| Topic Name: |
Consulting explained PLAIN english |
| Message Name: |
I agree... |
| Date Posted: |
01/11/2003 |
| In Reply To: |
Miguel has been frequently on these boards and usually offers good advise. He's right on this point too.
One of the basic skills of a consultant is the ability to come into a situation about which you know nothing and get up to speed quickly despite the jargon, esotericness, or complexity of the situation.
Example - When it's Day 1 and I sit down with a logistics manager who starts talking about cross-docking a yellow 53-footer with an APL at the Mobile RDC, I should be able to figure out (eventually) that he's talking about pulling stuff off one semi-trailer owned by shipping company Yellow and putting it on another owned by APL at a regional distribution center in Alabama. That requires raw intellectual capability, poise, humility, and (most importantly) confidence despite your uncertainty and ignorance. I would never go into the meetingand say "so, what are logistics?"
If I can't handle a client throwing non-plain English at me, I'd not last long as a consultant. One of the best compliments a client ever gave me was "how did you learn so much about how my business operates so quickly?" |
| Message: |
that it is an important skill to come up to speed on new things. And that someone with a bright mind and an inquisitive nature can do that no problem. I just often think that consultants don't really do this well enough. And that they often try to act like they know what is going on without really doing so. And that they lack the real inquisitiveness (and humility) to learn about the nuts and bolts of a new business. Much easier to take the current trendy PD and hawk it.
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