The Value-Creating Consultant: How to Build and Sustain Lasting Client Relationships [Hardcover]

Ron A. Carucci (Author), Toby J. Tetenbaum (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 5, 2000

This guide shows consultants how to create value for clients and become their "consultant of choice". Many consultants have fallen into habits and behaviours that give the profession a bad name. This book shows how to develop behaviours that win clients' loyalty and respect. This text provides the answers to the questions raised by "The Witch Doctors," a book that exposed the bad practices and poor results of many consulting firms.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A practical guide to the traps, pitfalls, and errors that frequently occur when working with consultants. This book should be the standard for all consultants and anyone who wants to improve the results they achieve through consulting relationships. -- Michael R. Holmes, Principal, Edward Jones

The Value-Creating Consultant is a 'must read' for all serious students of management consulting. Whereas most of the weighty tomes on consulting dwell on the technical and analytical skills that consultants need, authors Carucci and Tetenbaum ably describe the skills that make for truly effective consulting. At a time when consultants are coming under attack from all corners, they would do well to heed the many savvy prescriptions for healthy client-consultant relationships that are set forth in this well-written volume. Come to think of it, the book should be required reading, not just for students, but for all practicing consultants. -- Professor Charles Fombrun, Director, Graduate Program of Management Consulting, Stern School of Business, New York University

The Value-Creating Consultant is a major contribution to the management consulting profession. Ron Carucci and Toby Tetenbaum have performed a signficant service to providers and users of consulting services by raising the bar for integrity, humility and client-focused performance; ultimately, the only standard and measure for successful consulting engagements and lasting client relationships. -- Stephen W. Silver, President, Genesis Solutions

This book is must reading for both consultants and clients. It offers terrific guidance on how they can structure a complementary relationship that enables them both to realize the maximum value from their respective contributions to business problem-solving. -- George Fellows, President and CEO, Revlon Corporation

What you are holding here is a virtual handbook on how to approach creating the most productive and positive client-consultant relationships possible. I wish it had been available 25 years ago when I started my practice. If you are a consultant or an organizatonal leader who must work with them, The Value-Creating Consultant is a resource you must have and use over and over again. This book is without parallel in its field. -- John Scherer, Chairman and CEO, JSA Consulting and author of Work and the Human Spirit

From the Author

Hello Amazon.com shoppers!

Thanks for your interest in The Value-Creating Consultant. We're glad to have the opportunity to "e-meet" you. If you choose to purchase the book, we hope it provides you with useful guidance and a toolkit you will use repeatedly, whether you are a seasoned consultant, or just beginning your career.

For us, this has been a long, almost six-year journey. (Thanks to all of you who kept hounding us when things looked a little bleak! Your persistence paid off). We never imagined that what began as a sense of curiosity and concern about how our profession was evolving, would have led to the research, the indignation at what we learned, the excitement over what we saw as possible, and our convictions to "tell the story," in the hopes of making a difference. But now that it's behind us, we're glad that the Value-Creating Consultant is our vehicle for "weighing in" on the future of a profession, and an industry, we share a strong passion for, and belief in.

We hope ours will be one of the first in a succession of attempts to call our profession to task on the practices and behaviors now earning the disfavor of many, too many, who've been negatively effected. Moreover, we hope that others will begin to embrace the vision for what our profession could become, and the tremendous value we can create for the global business community

If you want a more "in-depth" visit with us, come see us at www.valuecreate.com You'll find opportunities to engage in live dialogue with us and others interested in developing and improving our profession. There are also excerpts from recent articles we've written, and an electronic self-assessment for you to determine the degree to which you are enacting value-creating roles for your clients. So come visit us!

Best regards,

Ron & Toby

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 302 pages
• Publisher: AMACOM; 1 Ed edition (January 5, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814405029
• ISBN-13: 978-0814405024
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,381,861 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ron Carucci is a seasoned consultant with more than twenty years of experience working with leaders of organizations ranging from Fortune 50 to start-up's in pursuit of transformational change. As a partner with Passages Consulting, LLC, he works in the areas of large-scale organization and culture change, enterprise organization architecture design, executive leadership and selection, building executive teams, as well as strategy formulation and implementation. Ron has worked extensively in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, technology and financial services industries, and the retail food and beverage industries. He has led the work on several large-scale merger integrations and subsequent culture change initiatives, and enterprise level global organization redesigns. He has also held executive positions in several Fortune 100 organizations leading internal Human Resource consulting and change management functions.
Most recently, Ron has been working with CEO's of both large enterprises as well as start-up organizations on the challenges of managing growth. He has helped organizations re-architect themselves for global scale-up, turnaround strategies, and to build appropriate talent strategies to ensure the effective selection, development, retention, and reward of key leaders of major growth businesses.
Ron is a faculty member at Fordham University Graduate School, serving as an associate professor of organizational behavior, and is Graduate Professor of Leadership at Mars Hill Graduate School in Seattle, WA. He has also served as an adjunct at the Center for Creative Leadership. His clients have included Novartis, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Amgen, McDonalds, PepsiCo, ADP, EdwardJones Investments, CitiGroup, OhioHealth, Deutche Bank, Price-Waterhouse Coopers, Accenture, Corning, Inc., World Kitchen, Business for Social Responsibility, TIAA CREF, and Raytheon.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nourishing Values to Create Value, February 8, 2000

By 

Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Value-Creating Consultant: How to Build and Sustain Lasting Client Relationships (Hardcover)

Caruci & Tetenbaum really do provide a comprehensive explanation of how to "build and sustain lasting client relationships." What impressed me is the fact that almost every suggestion they offer to consultants is also relevant to almost everyone else who works for an organization which retains consultants. That is to say, the authors explain with both eloquence and precision the necessity (not merely the desirability) of creating value with every effort...in every collaborative relationship.

