Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #32444 in Books
• Published on: 1986-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 228 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780932633019
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Customer Reviews

It's not really about CONSULTING....It's about life.....
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.

My favorite "get your head screwed on straight" biz book
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.

An incredibly informative and entertaining consulting book
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.