INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT CONSULTANTS
New England Chapter

News and Views

In this issue:

Upcoming Events

Member Spotlights

CMC Corner

Member Feature Articles
Are Core Values Really Necessary?
by Bill Evans
Sarbanes-Oxley:
Bane or Boon?
by David Kimball
IMC-USA University Project Report
by Mary Adams
IMCNE Membership Program Update
by Bonni Carson DiMatteo

Breakfast Brainstorms Calendar

Book and Article Reviews

emerson consulting
group inc.
"We turn consultants into thought leaders!"

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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

A new consulting year is on the way, I hope this follows a successful consulting year for everyone. We should put aside some time to take stock and plan for 2005, as the year comes to a close. Time is money, but time is also life.

This month's issue is being made available early and we have included two member feature articles. The first by Bill Evans discusses the importance of core values for a company's culture, mission, strategy, customer perception and overall performance. These core values should guide an organization in good and challenging times. The second article by David Kimball gives an overview of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which came into effect about a month ago. This law is focused on enhancing corporate governance of public US companies, small and large, together with any existing non-US operations and may even include other types of organizations in the future.

Please send your news, articles, book reviews and commentary for the next newsletter, the January 2005 issue. Also, 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?

Season's greetings and have a happy, healthy and successful 2005.

Good consulting!
Michael Kayat

Upcoming Events

Wednesday, January 5, 2005
The Thriving Consultant Seminar Series
Effective Writing - Increase your visibility
6:30 - 8:30 PM
Center for Entrepreneurial Growth, Bedford, MA

Monday, January 31, 2005
"Leaderful" Development:
Creating Leadership at All Levels of Business
5:30 - 8:00 PM
Holiday Inn, Newton, MA

Member Spotlights

Bonni Carson DiMatteo, CMC (Atlantic Consultants) has an article, entitled "Does your company have the N.O.M.A.R syndrome?" published in the December 2004 issue of Executive Excellence Service and Sales. The article is about weeding out mediocre attitude and performance in order to turn a company around.

Tom Kennedy (The Kennedy Group) received the Toastmasters International NE Region Communication and Leadership Award for 2004. Joining past recipients like David Brudnoy and Ben Zander, Tom is recognized for his outstanding leadership in business communications.

Mark Swartz (Accretive Consulting Group, LLC) had an article, entitled "Relationships vs. Court", published in the December 3rd, 2004 issue of the Boston Business Journal.

Alan Weiss, Ph.D., CMC, CSP (Summit Consulting Group, Inc.) has several successes to report for the year: (1) recipient of IMCNE's first ever Lifetime Achievement Award; (2) recipient of the Axiem Award for Excellence in Audio Presentation; (3) named to the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of Trinity Repertory Company; (4) closed a deal with Wiley on his latest book, "The Consultant's Toolkit"; (5) he has achieved a personal first by being the keynote speaker of the National Speaker Associations' of US (2003), Australia (2004), and Canada (2005); and (6) he has been named to the Board of Harvard Center for Mental Health and the Media.

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.

The 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.

Member Feature Articles

Are Core Values Really Necessary?
by Bill Evans

Core values are basic beliefs that everyone in an organization shares and truly believes in. Excellent customer service, respect for the individual, and entrepreneurial spirit are examples of core values. You may remember seeing others that seem familiar - learning, professionalism, and collegiality, for example. These beliefs remain steadfast in good times and bad. They are resistant to management whim and simple enough for a middle-aged person to remember. Simplicity is what makes them effective.

Employees and customers see core values reflected in their everyday lives as the practical results of countless big and small decisions. Core values flow directly from mission, why the organization exists and what attributes its customers perceive as unique. Core values are embedded in a firm's vision, what it strives to become.

How do core values affect performance, if at all? Every organization needs a system of controls to serve customers and leverage talent. But a firm's future depends in large part on what goes on inside people's heads: their thoughts, feelings, hopes, and gut instincts. A system of controls - that is financial controls - cannot tap into this realm. But core values can. Peter Drucker once observed that "decisions that affect people: their placement and their pay, promotion, demotion and severance, must express the values and beliefs of the organization. They are the true controls of an organization."

Core values affect decisions about the type of talent a company wants to attract, retain, and develop. For example, an executive looking for specific core values in a job candidate would compile interview questions that reveal the presence of those beliefs. Then he or she would create a plan to shape and enhance core values for the new hire.

Core values, once they take hold, get an organization through hard times. Employees are more likely to understand and support tough decisions. More important, core values propel individuals and teams beyond so-so performance by encouraging risk taking, fast learning, and close collaboration. These are required conditions for any organization to spot and exploit opportunities that lead to better performance.

How can you tell whether a firm is committed to its core values? Language, actions, and feedback systems are three strong indicators. First, is the language that the company tends to use about itself clear and simple or does it confuse and de-personalize? This question tends to apply more to written than spoken language. Second, are the firm's actions - policies, processes, decisions - consistent with its core values or is there a recurring mismatch between words and deeds? If the company's leaders act against established core values, they start to suffer a loss of credibility and support. Third, does the firm seek sustained feedback from customers and employees in a variety of overt and subtle ways or is the process of collecting feedback lax or worst of all, "just not done around here"? Once collected, is there structure in place to turn the feedback into harmonized action and deliver results?