Think about it. Businesses of various kinds now spend (annually) $80-100 BILLION on consulting services. Are they receiving full (or at least satisfactory) value for such expenditures? Probably not. However, blame must be shared. Heaven knows, there are dishonest or incompetent consultants, be they independent or associated with a firm. There are also clients who are so confused and/or so corrupt, who create so many problems, clients who are so unrealistic in terms of their expectations, that even Peter Drucker in collaboration with Sun Tzu, Plato & Aristotle, Michelangelo, Leonardo de Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Tom Peters could not possibly provide the services for which they have been retained.

This book is divided into four Parts: Bad Habits and The Challenge of Differentiation (examines "three consistent patterns perpetuating the negative trends"), Becoming a Value-Creating Consultant (examines "those behaviors and characteristics of consultants that win [clients'] loyalty and respect"), The Partners and the Partnership (examines "the behaviors that make for a good client and the role of the consultant in helping to develop those behaviors in the client"), and Conquering the Engagement from Hell (presents a "simulation that serves as a culminating activity for readers to reflect on their learning and to practice their skills"). The authors seem to share my own passion for consulting at the very highest level at which superior (measurable) performance is rewarded fairly and (yes) punctually. Unfortunately, as the authors point out, "the consulting profession is on a trajectory. A negative one. All someone has to do is mention the word lawyer [in italics] and instant disdain, distrust, frustration, and skepticism are conjured up. Without change, the word consultant [in italics] will soon produce the same reactions."

In my opinion, that of an independent management consultant, this book makes a major contribution to understanding what must be done to establish a positive "trajectory" for the consulting profession. Who should read this book? Those who are now thinking about becoming consultants. Also, those who are now consultants and dissatisfied with their client relationships. Also, those who are about to work with consultants for the first time. Finally, those who are now working with consultants and are eager to maximize the value of that relationship. As previously suggested, I think the material which Caruci & Tetenbaum provide has relevance far beyond both sides of a consulting relationship. Many of those involved in any kind of a relationship (be it personal or professional) want to add value to it. Caruci & Tetenbaum explain HOW. They may have written this book with the business world in mind but I think what they have achieved is also of great value to the other "worlds" to which all of us proceed when our business day is done.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Don't waste your money, December 21, 2000

By 

Sandra S. Herman (Carmel, IN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Value-Creating Consultant: How to Build and Sustain Lasting Client Relationships (Hardcover)

Reading this book is an endurance contest. As an experienced marketing consultant looking to take my consulting practice to the next level I kept reading, waiting for the 'Aha!' that never came. The authors' basic premise is that clients pay good money for consulting services and it isn't nice to not give them a return on their investment. Really. That's it. About half of the book is devoted to scolding those bad, bad consultants who are so arrogant that they think they know everything and/or who make projects take longer than necessary or create unnecessary work just to eke out a few extra bucks. The second half of the book describes good consultants. They're the ones who aren't afraid to tactfully tell clients they have made a royal mess of the business and they need to consider a new approach. Good consultants are supposed to teach their clients everything they know so the client can get along without the consultant.

What is most puzzling about this perspective is that it clearly contradicts the title of the book, which suggests that consultants should build long-term relationships with clients based on giving them true value. Yet, in the text the authors assert that it is a sign of a true professional to make the client self-sufficient so the client doesn't need the consultant any more.

It seems to me that this book is too advanced for those just entering the consulting field, yet it is too simple for those who have any experience. It does not have a clear audience.

To sum it up, the authors of this book have a talent for overstating the obvious. In my opinion, they do not have a talent for providing insights that will help today's consultants grow their practices.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Required reading for the New Year !, January 3, 2001

By 

robert saracen (Norwalk, CT USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Value-Creating Consultant: How to Build and Sustain Lasting Client Relationships (Hardcover)

After reading this book over the holidays, I felt more hopeful about heading back to the trenches this week, and ready to tackle some of the challenging client issues waiting for me with renewed enthusiasm. This is book provides useful answers and practical help for dealing with the complex human relationship issues that can so easily get in the way of consultants and clients showing up to the task at hand. Carucci and Tetenbaum offer a unique depth of insight and perspective, sharing success and failures from their own personal experience. This book will no doubt push some buttons with experienced consultants and executives. It's always hardest to look at our own behavior and motivations in any process, but the tools offered here are clearly directed at the bottom line "building strong relationships". You just can't argue with this books message or delivery. If you do, you need to re-read it.