A Practical Guide to help Business Advisors "kick start" their practices. A great resource to help experienced Business Advisors improve their businesses. The Business Excellence Model will help any Business Advisor sustain a more profitable practice.

In the face of the financial and economic crises of the early twenty-first century, the subject of leadership is central. Insights on Leadership provides a comprehensive and integrated set of perspectives on leading, leader development and the ideas that shape these. Volume 3 offers a series of interviews about leadership, its practice, development and theory. Volume 3 focuses on executive-a Chairman of the Board, CEOs and a COO-and explores the influences that have shaped their leadership. These influences include adult developmental psychology, integral theory and concepts, and the development of life practices that are holistic and generative.

Mastering a New Paradigm in Management Consulting (2nd edition) is developed for use in practical learning settings, where today's business world is the classroom. This holistic approach advises the client's management to influence changes in the system - not in the employees - thus effecting lasting transformative change. The book addresses gaining understanding first, then mastery of critical learning processes. Understanding and mastery of the new paradigm are presented and developed as Learning to BE, Learning to LEARN, and Learning to DO. The Consulting Systems Worldview framework covers four distinct iterative and interactive phases in the consulting engagement. Two real cases provide an opportunity to use the key framework tasks and the explanation of what was actually done in these cases to reach a successful outcome. The book capitalizes on presencing - leading and learning from the future as it emerges.

Everything you need to know about freelance fees
Do your palms get sweaty when a prospective client asks, "How much do you want for this project?" Learn the techniques presented in What to Charge: Pricing Strategies for Freelancers and Consultants and you'll never panic again
What to Charge takes you through the processes of setting rates, assessing fees dictated by clients, and evaluating your pricing experiences. You'll learn how to dig for information before quoting a fee. You'll examine the pros and cons of different pricing methods, such as hourly rates, project fees, and retainers. You'll discover the only two rules of pricing and why following them will guarantee you pricing success. You'll find out how to keep records that will enable you to maximize your profits on future projects. And you'll see how and when to analyze your income retroactively and to raise your rates with little effort.
With self-employment being the hottest job trend, What to Charge is essential reading and a must-have reference for all entrepreneurs. No other book provides the detailed guidance of this volume, which is now in its second edition. Here's what readers of What to Charge: Pricing Strategies for Freelancers and Consultants have said:
"I wish I had this book when I began freelancing."
"You've taken the guesswork out of pricing "
"This is the most logical, practical approach to pricing-and business management%u2014for the self-employed that I have ever seen."
"I've had my own business for years, and I thought I knew it all. But What to Charge gave me new insights and new approaches. As soon as I implemented one of these strategies, I recouped the cost of the book."
Lessons learned in the trenches form the basis of this book. The author, Laurie Lewis, has more than 25 years as a freelance medical writer and editor. Active in several professional associations, the author has incorporated not only her own experiences but also those of other self-employed professionals to create a model for successful pricing of consulting services.
The techniques presented in What to Charge have stood the test of time, remaining valid through the recession that occurred since the first edition was published in 2000. In fact, because the book presents strategies, it will never go out of date. Whether you're just launching a freelance business or you have many years of consulting under your belt, What to Charge is for you.

Consulting firms hire bright people directly out of college or with industry experience to help their clients solve business problems.In addition to business knowledge, new consultants also need to know skills such as: - Client relationship management- Expectation Setting- Effective communication- Selling consulting services- Successful career management techniquesConsulting 101 provides you with 101 useful tips to optimize your professional performance and jump-start your consulting career for success.

A volume in both Research in Management Consulting, Series Editor Anthony F. Buono, Bentley University and Contemporary Trends in Organization Development and Change, Series Editors Peter Sorensen, Benedictine University and Therese Yaeger, Benedictine University This volume is a joint publication in the Research in Management Consulting and Contemporary Trends in Organizational Change and Development series. This dual focus reflects the reality that consulting for organizational change is a special type of management consultation, a complex field of endeavor that requires a broad range of skills and competencies. To be truly effective, change-related consulting requires a unique client-consultant relationship, a special set of consulting skills, an expertise in human and organizational systems, and significant personal qualities. It is in high demand in a world full of change. Yet, we still know relatively little theoretically about this type of consulting and have relatively little empirical evidence about what actually works and why. As the contributors amply illustrate, the Organization Development (OD) field has a well developed set of frameworks, technologies, and models of change. Still we need to focus on and learn more about the role of the OD consultant as a special kind of change agent. A goal of this joint volume is to increase that specific body of knowledge and provide an illustration of much needed collaboration in bringing all possible resources to bear on our understanding of an increasingly critical and essential form of consulting.

