Infinite Shades of Grey – A year later and a little greyer

One year ago I started the ISOG blog on consulting excellence. I have posted over 70 articles specifically targeted at consulting excellence. It’s time for a summary. Some posts were extremely popular (normally to do with consulting rates or how much a large consulting firm partner could make), others prompted emails or comments of appreciation and some were just products of a less-than-perfect day I had. Anyway, thank you for your continued readership and if you are new to my Blog, the ones in bold are the posts I highly recommend you look at first.

Best Regards

Ian

Consulting Excellence Post	Topic Area (Alphabetical)
Consultants With Benefits	Benefits Analysis
Implementation and Leading The Change	Change Management
What does it take to make a big change?	Change Management
Gaining Accountability and Ownership in the Client’s Team	Client Relationship
Keep your sense of humour…	Client Relationship
Please hit any key to continue and any other key to quit.	Client Relationship
What’s going on in the new client’s head?	Client Relationship
Who is your client ? Get a fingerprint.	Client Relationship
Bear with me for a moment…as we look at advice	Communication Skills
Giving Bad News and Feedback to your client	Communication Skills
A double cheese burger, extra large fries, and a small diet Coke.	Consulting Process
Playing Favorites, Jumping to Conclusions and other Idioms	Consulting Process
The Bonaparte-Drake Methodology Adapter	Consulting Process
When you don’t sell the engagement, someone else does…	Consulting Process
Life in the Gutters	Consulting Roles
The Realities of the Consulting Role	Consulting Roles
The three faces of consulting	Consulting Roles
Versatile Consulting	Consulting Roles
What’s your favorite position?	Consulting Roles
It’s not easy being Grey…	Consulting Skills
More of the pie…	Consulting Skills
Sheepish Story…	Consulting Skills
The new and improved – Mr. Bill Gates	Consulting Skills
Why are there Infinite Shades of Grey?	Consulting Skills
Even the Odds in your Consulting Contract– Tips for the Client	Contracting
The Art of Estimating a New Project	Contracting
What’s your right rate?	Contracting
Thanks for Noticing – Responding to Criticism	Criticism
Facilitating the “Angry Mob” meeting Part 2	Facilitation
Facilitating the “Angry Mob” meeting Part 3	Facilitation
Facilitating the “Angry Mob” Meeting	Facilitation
Ambidextrous Influence	Influence
Mastering the Art of Influence	Influence
When the Calgary Flames got Jokinen and Kiprusoff, did Finland’s Nokia get a fair trade in Stephen Elop?	Influence
5 “Consultants” and Behavior you won’t believe.	Integrity
Against All Odds	Integrity
Integrity in the Deal	Integrity
Merry Christmas, Merry X-mas or Happy Holidays for the Consultant	Integrity
The “Expert” that Obnubilates	Integrity
The “Sin” of Omission	Integrity
The Babelfish for the Interviewer	Integrity
When is it time to leave?	Integrity
Being a success at the Consulting Firm – Reality Check	Internal Skills
How to deal with the Consultant Performance Review or a.k.a. Mastering the Unbalanced Scorecard	Internal Skills
So you are an Associate Consultant and want to be a Partner?	Internal Skills
You’re only a leader as long as people follow	Leadership
The People You Meet – Consulting Lessons from Goldie Hawn	Meeting Skills
Negotiating the Curve (part 2)	Negotiation
Negotiating the curve	Negotiation
Nailing the Presentation–10 simple rules	Presentation Skills
Golgafrincham “B” Ark – What to do when you don’t have one handy	Problem People
The Chronically Perplexed Client	Problem Projects
Watching for the signs of project trouble…	Problem Projects
What the bookies knew and didn’t know that consultants should still learn from today …	Problem Projects
Problem Solving … The PHD course (part 2) Understanding the Problem Space	Problem Solving
Problem Solving … The PHD Course (part 3) Defining Success	Problem Solving
Problem Solving …. The PHD course (part 1) Permission	Problem Solving
When you’re right and the question isn’t…	Problem Solving
Project Management – An Interview with Niccolo Machiavelli	Project Management
A user will tell you anything you ask, but nothing more.	Questioning Skills
The Great Question(s)…	Questioning Skills
Have you ever met Bill Gates?	Strategic Thinking
Thinking outside the box …	Strategic Thinking
Dangers of Living in the Past	Track Record
What’s the difference between a Janitor and an Enterprise Architect?	Track Record
A Consultant Did It	Value
Being in Demand… How to make it happen	Value
Communicating Your Value and Narcissism–Where’s the line between them?	Value
Finding, Understanding and Communicating Your Value	Value
Going the extra mile for your client	Value
Join the Systems Consultant Resource Union	Value
Just because you are necessary, does that make you valuable?	Value
Keeping the Vision is Harder than Creating It.	Vision
Up in the Air with Clooney	Work Life Balance