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The Secrets of Consulting: A Guide to Giving and Getting Advice Successfully Paperback – January 1, 1985

by Gerald M. Weinberg (Author), Virginia Satir (Foreword)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 356 ratings
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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
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  1. Book 1 of 2
    Consulting Secrets
  2. Print length
    228 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Dorset House Publishing
  5. Publication date
    January 1, 1985
  6. Dimensions
    6.25 x 0.75 x 9.25 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    0932633013
  8. ISBN-13
    978-0932633019
  9. See all details
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Dorset House Publishing; First Edition (January 1, 1985)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 228 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0932633013
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0932633019
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.4 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.25 x 0.75 x 9.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 356 ratings

About the author

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Gerald M. Weinberg

Gerald M. Weinberg

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I've always been interested in helping smart people be happy and productive. To that end, I've published books on human behavior, including Weinberg on Writing: The Fieldstone Method, The Psychology of Computer Programming, Perfect Software and Other Fallacies, and an Introduction to General Systems Thinking. I've also written books on leadership including Becoming a Technical Leader, The Secrets of Consulting (Foreword by Virginia Satir), More Secrets of Consulting, and the nine-volume Quality Software series.

I try to incorporate my knowledge of science, engineering, and human behavior into all of my writing and consulting work (with writers, hi-tech researchers, software engineers, and people whose life-situation could require the use of a service dog). I write novels about such people, including The Aremac Project, Aremac Power, Jigglers, First Stringers, Second Stringers, The Hands of God, Freshman Murders, Earth's Endless Effort, Mistress of Molecules, Where There’s a Will There’s a Murder, The Death Lottery—all about how my brilliant protagonists produce quality work and learn to be happy. My books may be found linked from my website: geraldmweinberg.com.

I’ve won many awards for my writing but the "award" I'm most proud of is the book, The Gift of Time (Fiona Charles, ed.) written by my student and readers for my 75th birthday. Their stories make me feel that I've been at least partially successful at helping smart people be happy.

- Gerald M. (Jerry) Weinberg

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
356 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find the book very insightful, informative, and good at developing an understanding. They describe it as entertaining, enjoyable, and funny. Readers say it provides valuable advice for consultants and timeless recommendations. In addition, they appreciate the realistic, interesting stories based on personal experiences of the author.

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InsightEntertainment valueValue for moneyStory qualityWriting style
18 customers mention "Insight"15 positive3 negative

Customers find the book very insightful, informative, and good on developing an understanding of problems. They say it features timeless wisdom and good principles. Readers also mention the book is interesting and entertaining.

"Gerald has authored a rare book on consulting - very insightful, relevant, real life - and very entertaining...." Read more

"...There were plenty of good principles in this readable book. Weinberg is a technical consultant with a strong taste for principles and illustrations...." Read more

"I've been very impressed with the practical, candid perspectives and advise the author offers in this text...." Read more

"This book gave me a lot of great lessons how to give good advices and introduce changes in my customer's companies...." Read more

12 customers mention "Entertainment value"12 positive0 negative

Customers find the book very entertaining, enjoyable, and witty. They also mention the style makes it a fun read.

"...book on consulting - very insightful, relevant, real life - and very entertaining...." Read more

"...The book is highly readable, the format is entertaining and the number of useful tips per page is very high...." Read more

"...But some things are, and the style makes it a fun read...." Read more

"...Gerald Weinberg not only writes well and invitingly, but also memorably...." Read more

12 customers mention "Value for money"12 positive0 negative

Customers find the book very useful, with timeless recommendations. They appreciate the practical and candid perspectives and advise. Readers also mention it's potent, and has nice work on pricing consulting services.

"...Try it. It is very potent." Read more

"...highly readable, the format is entertaining and the number of useful tips per page is very high. It's also quite short, which is a virtue...." Read more

"...the 30-50 years of consulting experience... this book is worth the price many times over. Definite recommendation...." Read more

"I've been very impressed with the practical, candid perspectives and advise the author offers in this text...." Read more

6 customers mention "Story quality"6 positive0 negative

Customers find the stories realistic, interesting, and well-described. They also say the book is insightful, relevant, and entertaining.

