Andrew Sobel, Author at Andrew Sobel - Page 47 of 48

Defending Your Client Base

I recently asked a friend how business was going, and he e-mailed me the following: “I think it’s gone from truly horrible to just plain bad.” Yes, things could hardly be more uncertain around us, but it’s possible to keep your head above water–if not thrive–by focusing renewed energy on building and sustaining your client […]

Strategic Options for Consulting Firms

Strategic Options for Consulting Firms in the New Economy (Originally published in Consultant’s News) Several Big-5 consulting practices announce they may go public. Cisco takes a 20% stake in KPMG. McKinsey targets law schools to bolster its associate hiring. Brand-new Internet consulting firms upstage traditional, larger powerhouses. What happened to the staid, unobtrusive, MBA-centered consulting […]

The Myth of Meeting Client Expectations

Big-Picture Thinking (Part 3)

“We think too small,” said the Chinese leader Mao Tse-Tung. “Like the frog at the bottom of the well. He thinks the sky is only as big as the top of the well. If he surfaced, he would have an entirely different view.” Professionals who act like the frog at the bottom of well often […]

Big-Picture Thinking (Part 2)

Big picture thinking: Clients treasure it; Executives want it from their managers; and Kings, queens, and presidents have sought out generals who exemplified it. We’ve never been quite sure where it comes from, though. President Lincoln finally found in Ulysses S. Grant, for example, a strategist to counter the South’s brilliant General Robert E. Lee. […]

Big-Picture Thinking (Part 1)

ENDING THE SUMMER This is the August edition of Client Loyalty. I thought it pointless to send it out at the end of August, when many people are on vacation, but perhaps there was a subconscious reason as well: An inability, on my part, to let go of the summer! Moving from summer to fall […]

The Power of Reflection

Do you ever have the nagging feeling that you don’t have time to really think anymore? You’re not alone. A variety of factors have conspired to rob us of time for reflection about ourselves, our lives, and the problems and issues that our clients face. Today, our minds are rarely silent. The average businessperson receives […]

The Doubting Mind

“I used to work for an old-fashioned rainmaker,” a client of mine once told me. “He had that ‘take no prisoners’ approach to sales and customer relationships. His motto was, ‘Sometimes wrong, never in doubt.’” Never in doubt, indeed. It’s one thing to have deep-seated conviction about your views, quite another, however, to obscure the […]