"The Business of Consulting is a complete guide for all consultants looking to provide the most efficient service to their clients in the face of the present global economic meltdown, who wish to become expert practitioners in their chosen fields. It shows how a consultant can horn and develop his performance and professional skills in varied areas."

For more than a decade, enterprise architecture has been comfortably ensconced within the IT domain. Yet in many organisations, the gap between business and IT is a gaping chasm, whilst some other silos are more like separate worlds. To gain the best business benefits from architecture, it's time to move out, bridging the silos to link everything the enterprise is and does. This book provides a structured 'conversion course' for IT-architects wanting to get to grips with the much broader scope of enterprise-scale architecture. Topics covered include: -how to leverage existing skills with IT-architecture tools such as Zachman, TOGAF and PRINCE2; -how to resolve differences of structure and scope between IT-architecture and enterprise architecture; -how to adapt existing IT-centric frameworks and methodologies for this broader role; -how to align architecture with enterprise-wide governance; -how to define, create, share and update the appropriate architectural information. If you want to take your enterprise-architecture skills to a whole new level, this is one book you'll definitely need. Tom Graves has been an independent consultant for almost three decades, in knowledge management, business transformation and enterprise architecture. Also recognized as a pioneer of desktop publishing, his clients in Europe, Australia and the USA have include banking, utilities, logistics, engineering, media, telecoms, research, defence and government. He has a special interest in architecture for non-IT-centric enterprises, and integration between IT-based and non-IT-based services.

Getting started in consulting can be a tricky prospect. How much should you charge? What type of language should exist in the contract? How can you find clients? Written by a veteran consultant with hundreds of consulting engagements to his credit, "How to Make it Big as a Consultant" is filled with detailed advice on every aspect of starting up and maintaining a highly lucrative consulting career. The book helps readers: - get a handle on the legal, tax, and insurance issues involved in setting up and running the business - understand what clients really need - create the structure for an assignment (proposals, pricing, contracts, scheduling) - market the business - solve clients' problems using the Harvard Case Study Method Completely updated and revised throughout, the fourth edition features new chapters on developing strategies for clients, leading consulting teams, and more. This trusted guidebook will help any aspiring reader become the kind of outstanding consultant that clients will turn to again and again.

A volume in Research in Management ConsultingSeries Editor Anthony F. Buono, Bentley UniversityThe tenth volume in the Research on Management Consulting series-Client-ConsultantCollaboration: Coping with Complexity and Change-draws on papers presented at theAcademy of Management's Management Consulting Division International Conferenceon this theme in Copenhagen, Denmark in June 2007. The volume presents twelve chaptersthat explore a broad range of questions and concerns that illustrate the scope andcomplexity of the consultant-client relationship. The chapters illustrate the richness and excitement that takes place notonly in research on consulting but also in its application as the various empirical analyses of consulting in practice portray.

Does your organization need to reduce costs, increase profitability, improve productivity, and simplify its operational complexity? Whether in times of bounty or times of belt tightening, successful organizations are constantly looking for ways to maximize efficiencies. The Executives Guide to Cost Optimization provides a detailed overview of the steps your organization can execute to optimize existing practices alleviating the need for high cost consultants and engaging in expensive project implementations. The authors have compressed over 30 years of successful executive and management consulting experience into an easy-to-follow guide. Their trade secrets are revealed in this practical guide that empowers you to add value to your bottom line. Cost Optimization will transform the CFO into a genius, the CIO into a wizard of technology, the COO into a master of production, thereby, raising the overall effectiveness of the CEO. This useful book contains something helpful for every executive in your organization. The Executives Guide to Cost Optimization offers focused, actionable guidance to executives looking for ways to extract more out of their current resources. This is achieved by understanding the keys to success outlined in informational roadmaps covering the following top eight areas for cost optimization: 1. Application Rationalization 2. Enterprise Performance Management 3. Green IT Management 4. Internet Marketing 5. Process Optimization 6. Project Governance 7. Strategic Sourcing 8. Virtualization - Authors, Venae Sears-Ellis and Nicole Smith, VeNi Consulting - www.veniconsulting.com

