What could be easier than leveraging your technical skills, industry experience and contacts by becoming an independent management consultant? Logically, this would give you greater flexibility, interesting projects and compensation. Practically, however, this transition is neither easy nor obvious. Management consulting requires a specialized set of skills and behaviors and a different approach to ethics even if you have a consulting background. Are you considering the right factors as to whether striking out on your own is right for you? What do you need to know to be an effective independent consultant and for consulting to be a successful second occupation for you? This webinar will describe how management consulting has evolved, summarize the mechanics of both becoming and being a consultant, and how you can be successful as a consultant. We will cover the key aspects of starting your own consulting practice.
Mark Haas CMC, FIMC, is President of Research and Organization Management, a strategy and performance management consulting firm. He advises executives and boards on creating clarity, alignment, transparency, accountability, agility and sustainability through streamlined planning and disciplined execution. He is recognized for his ability to transform emerging and complex organizations. Clients include biomedical research, social services, energy, education, professional services and associations. Facilitations include WWIV military strategy, national health security, and CEO roundtables. Mark is a Certified Management Consultant (CMC), expert witness, author, and lecturer on ethics, decision making, simulation, and strategy. He’s past National Board Chair/CEO and current Ethics Chair of the Institute of Management Consultants USA, the professional association and certifying body for US management consultants, and author of Daily Tips for Consultants. He holds degrees from Colgate and Harvard Universities.
Successfully Transitioning to Management Consulting as a Second Career - Mark Haas and Ivy Exec
1. Successfully Transitioning to Management
Successfully Transitioning to Management
Consulting as a Second Career
Consulting as a Second Career
Mark Haas CMC, FIMC,
Mark Haas CMC, FIMC,
Research and Organization Management, Inc.Inc.
Research and Organization Management,
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2. Mark Haas
• Consulting 30+ years; founded ROM in 1994
• Consulting and facilitation for public, private and nonprofits
• Advise executives/boards on strategy, performance, execution
• Systems perspective – field ecology, city planning, engineering,
modeling and Baldrige backgrounds
• Science/tech-centric clients, but also health, social services, education,
finance, energy, membership
• Facilitator for high-profile issues
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3. Outcomes and Agenda
• Understand Evolution in Business and Consulting
• Know Competencies and Ethics Required for Effectiveness
• Get a Sense of Transitioning to a Consulting Career
• Get a Sense of Running Your Own Consulting Practice
• Decide if Consulting is Right for You
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5. My client calls me,
“Six figures if you come now.”
My alarm clock rings.
Presumed Requirements are Straightforward
• Technical Competency
• Industry Familiarity
• Business Acumen
• Project Management
• Entrepreneurial Spirit
• Contacts
Let’s Step Back and See What We Are Getting Into
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6. Business Is Evolving
• Flat World
• Commoditization
• Interdependency
• Disruption
• Decisionmaking
• Demographics
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7. Fallback strategy
in competitive markets:
“Will Consult For Food.”
So Must Management Consulting
• Same Trends Affect Consultants
o Flat World
o Commoditization
o Interdependency
o Disruption
o Decisionmaking
o Demographics
• New Client Buying Practices
• What Good are Experts?
• VUCA Will Dominate
Consulting in the future will be just as
exciting, and challenging, as business
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8. The Checklist, So Far
I Think I Understand the Management Consulting Profession
I am Committed to Consulting as a Profession
• What Do I Need To Be a Consultant?
o Passion
o Competence
o Business Goals
o Client Acceptance
o Lifestyle Goals
o Contingency Plans
• How Do I Make the Jump/Run a Practice?
• Do I Need to Decide Now?
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10. Effective Consultants Have a Range of Capabilities
• Multiple Personalities
• Varied Experience
• Broad Perspective
• Sense of Urgency
• Tolerance for Ambiguity
• Intellectual Assertiveness
• Curiosity
• Analytical Focus
• Attention to Detail
• Emotional Intelligence
• Entrepreneurial Inclination
• . . . and more
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11. Consulting Ethics Is Top of Mind to Clients
New in
2012 on
Showtime
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12. An old, tired fad,
process reengineering,
but it pays the bills.
Transition to Consulting Thought Experiment
• What Kind of Consultant Do You Want To Be?
o Skills
o Experience
o Personality
o Perspective
o Ego
• What Are Your Business Goals?
• What Are Your Personal Goals?
• How and When Do I Make the Leap?
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13. The Actual Transition to a Consulting Practice
• Product/Service
• Service Delivery
• Innovation
• Marketing
• Sales
• Administration
• Setting Up Shop
• Your First Client(s)
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14. The consultant’s joy:
working only half a day.
Which twelve hours is it?
Now, Build Your Consulting Practice
• Professional Development
o Develop Skills and Services
o Diversify Clients/Projects
o Read, Speak, Write
• Market Development
o Subcontracts, Teams, Relationships
o Speaking, Pro Bono, Social Media
• Business Development
o Set Expectations and Fees
o Manage Cash, Support, Focus, Time
• Innovate and Network Across All Three
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15. Professional Associations Are Very Useful
• Great Source of “Get Smart, Get Known, Get Business”
• Differentiate the “What” and “How” of Consulting
o What – Industry and Discipline
o How – Consulting Competencies, Skills and Behaviors
• Like Gym Memberships
• Value of Certification
• Value of Networks
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16. All Things Are Possible in Consulting
• Facilitate Kickoff Planning for US Military’s World War IV “Cognitive
Dominance” Strategy
• Assess Operations and Reorganize Parts of the World’s Largest
Biomedical Research Enterprise
• Create a State Education Organization
• Facilitate Planning to Recover Commercial Operations After Nuclear
Terrorism in LA
• Advise on Governance and Operations at an Environmental Nonprofit
• Develop a Strategy and Operational Plan for A Health Care Startup
• Revitalize Administration and Programs for a Human Services Nonprofit
• Facilitate US Navy’s First STEM Forum
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17. Sweet smell of success –
new client and new contract.
My marketing worked!
Some Essential Truths to Remember
• Running a Solo/Small
Consulting Practice is a
Challenge
• Management Consulting is Not
Right for Everyone
• A Consulting Practice is Not a
Miniature Big Company
• Your Role is No Longer That of
an Executive
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18. Are You Ready to Make the Decision?
•Business Goals
oRevenue Needs
oRisk
oGrowth Model
oExit Strategy
•Personal Goals
oLifestyle
oTravel
oHours
oSocial
•When Do I Need to Decide?
•Who Can Help Me Decide?
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19. Did We Satisfy Desired Outcomes?
• Understand Evolution in Business and Consulting
• Know Competencies and Ethics Required for Effectiveness
• Get a Sense of Transitioning to a Consulting Career
• Get a Sense of Running Your Own Consulting Practice
• Decide if Consulting is Right For You
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20. Resources
• A Few of Many Useful Books for Starting a Consulting Practice
o Million Dollar Consulting - Alan Weiss
o Flawless Consulting - Peter Block
o The Essential Drucker- Peter Drucker,
o The Advice Business – Fombrun and Nevins
o The Management Myth – Matthew Stewart
• Books About Consulting Ethical Lapses (House of Lies, Witch Doctors)
• IMC USA Code of Ethics
• How to Hire a Management Consultant and Get The Results You
Expect
• Daily Tips for Consultants
• LinkedIn Consulting Groups
• Udacity – Starting Up a Successful Company (Lean Launchpad)
• MBO Partners – back office support for independent consultants
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21. Thank You for Participating
Questions?
For a copy of the above resources and links,
ask follow up questions or make a comment,
please contact Mark Haas at
mhaas@rominc.com or through www.rominc.com
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