"...has authored a rare book on consulting - very insightful, relevant, real life - and very entertaining...." Read more

"...It's also a book about how to deal with people.Lot's of interesting stories based on personal experiences of the author...." Read more

"...great book for starter consultants, witty and engaging, lots of stories to explain things...." Read more

"...Funny, random, and borderline genius, it is life described well." Read more

5 customers mention "Writing style"5 positive0 negative

Customers find the writing style easy to follow, well-written, and easy to understand. They appreciate the good language and simple yet advanced topics for life.

"...Gerald Weinberg not only writes well and invitingly, but also memorably...." Read more

"Pretty insightful book that's easy to understand. No great revelations that you won't see in most other books about consulting." Read more

"Good languageDown to earthSimple, yet advanced, topics for life and businessWorth the money and any other books by him" Read more

"...His writing style was easy to follow. Very enjoyable." Read more

Valuable advice for consultants.
5 out of 5 stars
Valuable advice for consultants.
This is a great book. Not only a book about consulting, this is also a book about how to deal with people. As you can see from the pictures of the table of contents, the author covers MANY areas, but he doesn't develop any specific area in depth. This book is packed with valuable info that anyone can use, but are essential for a successful consultant to master. I recommend this book. Please mark if you find my review helpful. Thank you so much!
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Top reviews from the United States

Umesh Vyas
5.0 out of 5 stars Not just useful - very entertaining
Reviewed in the United States on April 29, 2006
Verified Purchase
Gerald has authored a rare book on consulting - very insightful, relevant, real life - and very entertaining.

The real power of this book is in its anecdotes and analogies. Theory is difficult to imbibe after a while and tough to recall. Analogies have an impact that is profound. Gerald is a master in this art.

Relating the concepts to my work as a consultant, I could gain a lot of insights as Gerald uses real situations to illustrate concepts. However, the real value is from anecdotes like The Orange Juice Test - to help explain how to react to demanding clients in a business development situation.

Try it. It is very potent.
6 people found this helpful
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Adam Temple
4.0 out of 5 stars Not life changing, but very good
Reviewed in the United States on July 4, 2009
Verified Purchase
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. Nothing bottled! In truth, he doesn't want this service because he knows it would be expensive and out of their normal mode of operation. But depending on the answer he gets back, he will make a decision about reserving the room or not. What would you say as the room manager? I will explain.

Some real time wasters have embittered my reading lately. Let me tell you, a 4.5 rating on Amazon guarantees nothing! Reading The Secrets of Consulting was not a time waster. I rate it as 4 stars.

One principle that came out of it can work for some business types. The man with the orange juice request was looking for one answer: "Yes, we can do it, here's the price". If the manager would have said they can't do it, or he can do it at no extra charge, that wouldn't have worked. Services should be available at an expense.

Weindberg explains trade offs this way. If your client wants it faster or larger, give it to them, but the trade off will be a higher price. Many times clients want everything and they want it now at the best quality. This principle helps me remember what is possible, and negotiations to make it worthwhile.

There were plenty of good principles in this readable book. Weinberg is a technical consultant with a strong taste for principles and illustrations. However, if I were to rethink the title to help my colleagues understand it's usefulness in the workplace, it might be: Wisdom and Influence in the Workplace.
14 people found this helpful
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Ugo Cei
5.0 out of 5 stars A must have for consultants
Reviewed in the United States on November 4, 2005
Verified Purchase
I picked up this book when I was thinking of becoming a full-time, free-lance consultant. Even though consulting clients will probably occupy only part of my time in the near future, I still find this book very useful.

Being a successful consultant, according to Weinberg, essentially means learning to deal with a couple of inescapable elements of every business: irrationality and change.

Consulting is hard because clients are not acting rationally. They will have a problem but will never admit it, and the problem is always a people problem, no matter how technical it might seem at first. These two facts are so well established that Weinberg labels them as The First - and respectively, The Second - Law of Consulting.

