INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT CONSULTANTS
New England Chapter

News and Views

In this issue:

Fall Sneak Preview

Member Spotlights

CMC Corner

Welcome New Members

Share Your
Success Story

Member Feature Article
Creating, Building and Sustaining a Prosperous Consulting or Business Partnership
by Harvy Simkovits

Upcoming Events Calendar

Book and Article Reviews

News From Committees

Looking For Articles

The Newsletter Committee is looking for articles. Please contact Mike Kayat at if you have an article you'd like to submit.

From the Editor's Desk

Welcome to this month's IMCNE newsletter. I hope that your consulting activities are continuing at a high level and that you can also take some downtime this summer. In this issue we start with a note from the president, Carol Bergeron, sharing the future direction of IMCNE resulting from our successful summer retreat. That is followed by an article by Harvy Simkovits discussing the real questions to ask when you are considering forming consulting or business partnerships. We also have two book reviews for your perusal.

We are interested to hear about any instances of where you have received project leads from other IMCNE consultants, or opportunities to provide articles or make presentations. Have you teamed up with other IMCNE consultants on projects?

Good consulting! Enjoy the summer.
Michael Kayat

The Fall Sneak Preview - a note from Carol

IMCNE seeks to advance the business of strategic management consulting through professionalism, learning, collegiality and volunteerism, and truly serve the New England management consulting community. With our vision in mind, this fall promises to be an exciting time for IMCNE. Our well attended summer retreat was a wonderful forum to revisit and reshape IMCNE's strategy and garner enthusiastic commitment for bringing ideas to life. Three themes emerged at our retreat: (1) programs with excellent learning content, (2) unmatched networking opportunities and (3) unprecedented value for IMCNE members and friends. Implementing action plans, created at the retreat, are well underway by our expanding base of energetic volunteers.

What specifically can you expect from IMCNE this fall? A thought provoking Thursday evening program each month rich in content that falls into one three tracks:

• Thought Leader programs - where well known authors, futurists and economists enlighten us with new thinking and perspectives

• Thriving Consultant programs - where emphasis is placed on practical ways to develop business, fine tune skills expected of seasoned consultants and tools of the trade

• Business Models for Growth - learn from business leaders who transformed their businesses many from solo consulting practices into service, product and small consulting firms.

Our highly successful small group interactive forums will continue as a mainstay. They include early morning Breakfast Brainstorms held each month in Burlington, MA and Manchester, NH and Professional Emphasis Groups in healthcare and owner managed businesses. Collectively IMCNE offers nearly 40 programs per year. Check out our exciting fall line up by clicking here: http://www.imcne.org/calendar.html

Relationship Building is a core value

This fall, no evening program will be complete without a uniquely rich networking experience. Why? Because networking has many benefits such as learning from each other and building lasting relationships which is a prelude to business development. Whether your goal is to establish new contacts, rekindle old ones, or contribute in valuable ways by volunteering for a committee, don't miss out on our professionally facilitated networking forums at each evening program.

Value is in your eyes

Creating greater value for our members and the New England consulting community is ever evolving because our needs change. The program ideas and importance placed on relationship building address some needs and desires expressed by you.

This fall you can also expect:

• ProFile - an on-line database of IMCNE members and a brief overview of their respective businesses designed to augment networking (a members only benefit)

• Weekly Update - a weekly email to update you on: upcoming programs, valued new benefits and important announcements. This consolidated weekly update replaces the series of event driven emails so as not to clutter your inbox.

• News and Views - our monthly e-newsletter will continue to provide keen insights on what's happening and how to grow your consulting practice through relevant feature articles and announcements. Become part of it by writing an article!

• Short and more frequent surveys to keep a pulse on how we are doing from your perspective.

I am proud to be part of a great group of folks at IMCNE who are committed to creating more and better value for members and the New England consulting community. This brief note simply highlights a few initiatives for fall and is by no means all inclusive. I encourage you to keep the ideas flowing, get actively involved and spread the word to colleagues on what you value most about being part of the IMCNE community.

Enjoy the rest of your summer and see you in the fall.

Sincerely,

Carol Bergeron
IMCNE President

Member Spotlights

Allan B. Haberman , Ph.D. (Haberman Associates) had a letter to the editor published in the Readers Report section of the July 4, 2005 issue of Business Week. The letter was a response to an article on the biotech industry in the June 13 issue in which he was quoted.

Ken Lizotte CMC (emerson consulting) spoke at the Bedford (MA) Rotary recently on "Creating Your Client Community".

