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Kennedy Corner

• »Kennedy Corner: Roles and Responsibilities
  I’m a college hoops fan. During the hysteria, I connected with several colleagues to discuss the games; some of these friends are client-facing consultants, others serve supporting roles inside their firms. We talked quite a bit about different players’ abilities, and how certain players can thrive under one coach’s system, but probably would only see the end of the bench in another program.
• »Kennedy Corner: Keep Your Friends Close
  Because of the power advisors wield, clients often feel beholden to their consultants. As a result, consultants have what I call a Don Corleone relationship with their clients: “Someday,” says the Godfather/Consultant, “and that day may never come, I will call upon you to do a service for me.”
• »Kennedy Corner: Do Your Roots Determine Your Future?
  This time of year, I’m planning my annual pilgrimage to a handful of business schools. It’s part of my give-back in terms of helping educate future practitioners. The forums are extremely satisfying—I provide insights on an industry that will employ more than a third of those graduates; and the students ask questions that more seasoned professionals would never deign to consider.
• »Kennedy Corner: House of Lies—What’s in a Name?
  Many of you have probably watched the new Showtime series, “House of Lies.” The black comedy’s portrayal of management consultants makes me blush. At least the guys and gals in AMC’s 1960s-era Mad Men look cool sipping martinis and smoking unfiltered Lucky Strikes. The “Lies” cast can’t pull off the same with their money-grubbing soullessness, and brilliant-but-vacuous characterizations of blood-sucking consultants.

Interviews

• »One on One with Strong-Bridge’s Ken Simpson
  Based in Seattle, Strong-Bridge Consulting has a hand in some pretty hot-moving industries: from Telecommunication to Consumer Electronics to Healthcare and Financial Services. As key players in the industries shake off the last remnants of the Great Recession hangover, Strong-Bridge has found clients are once again kicking it into high gear, pushing products and services into the rebounding marketplace. Consulting One on One sat down to discuss it all with co-founder and CEO Ken Simpson.
• »One on One with L.E.K. Consulting’s Stuart Jackson
  Stuart Jackson, recently named President of North America for L.E.K. Consulting, has been with the firm for 25 years, and watched it grow from a young yet capable firm brimming with confidence to a proven entity with seven offices around the world. L.E.K. is focused on helping clients find something that has eluded even successful companies: growth.
• »One on One with Aspen Advisors’ Dan Herman
  When Dan Herman founded IT/Healthcare consulting firm Aspen Advisors in 2006, he set out to create a firm that would help executives make difficult decisions and manage large-scale technology-enabled projects, particularly on the clinical side, where Aspen strives to help healthcare providers reduce costs and improve patient care.
• »One on One with Peppers & Rogers Group’s Orkun Oguz
  How well companies adapt to the changing social landscape and harness the power of social media could mean the difference between making a meaningful and lasting connection with clients, and being passed over for a company that actually listens. Peppers & Rogers Group, which has long been a thought leader on the importance of treating customers as individuals, launched the Mobile App Index, which aims to help companies ensure their social media interactions with customers are a conversation, not a one way street.

Cmag.com Exclusives

• »Your Project Planning Processes May Be Causing You Unneeded Stress
  If you are an executive in a professional services organization, then a few minutes spent on this article may reduce your daily stress by 15 percent. I am sure you will agree that projects that go bad (and cause you immense stress) do so because they were not planned very well to begin with. Planning a professional services project is the most important and challenging part of the engagement life cycle.
• »Pause and Rethink; Pivot your Startup
  While launching a venture, majority of the times the things do not go as expected. When the going gets tough, work on course correction or what is called “Pivoting” in the world of start-ups.
• »Corporate Real Estate and Facilities Management Trends for 2012
  Observations, discussions and market research, suggest that 2012 promises to be a year of contradictions, uncertainty, and also of increasing optimism in many industries, including Corporate Real Estate and Facilities Management.
• »Who Needs an External IT Service Provider?
  There are many things to look for when selecting an IT service provider, but the most important questions to ask yourself are: What do we need? Why do we need it? How can they help?

Upcoming Events

• Webinar - Uncovering Key Consulting Metrics: How Pricing, Fees and Utilization Can Drive Growth at Your Firm
• The Top 25 Consultants Dinner - June 14, 2012