The Philosophic Consultant: Revolutionizing Organizations with Ideas (Paperback)

by Peter Koestenbaum (Author) "IN SEPTEMBER OF 2001, not long after the terrorist attack on the New York World Trade Center, I received a call from Fast Company, the..." (more)
Key Phrases: philosophic consultant, intelligent leadership conversations, archetypal choices, The Philosophic Consultant, Shadow Diamond, Power of Excellence (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Offers plenty of thought provoking guidelines you can use in thinking about ethics in your workplace." (Business Times, December 2002)

"Offers plenty of thought provoking guidelines you can use in thinking about ethics in your workplace." -- Business Times, December 2002

Review
"Global business is an arena where human beings are facing tremendous challenges, and yet, the importance of authentic leadership in business had long been deserving the deeper approach it now finally gets with Peter Koestenbaum's work, an approach which should free the creative leadership in those willing to take advantage of it. Nothing is more liberating for me as a business leader than to be able to leave behind the useless simplistic how-to recipes I have been used to get from consultants, and learn to consciously deal with the hard truths of business from an adult perspective, recognize my subjectivity, dare to look for the right questions to ask when things get 'stuck,' accept to walk the tightrope in polar situations where a problem does not have any definitive solution, face the consequences of tough decisions, and throughout all of
these maintain integrity and hope." —Michael Cimet, Electronic Data Systems, President for Latin America

"We live at a time that requires of leaders both competence and authenticity. We face both business issues and character issues. In becoming a leader, all of us must display both wisdom and business skills. What Peter Koestenbaum does in The Philosophic Consultant is not only to integrate wisdom into leadership, which is what you would expect of a philosopher, but he is also very pragmatic and applies this new thinking directly to the crucial strategic marketing needs. Something that is essential for a company¹s very survival." —Dan Werbin, president and CEO, Volvo Cars of North America, LLC

"The Philosophic Consultant redefines the way managers must think about their organizations, people and markets to be successful both in business and in life. It calls each of us to understand that ethics in life and in business may be your most important concerns. By helping the reader focus on implementation decisions, choices, and commitment, Peter Koestenbaum points the way for responsible and effective managements in a world where trust seems to be challenged on every front." —Otis W. Baskin, Ph.D., special advisor to the president and CEO of the Association for the Advancement of Collegiate School of Business, International, professor of management, and former dean, Graziadio School of Business Management, Pepperdine University

"After a decade of often excessive superficiality in management theory and practice, Peter Koestenbaum¹s refreshing book The Philosophic Consultant provides answers for leaders and organizations in search of deeper meanings. The author¹s philosophical roots are clearly visible in the new work on enlarging the dimensions of leadership. His most significant insights are: the importance of freedom; the choice to be ethical; and the acknowledgment of our boundaries." — Tomas Sattelberger, executive vice president product and service, member of the board of Lufthansa German Airlines, vice president of the European foundation for management development

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Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Pfeiffer (October 2, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787962481
• ISBN-13: 978-0787962487
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #567,256 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding, November 5, 2002

By	Raymond R. Patchett (Carlsbad, CA) - See all my reviews

Peter Koestenbaum has integrated centuries of thought and knowledge into a coherent easily understandable and practical guide on how to lead your life, manage your business and consult to leaders. The elegance of his work is that he integrates much of mankind's wisdom with his own business experience in a manner that is easily applied in a community or organizational environment. Peter Koestenbaum and The Philosophic Consultant are gifts to you and your clients--take the time to read and reflect on the wisdom that he provides so freely to each one of us.

5.0 out of 5 stars The Real Deal, May 12, 2008

By	Naomi Dozono "Naomi" (New York) - See all my reviews

This man has mastered the art of melding (seamlessly) classical philosophical ideas and cutting edge, practical business advice. Disregard the solitary negative review. This guy is both relevant and highly interesting and compelling. I have read his other stuff as well. Always of the highest quality. Like having your own private guru and Yoda.
And I have always wanted to be a "Philosophical Consultant." It is kind of tantamount to being an existential investigator.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Where is Philosophy?, January 31, 2004

By	Panayotis ZAMAROS (Switzerland) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Let me start by reminding you of what philosopher Michael Oakeshott (1933, p. 1) has said:

`We seek in philosophy what wiser men would look for in a gospel, ...', but `... philosophy is without any direct bearing upon the practical conduct of life, and that it has certainly never offered its true followers anything which could be mistaken for a gospel'. ... `Nearly always a philosopher hides a secret ambition, ... , and often it is that of the preacher. But we must learn not to follow the philosophers upon these holiday excursions'.
"Experience and its Modes", Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

If so, we should not follow Koestenbaum upon the leadership excursion in this text, or if one chooses to do so, I suggest with caution!

This is because the treatment of philosophy is poor, despite the fact that the approach to use philosophy in business is sound in itself, an approach that I personally favour and use - this induced me to purchase the text in the first place. This poor treatment is not only in terms of the philosophers cited and the references used, but more importantly in terms of the ideas used. The latter seem to be taken simply and purely for granted, especially when a number of concepts that include knowledge, reality, self, other, language, experience - all being management concerns - are high on the agenda of philosophical debate. For instance, the distinction between the `inner universe' and the `outer universe' after Plato (p. 31) leaving aside cases when such a distinction does not hold - with language and Wittgenstein for example. This treatment seems to connote a general strategy at play in this text, that of keeping language simple to make the text easily accessible to busy managers and business-people.

Yet making language simple is one thing. Deciding upon contested concepts and ideas on behalf of others when such authority has not been given is to restrict choice. It is to fix concepts in the definitional form "X is ...". This seems to be for a clear purpose. To empower the (registered!) Leadership Diamond Model with the expectation that it `will give individuals and organisations credibility in what they do and speed in getting to the high-leverage issues for effectively managing today's two bid business topics: "change" and "innovation"' (p. 7).

Such a claim is however dogmatic, akin to guru preaching, to a gospel that stresses one side of the coin. It tends to undermine plural readings of issues and concerns. Fundamentally, it cannot conceive of the idea that the same premises from where Leadership Diamond Model is derived and which are expected to lead to business success, that is a changed self, can also be the cause for disillusion, intra-organisational conflict, and even bankruptcy. Note that this is not my gospel, but the simple description of my experience!

Thus, only in the effort to understand such plural and varied events in a plural manner, as an approach to questioning and suggesting different answers to organisational problems and issues, can philosophy be of help to business and management (in making choice possible). Otherwise, philosophy ceases to exist.

Overall, despite the interesting approach that seeks to use a philosophical premise from where business and management issues can be tackled, this text, in tending to transform hotly debated issues and concepts into philosophical lessons that have presumably been settled once and for all, undermines the very purpose of philosophy.