As the profession of management consulting matured, it was inevitable that a dignified publication pertaining to, and for the members of, that profession would be proposed. Making it happen was quite another thing. Although the publication is an independently owned operation separate from IMC USA, the publication has a close history with the Institute. As Stew Washburn, a contributor to the Journal’s original funding, and its original Practice Management Editor tells it:

“That the Institute should publish a professional journal was not a hard decision to make. The more serious problems concerned securing worthwhile manuscripts, production, distribution and finance. These were among the problems that [Bob] Schaffer’s Professional Development Committee tried to solve. One by one the committee explored possible content, who was going to write it, who was going to read it, who was going to print and distribute it, how was it going to be promoted, who was going to pay for it and, finally, who was going to manage it.

In early 1976, Jerry Simon of the Cambridge Research Institute was selected as the one to assume “the responsibilities for evolving a journal of consultancy.” A proposal was prepared for the Institute’s Board. The Board, however, was more concerned with building membership. The proposal was set aside. Jerry resigned from the effort.”

In 1980, Jerry was induced to return to the effort – on the condition that the Journal was to be an independent operation, separate from IMC. As Jerry Simon says, this independence was important to enable the Journal to be sold to others in the consulting profession, not just to IMC members. Jerry was relieved of the responsibility of attending all the necessary start up committee meetings so he could focus on editorial content and attend to producing a Journal and recruiting editors and articles. John Roethle handled the business management of the Journal. John Hartshorne recommended Stew Washburn to Jerry for an editorial position. When offered, Stew gladly accepted.

A seven-member management board was established, including among others, the President of IMC and its Executive Director, who agreed to a goal of quarterly publication. The Journal was incorporated in Wisconsin and run as a not-for-profit although it is not a federal 501(c) 3, not-for-profit corporation. (Although all the paperwork was submitted it was rejected because the Journal was deemed ‘too closely tied to business.’) Copywriting procedures were initiated. The Institute agreed to pay for and distribute the Journal of Management Consulting to its members. Further, it was decided that initially the Journal would publish two issues a year

A budget, $ 25,000, was established to cover the costs of the first two issues. Then, Tom Lawrence, the Institute’s President, set about raising funds, a Founders’ Fund. The Founders Fund contributors are listed in Appendix XVI.

The first issue came out in the fall of 1982, with articles by Bower, Washburn, Schaffer, Maister, Hagedorn and others of significant expertise and professional stature. The second issue went into the mail in the summer of 1983. The effort, however, proved to be too much for the Institute whose business was certifying consultants, not producing a regular professional journal. Arrangements were then made to turn over the publishing of the Journal to the Dutch publishing house Elsevier, a professional publisher with needed resources for marketing and distribution. The third issue went into distribution in the summer of 1984, with Elsevier as publisher and holder of the copyright.

In 1991, with Volume 6, Number 4, the agreement with Elsevier was terminated and the Trustees of the Journal of Management Consulting took over responsibility for the Journal’s publication. The Trustees then self-published Volume 7, Number 1 in 1992.

A $10,000 loan from IMC to the Journal was repaid with interest to IMC during Jack Chapin’s chairmanship after the Journal’s Trustees recovered the publishing rights from Elsevier and put the Journal into the black. The Journal always owned the copyright.

In May of 2000, with the publication of Volume 11, Number 1 the Journal went from two issues a year to three. It changed its name to “C2M: Consulting to Management,” to indicate its editorial goal to make the publication attractive to a wider audience. In 2001, with the publication of Volume 12, Number 1, C2M became a quarterly publication.

When IMC went through its near-financial ruin and turnaround in 1999, the pre-paid member subscription benefit for IMC members to C2M was temporarily revoked. Individual IMC members were solicited directly by C2M to pay for their subscriptions until IMC could get back on its feet. Enough members apparently subscribed, since C2M survived the crisis.

Currently, C2M has both a printed and electronic version, and its own website. It states:
“Consulting to Management is the only professional development magazine serving consulting professionals worldwide. C2M's mission is to develop, collect, and publish the growing body of knowledge within the consulting field both as a profession and as a business. C2M is published quarterly in both print and electronic format.

C2M is owned by the Journal of Management Consulting, Inc., a not-for profit educational corporation established in 1981. During the first 17 years of its existence, the journal was published under the title of Journal of Management Consulting. In 2000 the journal began publishing under the title of Consulting to Management in recognition of the many changes in the field and scope of consulting.

Our purpose is to uphold the profession by providing its practitioners with a tool for self-improvement, professional achievement and exemplary service for their clients. We welcome comments and feedback.

E. Michael Shays                                               Gerald A. Simon
Chairman, Board of Trustees                               Chairman, Editorial Board”

C2M now serves consulting associations around the world, whose memberships include a subscription to the magazine, including:

American Society for Training & Development
Association of Internal Management Consultants
Institute of Management Consultants Australia
Institute of Management Consultants Hong Kong
Institute of Management Consultants New Zealand
Institute of Management Consultants Singapore
Institute of Management Consultants USA
Four additional consulting organizations worldwide offer their members subscriptions to C2M at a reduced rate. C2M articles are of worldwide interest, not targeted merely to local consultants.

According to Jerry Simon, initially no one believed that consultants would share their trade secrets. At first, it was hard work getting manuscripts for the Journal. However, the Journal has demonstrated that those concerns were a myth, and today half of the manuscripts come in over the transom. C2M established the idea of regular columns, numbering seven at present, which provide continuity to the publication. C2M has had as many as 8500 subscriptions worldwide, although that number varies with its inclusion as a member benefit by professional associations.

C2M is a perceived benefit to IMC’s members, being repeatedly identified as a major benefit in association surveys. Over half of its subscribers indicate they read C2M cover to cover.

C2M exists because of the decades of effort contributed by Jerry Simon as editor in chief, and Michael Shays as business manager (following John Roethle). In addition to the countless hours contributed by them and their editorial staff, they each have put in 6-figure cash outlays to keep the publication operating – at high quality. As these dedicated individuals approach retirement age, the future of C2M bodes change.

© 2004. The Institute of Management Consultants USA

Footnote (September 2006) Rising print costs and the high volume of volunteer writing, editorial and administrative work put a strain on the print publication of C2M under the current business model. Although C2M talked to several organizations about taking over publishing responsibilities, insufficient demand existed (even with the IMC USA Board approval of C2M's proposed increase in subscription cost) to continue print publication. June 2006 was the last printed issue of C2M, although the C2M website continues to provide book reviews and articles for electronic subscribers.