A volume in Research in Management Consulting Series Editor Anthony F. Buono, Bentley College Boards and Management Consultants, the eighth volume in the Research in Management Consulting series, explores the growing complexity associated with the growing demands on boards of directors and the challenges raised by evolving expectations of what constitutes ""good"" governance. As a way of better understanding the ramifications for management consulting, particular-and timely-emphasis is placed on the evolution of expectations and needs in relation to boards and their operation. The chapter authors, as noted above a truly international group of experts, more than succeed in raising the reader's awareness of the consequences that the evolving nature of corporate boards are having on the function of directors, how this function is being redefined by the players themselves-and what all of this change means for consultants and the realm of management consulting. Significant questions are raised and explored throughout the volume, from the extent to which these changes will lead to new social, moral, ethical, and professional challenges and opportunities, to how the relationships between consultants and their traditional clients-managers, administrators and employees-might evolve. As management consultants become more actively involved in governance issues, their role will clearly change, but will such changes enhance or constrain the role they have traditionally played in organizations?

This book examines the consultative process and what makes it effective when consulting to managers at institutions of higher education. Three case studies highlight issues, problems and solutions involving consulting firms and institutions of higher education that worked together during their consulting engagement. The cases allowed for the investigation and evaluation of the similarities and differences from one consulting engagement to another and one institutional experience to another. The results show that consultants and clients have a variety of perspectives, objectives, and expectations that must be considered to ensure the success of the engagement, and that consulting to institutions of higher education is a unique and at times complex process. The findings inform and recommend consulting strategies for effectively working with institutions of higher education.

The Definitive Guide is a practical guide to the real world of Business Cases. Its focus are the necessities of building actual Business Cases, yet without cutting short on the theoretical background as far as it is needed. The described Business Case methodology is beneficial for case builders and decision-makers and assumes no prior background in finance or business planning.For more than 15 years, Solution Matrix has helped thousands of business professionals in organizations like BMW, Cisco Systems Inc., Ericsson, SAP, and Siemens to understand the essentials of a Business Case and deliver Business Case results that score high in credibility, accuracy, and practical value. This book enables you to profit from their experience and specific Business Case method to get your budget approved.The Definitive Guide has various advantages: - 30 Case Studies from 10 different industries are enclosed- The comprehensible method is applicable to any project- A free 140 Days Trial Version of Crystal Ball(c) Oracle worth $360 is included- You can start building your Business Case immediately, while reading the book- It is an introduction for Business Case beginners and a handbook for those more experienced in building Business CasesAfter having read the book you will know: - the essentials of a strong Business Case- how to prepare a Business Case scientifically- how to calculate the Return on Investment (ROI) and other financial metrics- how to measure even soft benefits of your project in monetary terms- how to validate your results statistically- how to present the Business Case convincingly to the decision-makersContent: By offering an easy example of an actual Business Case throughout, the book ensures that all parts of the method are understood profoundly. The book covers the entire process of building a solid Business Case step by step.Part I - Influence Matrix: A tool for reducing the project's complexity while grasping the most important components of the entire project in respect to the outcome which is to be measured: How to capture any complex project completely and yet structured enough so that the entire Business Case is valid, verifiable, and convincing.Part II - Financial Model: The "core" of the Business Case is about more than just filling in the right numbers. How to build a structured financial model based on the Influence Matrix? How to structure it? Which data to use? From whom is data to be obtained in which form? How to fill it into the financial model?Part III - Risk- and Sensitivity Analysis: Validating the numbers statistically is the key to a sound Business Case. Basic statistical knowledge that is necessary for building and interpreting a solid Business Case is given. What is the difference between risk and sensitivity analysis? How to run a risk and sensitivity analysis? How to interpret it?The appendix includes a library of 30 Influence Matrices from 10 different industries. They offer direct practical guidance to similar projects you might be working on.The 140 day trial version of Crystal Ball(c) Oracle which is needed for a substantial risk and sensitivity analysis allows you to complete your solid Business Case right away.An extensive index makes this book not only a practical handbook for Business Case beginners but also for those who are already very experienced and wish to use it for checking specific details only.Our companion publication, Building Return on Investment (ROI) and Business Case Analysis Video Training on DVD, provides a practical, step by step DVD training for Business Case builders and their organizati