This is one of the features of the book: lots of hard-learned facts are distilled into succinct - and at times pithy - laws, principles and rules. In order to make it easy to remember them, they are given fanciful names like Rudy's Rutabaga Rule or The Titanic Effect.

Weinberg's advice is not to try to be rational at all costs, and don't force clients to admit their problems and fears. Consultants should be reasonable rather rational, cultivate a paradoxical frame of mind and help clients solve their problems by themselves.

Consulting is also mainly about change: A consultant will be called in either to foster or to prevent change. Clients will typically be stuck in a troublesome situation and will need someone to jiggle them in order to become unstuck. A good consultant will need to learn how to amplify his own impact in order to act effectively on a client's organization, which is much bigger than him and with much more inertia.

The last part of the book deals with marketing one's own services and putting a price on one's head. In my opinion, the best advice on this matter is The Principle of Least Regret:

"Set the price so you won't regret it either way."

This basically means that you should not set the price so low, in order to get the assignment, that you'll regret it if you obtain it. And you should not set it so high that you'll regret it when the client is unable to pay it. Rather, you should set it so that you'll feel about the same whatever happens. You shouldn't feel too bad if you're turned down and you shouldn't feel too bad if you're accepted, either.

The book is highly readable, the format is entertaining and the number of useful tips per page is very high. It's also quite short, which is a virtue. No matter what your job is, if you're dealing with people, you should be reading it now!

What more can I say? Highly recommended.
19 people found this helpful
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Gishu Pillai
5.0 out of 5 stars Eyeopener and Packs a wallop!
Reviewed in the United States on February 23, 2012
Verified Purchase
It starts off with a bang.. The first four chapters are gold. The book kind of tapers off after that for me.. however it's just a matter of the early chapters setting a very high bar.

Loved the style of amusing named anecdotes with sticky names like 'Rudy's Rutabaga Rule' OR Boulding's backward basis. I'm sure I'll be suffering from Main's Maxim a lot less :)

Takeaways for me: Consulting/helping someone is not as much a matter of being rational as it is of being reasonable. This book throws the spotlight on the people aspect.. Observation, History, gaining and keeping Trust, Overcoming change and resistance have nothing to do with technology. These are essential skills.

All in all: This book is a keeper ; Considering the 30-50 years of consulting experience... this book is worth the price many times over. Definite recommendation. Wish I had read this much much earlier.

Nitpick: I've the Kindle eBook. Although the book has a TOC, the Goto TOC option is disabled. You can workaround this by placing a bookmark..
5 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Federico Tomassetti
3.0 out of 5 stars So and so
Reviewed in Italy on February 2, 2020
Verified Purchase
There are some very broad and general considerations which are useful and interesting but most of the book was too vague for me. I had very high expectations and I was disappointed.
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Jorge Agudo Praena
5.0 out of 5 stars Fundamental book for consultants
Reviewed in Spain on October 30, 2018
Verified Purchase
This is a must read for anyone who wants to be a consultant. Great variety of topics, covering all the important ones for practicing the craft. Very easy to read due to the author's style.
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Bhaskar Chowdhury
5.0 out of 5 stars A must have book for consultant
Reviewed in India on April 24, 2018
Verified Purchase
Wonderful book. This is useful for me because I am a consultant. Jerry has written all the black and white stuff about consulting. Thank you so much, Jerry.
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Rachel
4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining read
Reviewed in Australia on October 6, 2016
Verified Purchase
Nice insights into the life of an experienced consultant. Lots of great take aways in the form or laws, rules and tips to live by.
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R. Kuppadakath
5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Book, provides a lots of great insight!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 22, 2013
Verified Purchase
I wish I had read this few years ago when I started my way in consulting. But better to be late than never! Provides a great insight into the profession of consulting. Gerald is blessed with a good sense of writing style that captures readers attention starting from page 1. It resolved the confusion I had for a long time on how to price a consulting engagements properly!
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