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Secrets of Consulting: A Guide to Giving and Getting Advice Successfully (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Review

." . . much more than about giving advice successfully. It's a guide that recognizes and respects the individuality and freedom of each person you deal with in business and social dealings. It's clear-eyed and clever and fun to read. Highly recommended."

Product Details

Paperback: 228 pages
Publisher: Dorset House Publishing Company, Incorporated (January 1986)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0932633013
ISBN-13: 978-0932633019
Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (40 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #8,808 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)
Popular in these categories: (What's this?)
#4 in Books > Business & Investing > Industries & Professions > Consulting
#49 in Books > Business & Investing > Small Business & Entrepreneurship > Entrepreneurship

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Look Inside This Book

Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover

Citations (learn more)

2 books cite this book:

Human Performance Improvement: Building practitioner competence (Improving Human Performance) by William J. Rothwell in Back Matter
Consulting for Success: A Guide for Prospective Consultants (The Fifty Minute Series) by David Karlson in Back Matter

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	87% buy the item featured on this page: Secrets of Consulting: A Guide to Giving and Getting Advice Successfully 4.6 out of 5 stars (40) $22.52
	5% buy Getting Started in Consulting 4.8 out of 5 stars (56) $13.57
	3% buy Becoming a Technical Leader: An Organic Problem-Solving Approach 4.7 out of 5 stars (11) $22.52
	2% buy Are Your Lights On?: How to Figure Out What the Problem Really Is 4.2 out of 5 stars (26) $7.60

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Customer Reviews

40 Reviews

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
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Average Customer Review

4.6 out of 5 stars (40 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's not really about CONSULTING....It's about life....., November 18, 1997

By	Karen Lopez - infoadvisors.com "Karen" (Everywhere) - See all my reviews

This title by Weinberg is *THE* book to have if you fill any type of consulting role. Don't worry if you aren't a full time consultant - you'll find plenty of good rules on giving and receiving advice in this work. I have personally purchased 5 copies of this over the years because my copies seem to "disappear" as soon as I tell anyone about it.

Every single person who picks up this book on my recommendation takes the time to let me know how much they liked it - and that says something about Jerry's work. Because Jerry gets his points across by telling stories, this book is the perfect read for a flight, a few minutes between meetings, or when you can't take another seventeen noun, passive voice sentence that most IT texts use.

A must buy for anyone who works in teams, gives advice, or ....well, it's for anyone.

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17 of 18 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

By	Esther Schindler (Scottsdale, AZ USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

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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17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An incredibly informative and entertaining consulting book, November 13, 2003

By	Erik Gfesser (Lombard, IL United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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 they're 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

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 2 months ago by L. Miller

4.0 out of 5 stars Not life changing, but very good
A man walks into a Hotel conference room and asks to have fresh squeezed orange juice for all of his audience. It has to be squeezed within two hours of being served. Read more

Published 4 months ago by Adam Temple

5.0 out of 5 stars Weinberg shares the lessons of his consulting life
Gerald Weinberg writes about his life of software consulting. This book is littered with pithy observations on technical consulting, and business in general. Read more

Published 5 months ago by Atul Shenoy

5.0 out of 5 stars Beyond platitudes
This book is gentler "The prince" and "How to win friends..." for consultants. Ever since I've started consulting, I've wondered why my clients were the way they were. Read more

Published 5 months ago by Dmitriy Pavlov

5.0 out of 5 stars Ignore the title, love the book.
Along with "The Art of War", I read this book 3-4 times a year. Why? Because I keep falling back to the silly state I was in before I first read them. Read more

Published 21 months ago by Dennis Graham

5.0 out of 5 stars very helpful for any type of consultant
Highly recommended. I'm a new consultant in the field of personal productivity, and this is coming in handy. Read more

Published 23 months ago by Matthew Cornell

5.0 out of 5 stars Success through listening and simplicity.
Developing your soft and thinking skills...a concept not just for consultants. Summarily, the focus is on listening first, listening second, confirming what you heard third, and... Read more

Published 23 months ago by Matthew D Edwards

5.0 out of 5 stars Smart and Funny
Jerry is a dynamic and charismatic writer. This book is nothing short of a classic! I highly recommend this book to business execs and consultants alike.

Published on October 17, 2007 by J. Williams

1.0 out of 5 stars Advice not received
Maybe its the very american style in which this book is written, but I am afraid it switched me right off. Sorry couldnt recommend this to an English user - AT ALL!

Published on July 11, 2007 by Richard Burstow

5.0 out of 5 stars fantastic
I read this book about once every quarter. After the sixth time, I'm starting to remember the principles (and the mnemonics!) at the right time. Read more

Published on February 14, 2007 by frequent amazon shopper

› See all 40 customer reviews...

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