People who strive to set things in motion within corporations and organizations, be it as managers or consultants, encounter stubborn resistance. Even though new strategies have been adopted, the desired changes do not materialize. A reorganization that was intended to finally produce clarity, creates only a new round of confusion. Wolfgang Schnelle, co-founder of the consulting firm Metaplan, learned from four decades of experience in the field that it pays to think of organizations and strategy within the context of opinions, interests, and power and trust relationships. His approach draws on organizational sociology and helps to shed light on the diverse realities of the players involved. If anything is to be accomplished, these realities must be moved toward convergence. Organizational and strategy consultants using a discursive approach think of themselves as leaders of processes that create shared understanding. This approach allows them to spot resistance early and overcome it through argumentation and discourse. New and often surprising opportunities for action emerge. The new concepts can then be implemented faster, because thought processes have taken place in the minds of those who will subsequently perform the actions.

If you've been searching for the key that unlocks the hidden money in your business, then you've picked up the right book at the right time. Here's why. In The Great Business Shape-Up Murray Priestley proves once and for all that the true value in your business begins with you and the way you think. Murray's practical style takes you on a journey. giving you the keys to building tremendous value into your business and creating a much more rewarding lifestyle. Are you ready to start thinking like an investor when it comes to your business? The Great Business Shape-Up takes thought provoking ideas and lessons from both successful and turnaround situations and boils them down to easy practical steps you can implement in your own business. Discover. The 4 easy steps to growing your business The first thing you must do to build a business worth selling The 5-step plan that clarifies your thinking and gives you laser focus making it easy to get what you want The biggest obstacle standing between you, your business and cashing out for a large multiple 10 Simple strategies to boost the value of your business And much more Murray Priestley brings out the power within you to change your life and business and place you firmly on the path to maximum profits.

Dr. McCollum does an excellent job of delineating the major theories of organizational development with an emphasis on the strengths and weaknesses of these theories relative to change management and transformation.--Dr. Raghu Korrapati, editor-in-chief of the "International Journal of Applied Management and Technology."

Success as a consultant is not the result of spontaneous combustion. It takes hard work, dedication, and perseverance. "Successful Consulting: Mastering the Five Challenges that can Make or Break you as an Independent Consultant" is the fuel to get aspiring and struggling consultants fired up and on their way to success.

Authors and consultants Fred and Peggy Fisher detail five critical challenges that need to be conquered in order to build a successful consulting business. They include the following:

Personal and professional readiness factors The financial reality of selling your skills and knowledge one day at a time Putting together a successful marketing and business development plan Honing a wide range of interpersonal, group, and technical communication skills Building sustainable client relationshipsUsing their unique experiences in the profession, Fred and Peggy guide you through the process step-by-step. "Successful Consulting: Mastering the Five Challenges that can Make or Break you as an Independent Consultant" will help you discover your potential and tap your inner consultant. Don't wait another moment-achieve your consulting dreams today!

What do cockroaches, Gollum, Star Trek, and Descartes have in common? They are all used in these stories drawn from the life and experience of the author and turned into life lessons for all of us.

Follow these short columns from intro to story to application in just a few pages and you will learn something about yourself and the world we all live in.

This must-have handbook, by an image veteran, gives tried and tested secrets and well-honed tips to develop a successful image business. The book combines short articles, quotes and words of marketing wisdom for an easy, fun and fascinating roadmap to success.

Grants are available from thousands of sources, both private and public. To the grantseeker, however, this wealth of sources appears like an impenetrable jungle. "Where are the grants I need and what do I need to do to submit my ideas and proposals?" This book is designed to answer these questions by aiming the grantseeker to both the grant givers and by providing a bibliography of book for further research.

"Getting Results From Your Analyst Relations Strategies" takes the many myths and half-truths surrounding industry analysts and exposes them through real-world examples. Louis Columbus' eighteen years of IT experience and over three years as an industry analyst translates into valuable advice for anyone looking to make the most of their investment in industry analysts.

"Getting Results From Your Analyst Relations Strategies" covers: Best and worst practices in analyst relations.Answers the question: Are Analysts Ethical?Building analyst relationships that deliver sales results.Defining an analyst relations strategy that delivers solid ROI.Why Public Relations and Analyst Relations are widely different.

"Getting Results From Your Analyst Relations Strategies" exposes the many worst practices companies make when trying to get analysts onboard with their vision and plans.