Mike Schultz (RainToday.com) published an article entitled, “Services Marketing is Moving Online. Are You?” in Forum Magazine in July.

Isn't it your turn to be in the spotlight? Send your name, your business name and 1) recent awards/distinctions/professional certifications you've received; 2) public speaking engagements; and 3) published articles. (Be sure to include key facts, such as when, where and for whom.) You must be an IMC member or affiliate to be featured. Email them to Mike Kayat at , Subject: IMCNE spotlight.

CMC Corner

For all of you who have been contemplating becoming CMCs but haven't known where to start, IMCNE will soon begin a 6-month mentoring program aimed at helping you not only get started but also get finished! With the help of an established CMC as your guide, you will complete all CMC requirements and finally get your goal of CMC status off the back burner. For details on this program, contact Bill von Achen, CMC at 978-440-8022 or .

An invitation to IMCNE CMC members — This section is dedicated to you. If you have commentary you'd like to share, here is a forum for you. Send your commentary to our Editor, Mike Kayat, for consideration. Email Mike at , Subject: CMC Commentary.

Welcome New Members

Art Robleto
Endless Improvement Management Consulting Services

Share Your Success Story

Did you get a speaking or writing engagement? new client or prospect? or team up on a project or new business venture based on relationships formed through IMCNE? If so, then we want to hear your success story next month!

Member Feature Article

Creating, Building and Sustaining a Prosperous Consulting or Business Partnership
By Harvy Simkovits

The two best days of your partnership will be:

1) the day you sign your partnership agreement

2) the day you sign the termination of that partnership.

All consulting or business partnerships, like in any marriage, can have their highs and lows. These affiliations can be fraught with business, organizational and legal issues. Personal feelings and family considerations may also contribute to partnership ups and downs. Many a time, what looked as if it would become a promising and productive partnership, can end up fraught with personal angst, interpersonal conflict and organizational uncertainty.

Those times of partner courtship, negotiation, working together, and transitioning in or out, can be made clearer and simpler. Partners need to work to examine, think through and discuss important questions and considerations at each step of their partnership. This article is both to help you evade the personal pain of poor partnering, and to ensure that partners are continually and effectively engaging each other in their pursuit of a promising and productive future.

Some of these important deeper issues (that partners may sometimes think about, yet often do not effectively put on the table for adequate thought and discussion) are:

• Why do I really need a partner? What do I truly want from a partnership arrangement -- what is the value it would provide both to me and the business opportunity I'm pursuing?

• Who is truly the right kind of partner for me? What capabilities and qualifications are most needed from others that I and the business are currently missing? What do I personally want to learn and/or gain from that prospective partner?

• How do we clearly and simply come to terms on partnership investments, responsibilities, contracts, and a work style/ethic that makes sense for everybody concerned? Would our formal and informal arrangements adequately take care of my own personal interests, both now and in the foreseeable future? And, would it also be fair and equitable to all other partners?

• How do we plan to communicate, keep each other informed, stay accountable, resolve disputes, manage money, lead staff, and make reasonable, effective and balanced decisions?

• How would partners address tougher organizational, interpersonal and personal situations that are bound to come up? What might be the legal/financial, business/organizational, and personal/family issues that would test this partnership? And, how do we get through those issues in ways that strengthen the partnership and not weaken or break it?

• In the future, would we need and make room for additional partners (or company mergers or acquisitions) as the business grows and requires more dedicated and secure capabilities or resources? Also, how would we handle folks who want either to come into or to get out of the partnership? How do we legally, financially and organizationally structure our company now so that we can make appropriate room for such "buy in" or "get out" contingencies?

• What is the lasting business legacy that partners (both individually and collectively) want to create, work towards, and leave behind when any of us finally take leave from the business? Especially, how does each partner want to be remembered in having served this company and business?

These are just some of the deeper and more important questions that partners can ask and address themselves if they want to be sure about their partner choices and partnership decisions. Asking the right questions at the right time, and having an effective process by which to address important partner concerns could prevent both costly, foreseeable mistakes and much personal stress. Deeper thought and effective discussion would lead to better decisions as well as unencumbered partners. Consequently, all partners could better devote their energy to the business rather than being consumed by un-clarified or un-addressed partner concerns.

