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The Secrets of Consulting: A Guide to Giving and Getting Advice Successfully [Paperback]

Gerald M. Weinberg , Virginia Satir
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)

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Book Description

January 1986
Consulting may be defined as the art of influencing people at their request. The Secrets of Consulting takes you behind the scenes of that art, explaining in detail why the world of consulting seems so irrational, and some very practical steps you can take to make it more rational. Topics include: Gaining control of change, marketing and pricing your services, what to do when they resist your ideas, and more.

The Secrets of Consulting has been used in dozens of different fields. If you are a consultant, or ever use a consultant, this book is for you. The author draws on his 50+ years of consulting experience to share his secrets about the often irrational world of consulting. "This is a great book. Period! ...this advice is clearly applicable to more than just consulting; it is applicable to life in general." "The book is truly wonderful. A must have!" - Amazon reviews
--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

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The Secrets of Consulting: A Guide to Giving and Getting Advice Successfully + More Secrets of Consulting: The Consultant's Tool Kit + Getting Started in Consulting
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 228 pages
  • Publisher: Dorset House Publishing; 1st edition (January 1986)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0932633013
  • ISBN-13: 978-0932633019
  • Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #107,598 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

This is an easy book to read, with lots of good advice very humorously presented. A. K. Johnston  |  16 reviewers made a similar statement
Besides, this book is just plain fun to read. Esther Schindler  |  9 reviewers made a similar statement
I bought a book for each of my consultants one year and made it mandatory reading. David S. Morgan  |  5 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
29 of 31 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite "get your head screwed on straight" biz book September 25, 2002
Format:Paperback
I'm having to order another copy of Secrets of Consulting because I lent the last one to a friend, and it's never come back home. There's a reason for that. This is the kind of book that people borrow, but never want to part with again.

A lot of consulting books are filled with fluff, common sense advice that you already know, or only ONE good thought in 250 pages. In 17 years of consulting, however, I've never found a better guide to solving the REAL business problems that you'll encounter. (And it's useful for more than just consultants, too.) Weinberg gets his message across in simple, memorable anecdotes that I can recite perfectly, fifteen years after I first read the book: The Orange Juice Rule, Rudy's Rutabaga Rule.

Here's one fer-instance. A client says that he wants something special done in a project you've already budgeted and possibly already started. Do you tell her "no way!" and lose the business? Do you do the extra work, grumbling about it (and maybe losing money on the deal)? Or do you apply the Orange Juice Rule? (You don't think I'll give away the answer, do ya?) I can't tell you how often I've applied the Orange Juice Rule and saved my business relationship as well as my own budget.

Besides, this book is just plain fun to read. It's light enough to be entertaining, but his advice will help you run your business better... for several years.

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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars One of the most important books for any consultant March 9, 2004
Format:Paperback
This is a little book with some big messages. As the subtitle says, it's a book not only for those who give, or sell, their advice, but it's also for those who are taking or buying it. It's a book both for those who help to manage change, and for those undergoing change themselves. Many people should read it.

That said, the main focus of the book is on those who produce the advice and ideas. If you are a consultant as I am, this may be one of the most important books in your collection. I have read it cover to cover twice, and parts of it many other times.

The book is written with a light, humorous touch, illustrated both with many funny stories and some very apt cartoons and quotations. From each discussion he abstracts multiple "laws" and reminders, which on their own should prompt you to remember the key points he discusses.

Weinberg doesn't pull any of his punches. Consulting is hard, and the secrets are guides to improving your success and survival rate, not any set of "magic wands". He addresses ways in which you can fail just as much as ways to succeed.

In successive chapters, the book deals with the nature of consulting and the problems it can address, and how to develop your own mind so that your can see the problems and come up with possible solutions to them.

Throughout, Weinberg teaches us to focus on the "people" problems: cultural, political and psychological, which tend to be at the heart of any issue, assuming that, as he says, "it's always a people problem". If you can solve the people problems, the practical problems should be easy by comparison.

In later chapters, the book focuses specifically on how to make consultancy more effective: how to improve the impact of what you do, how to help make change happen, and the importance of things like setting the right price and marketing yourself.

This is an easy book to read, with lots of good advice very humorously presented. I can thoroughly recommend it to all consultants, would-be consultants, clients and would-be clients.

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24 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
What exactly is consulting? And how does one consult successfully? This informative book attempts to answer these questions in a humorous, easy-to-read style. Throughout this book, Weinberg introduces and explains dozens of consulting laws, rules, and principles - and right from the start, with his laws of consulting laid out, you will be captivated by Weinberg's philosophy:

The First Law of Consulting: In spite of what your client may tell you, there's always a problem.
The Second Law of Consulting: No matter how it looks at first, it's always a people problem.
The Third Law of Consulting: Never forget they're paying you by the hour, not by the solution.
The Fourth Law of Consulting: If they didn't hire you, don't solve their problem.

Some of my many favorite laws, rules, and principles:

The Bolden Rule: If you can't fix it, feature it.
The Lone Ranger Fantasy: When the clients don't show their appreciation, pretend that they're stunned by your performance - but never forget that it's your fantasy, not theirs.
Marvin's Second Great Secret: Repeatedly curing a system that can cure itself will eventually create a system that can't.

Have you seen the new poster that reads "Consulting: If you're not a part of the solution, there's good money to be made in prolonging the problem."? Weinberg would not agree with this statement - his Sixth Law of Pricing says that if they don't like your work, don't take their money. An alternative to these types of posters? Blow up the cartoon illustrations in this book and hang them in your office.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars A lot of food for though on becoming a consultant
Every once in a while you are tickle by this urge to look at other profession.
This book will show you what it takes to be a good consultant without being very specific on... Read more
Published 1 month ago by S. Nugroho
4.0 out of 5 stars funny and helpful
The Gerald is very good at thinking and express his ideas in a funny way , it's a good book whether you are new to consulting or an experienced consultant.
Published 10 months ago by 
5.0 out of 5 stars Eyeopener and Packs a wallop!
It starts off with a bang.. The first four chapters are gold. The book kind of tapers off after that for me.. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Gishu Pillai
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Reading!
As a young engineer this type of reading prove to be quite interesting. I picked this book based on a review from Tech crunch and it was definitively worth the reading!. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Robert Thomas
4.0 out of 5 stars You can't go wrong with a book by Jerry Weinberg
Given the way many technical people seem to "fall into" a consulting role, it is not hard to imagine there are many things about being a consultant people don't know. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Jim Kimball
3.0 out of 5 stars Underwhelming
It maybe that I expected too much from this book, reading so many rave reviews. Having been in the IT consulting industry most of my life I still found few refreshing insights,... Read more
Published on May 16, 2011 by Michael in GTA
5.0 out of 5 stars If you are a consultant, you must get this one!
In contrast to many other books with promising titles such as "how to XYZ in 21 days" or "Succeeding with XYZ", this book really does stand up to the promise of providing the... Read more
Published on April 4, 2011 by Elad Sofer
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book on psychology of consulting!
Not being a native English speaker, sometimes I find it hard to motivate myself to read in English the books that are not related to my professional development. Read more
Published on February 24, 2011 by Natalia Zhdanova
4.0 out of 5 stars Great book for the anyone working in technical fields
I'm a former software development consultant turned product developer. I'm thinking of moving back into consulting one day and thought I should refresh my knowledge of the field... Read more
Published on January 10, 2010 by Karthik Hariharan
5.0 out of 5 stars A Must-Read
This is one of the best books I have read in years. It totally changed my approach to solving problems, and has even helped me in my personal relations. Read more
Published on September 3, 2009 by L. Miller
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