Learning may be optional, but so is survival.

Bill Evans is a performance improvement specialist with WorkSense Consulting Group.

Shortly after the fall of Enron, Arthur Anderson, WorldCom, and other high-profile companies, a root-cause analysis was performed by members of Congress (Senator Paul Sarbanes and Congressman Michael Oxley), the AICPA, the SEC, and a host of other concerned bodies. The result was the Sarbanes-Oxley Act which puts the responsibility of these controls on the Board of Directors, and on the CEO by requiring each publicly traded company to work with their outside Accounting firms to insure that there are controls in place in all of the business' processes dealing with Balance Sheet and P & L items. Needless to say, the Sarbanes-Oxley (SO) Act is voluminous, demanding, and many would say overly intrusive.

The key to SO is to install controls (preventive and detective) throughout the company's functional, operational, and regulatory processes. These would include controls in the following processes: Sales, Payables, Production, Storage, Distribution, Receivables, and Process Supports (IT, financial analysis, etc.). Each process is assigned to a responsible person and is identified using the classic systems model of Input, Processing, and Output. Each of these processes is then analyzed for validity, completeness, authorization, valuation, classification, presentation and disclosure, timing and cutoff, and regulatory.

With SO, the Board and the CEO are not expected to micro-manage the processes, but they are expected to attest to the presence and implementation of controls at the micro level. Since most managers throughout the company are not trained in internal controls, it is important to create a corporate culture which prepares these managers for their newly owned responsibilities.

If one were to go to all the trouble of implementing all of the requirements of SO just to fulfill the governmental requirements, one would probably say that it isn't worth it. However, if one looks beyond the governmental requirements and sees the need to have documented systematized processes with identified ownership in order to be proactive to many types of business risks, one would say it's a great excuse to do what should have been done before.

David Kimball is an internal consultant at Raytheon working in the area of corporate governance.

IMC-USA has begun an effort to create an Internet portal tentatively called "IMC-USA University." The goal is to create a thorough on-line resource about the field of management consulting. This will include information on the management of a consulting business, consulting skills and tools, and business management topics relevant to our members.

The portal will be the repository for current IMC resources as well as significant new content from both IMC and external sources. Some of the types of information that will be included are: articles, book recommendations, white papers, IMC program content from past events and, possibly, consulting tools vendors. It is also expected that the site will provide information and links to educational opportunities for consultants in both academic and workshop settings.

It is expected that there will be different levels of access to information. The majority of the information will be available to IMC members only; this access should be a significant member benefit. Some information will be available to non-members in order to help IMC-USA increase its visibility with the press, educational institutions and corporations.

We have a small founding committee but will need many more participants as we move forward. If you are interested in helping out or would like more information, please contact me at 781-729-9650 or , or the chairman of the committee, Ron Wohl at 301-340-2821 or .

Mary Adams is a Principal with Trek Consulting, LLC.

This year we have taken a new strategy direction to address the different needs of the members. In the monthly "Thriving Consultant" series, the learning emphasis is on the "How to's" to growing your consulting practice. In the evening meetings we have looked for thought leaders who can help us learn new research, new thinking and new strategy. Our next dinner meeting is on January 31 and features Professor Joe Raelin of Northeastern University and author of the new book, "Creating Leaderful Organizations".

The Membership program members include: William von Achen, Brooks Fenno, Nancy Finn, William Katz, George Sopel and David Wright.

Bonni Carson DiMatteo, CMC is President of Atlantic Consultants and Chair, IMCNE Membership Program.

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

Monday, January 3, 2005
7:45 a.m. - 9:15 a.m.
Sheraton Wayfarer Restaurant, Bedford, NH

Monday, January 10, 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.

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

Time Tactics of Very Successful People
By Eugene Griessman
McGraw-Hill, 1994

This book provides many examples of how we can better manage our 24-hour day so that we can strive to balance our career, family and social life. Time is money, but time is also life. The book has many tactics for saving time, which are used by successful people in business and other professions, so that they attain more efficient, fuller, less stressful lifestyles. These tactics include: short term and long term goal setting, using and relying on checklists, setting priorities, developing "flow states" of productive activity, creating "chunks" of personal uninterrupted time, being focused, setting and meeting deadlines, working well, making decisions and sleeping well, being tidy and not losing things, not making stupid mistakes, delegating where possible, becoming an expert, using technology, sometimes taking a "side road", exercising and relaxing, enjoying what you do. You have to think about the strategy, what you want to save time for. This is a good book to read over the Christmas holiday and it may help you plan for a successful 2005 in all your life dimensions.

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.

Some ancient wisdom to live by:

"Solve the small problem before it becomes big.
The most involved fact in the world
Could have been faced when it was simple
The biggest problem in the world
Could have been solved when it was small."

- Lao Tzu, The Way of Life (604 B.C.)