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Upcoming Events Calendar

Fall Program

Evening Speaker Program
Thursday, September 15, 2005
5:00 - 9:00 p.m.
Consulting to Integrate Mergers and Acquisitions:
Reflections on Paradoxes, Pitfalls
and Integration Traps
with Dr. Anthony Buono
Sheraton Lexington, Lexington, MA

Breakfast Brainstorms
Free to IMCNE members and affiliates, $10 for nonmembers

Tuesday, September 6, 2005
7:45 a.m. - 9:15 a.m.
Radisson Hotel, Manchester, NH
*Note date change due to holiday!

Monday, September 12, 2005
7:45 a.m. - 9:15 a.m.
Rebecca's Café, Burlington, MA

Want to host a Breakfast Brainstorm in your area? Contact for details.

PEGs
IMCNE Professional Emphasis Groups, or PEGs, are interest groups organized by consulting specialties (healthcare, marketing, finance, etc.) to assist with practice development issues. These groups are open to members and affiliates.

Owner Managed Business PEG
Monday, September 19, 2005
8:00 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.
Rebecca's Café, Burlington, MA

Strategic Partner Events — Check out our Calendar of Strategic Partner and Other Events on our web site for more information on events of interest. Click www.imcne.org/spcalendar.html, then click on the appropriate link for detailed information that could save you money.

Book and Article Reviews

The Arch and the Path: The Life of Leading Greatly
By Michael H. Shenkman, Ph.D.

This is as much a book about applied philosophy as it is creative leadership. A creative leader is one who takes a vision and transforms it into “practical action that entails collaboration and sustained effort.” The vision starts when there is a conflict between the leader’s values and a world that does not quite measure up.

The author symbolizes the skills and knowledge that a creative leader must have in the form of three arches, with each arch containing six parts. The arch is a framework for tying together eighteen related concepts – plus quite a few more – to explain the author’s theory and practice of creative leading. The three arches are effectiveness, vision and organization, and leader’s ethic.

The art of collaboration revolves around actions that change attitudes, behaviors, and living conditions. A creative leader cannot exist without capable followers who freely choose their role. As one leader explains, “my real job is to help others make bridges for themselves, so they can get over the rough spots, the fears and disappointments that go with change. I help get them to the next creative, productive action – no matter how anxiety producing it is at the outset.”

Knowing that “change always exacts a price”, a creative leader tries to calculate the best overall return for the price. An important tenet of this kind of leadership is that people will collaborate “when they feel their actions and lives embody important values.” To convey those values, a creative leader must match words to deeds – a critical step in getting the culture to respond. Without a match, the results may be wasted energy, cynicism, and bad politics. Followers look to the leader’s actions to assess their own values. If the leader’s values agree with theirs, they stay. If not, they leave.

Each of the four parts of this book opens with a vignette about a fictional developing leader and her mentor. Taken together, they read like an engaging short story that illustrates the ups and downs that a leader might face. Although the rest of the book has an academic feel to it with several concepts that you may have to reflect on for a while, the effort is worth your time. In recent years, we have seen plenty of bad - even criminal - leaders. This book helps to distinguish the real leaders from the charlatans.

Reviewed by Bill Evans (WorkSense Consulting Group)

The Third Opinion: How Successful Leaders Use Outside Insight to Create Superior Results
By Saj-nicole Joni, Ph.D.
Portfolio Penguin Group (2004)

Leadership demands commitment, intelligence, compassion, curiosity, courage and wisdom of others. The ability for a leader to think fast, make decisions with either too little or too much information, and get a clear view of what’s happening in the business, are critical requirements. Trust and perspective are essential for leaders to effective. Training and coaching are not nearly enough to be a successful leader.

This book is about how managers can and should create circles of close advisors, experts and mentors to become effective leaders and avoid the loneliness & insulation that so often comes about. These circles are outside the second opinion of direct reports, customers and other business associates and provide a third opinion that is truly independent and insightful. As these managers progress through the stages of early, key and senior leadership, these circles of advisors and thinking partners must also evolve.

Joni’s research provided two key insights:

1. Leadership today requires three new habits of mind, relationship and focus that should be used together to build powerful advisory circles of trusted advisors;
2. A leader can start at any time to create these advisory networks and there are certain guidelines for maintaining the habits and building the right circles at the right time.

Inner circle relationships are unique and valuable. Leaders who fully develop the three habits and achieve success, often “give back” and transform into thinking partners for other leaders.

Reviewed by Michael Kayat (Metrisys, LLC)

Please send book reviews to Mike Kayat at
If you come across any interesting articles, please send those in.

Pause for thought