorecard a must-read for anyone involved in the consulting process."" -- Stephen R. Covey, author of the bestseller The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Consulting clients are demanding more and more assurance that the large fees they pay will bring measurable results to their organizations. "The Consultant's Scorecard" is the tool you need to create effective impact and ROI statements for every project proposal you submit. Consultants and ROI experts Jack and Patti Phillips show how to measure and report value, results, and impact to dramatically expand your business. "The Consultant's Scorecard" includes: Examples of successful projects Important trends and timely issues Downloadable tools provided online Expansive self-assessment checklist Templates for easy use

It's My Turn to be an Entrepreneur offers detailed information on all of the challenges associated with becoming an entrepreneur BEFORE you make the decision to start a business. Starting and running a business is not a simple process. It takes a great deal of thought and planning. Here, you will learn all of the things necessary to set up a business, find capital, take on partners, market, and most important, how to plan to ensure success. Good luck on achieving the American Dream of running your own business and becoming America's Next Entrepreneur