| August 2007 Connector |
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Content submissions for the September issue are due by August 27. Please consider contributing articles (maximum 500 words) to connector@imcusa.org, and happy reading!
Content submissions for the September issue are due by August 27. Please consider contributing articles (maximum 500 words) to connector@imcusa.org, and happy reading! Get SmartIntegrity ImpugnedBecause of prior poor experiences – or the generally bad caricatures that exist about many professions – clients are often suspicious (at least initially) of the motives of their service providers.
Just think of the many jokes about consultants who act as if they are more concerned about looking for the next follow-on assignment to cross-sell than doing the current one well; lawyers who are suspected of running up the billable hours because they are paid by the hour; and advertising agency people who are more concerned with winning prizes than selling the client’s product or service.
Whatever your profession, you need to be prepared for the fact that, at the beginning of every new relationship, you must avoid confirming other people’s (inevitable) starting suspicions about your motives, and must actively work to demonstrate that you are, in fact, unlike the providers that the client may have experienced before.
This is not easy. It turns out that it is not enough just to be trustworthy. You must also know how to give the client the experience that you are visibly, obviously, trustworthy. Read the entire article online.
Material reprinted from davidmaister.com Get KnownHow to Trash-Proof Your Press Releases, Part I
Get BusinessFive Common Consultant Mistakes
Letter from the ChairThe past two months have been terrific for IMC USA members. We have begun relationships with Vistage International (members “Get Business” by being a Vistage Chair or speaker) and Harvard Business School Publishing (members “Get Smart” through HBSP speakers, chapter support, co-branded HBSP-IMC USA business case studies, etc.). Board member Jim Rodgers CMC, jora@thediversitycoach.com, is our point of contact for the Vistage relationship. Initially, I will be the point of contact, mhaas@rominc.com, for the HBSP relationship).
Combined with our ongoing relationships with the American Management Association (AMA) and Kennedy Information, these agreements complete our foundation of five core organizations (consulting, training, practitioners, research and publishing, and research) committed to improving the effectiveness of management. These partners are already working with one or more chapters to bring value and opportunities to IMC USA membership.
In late June, the IMC USA and AMA cosponsored the first ConsultingWorld conference in Orlando. The program was excellent and the conference drew in more than 70 non-member professionals, resulting in what one CMC called “the best IMC conference I have been to in five years.” Speaker bios and presentations are available at http://www.consulting-world.org/. Whether or not you made it to ConsultingWorld, now is the time to be thinking about Confab. Confab 2007 Chair Anna Bifano and her team have put together a terrific opportunity to “Launch • Expand • Refine • Enrich” your consulting practice. Join us in Reno, October 27-30. We hope you will also take advantage of the Confab Sneak Preview on September 12 (go to http://www.confabusa.org/ to find out more).
Over the next few months, we will clarify newly available member benefits, finish the CMC marketing toolkit, continue discussions with the Academy of Management about collaborating on research and professional development materials, build out the IMC USA management consulting Body of Knowledge (on which we will extend the Academy for Professional Development), and complete and publish new ethics case studies.
The RFP for a vastly enhanced Web site and membership management system is on the street, with proposals due in a few weeks. It is posted on the Web site for your review (on the front page new articles) if you think your firm has the capabilities to bid. Thanks to Diane Borhani and Suzanne March for their prodigious work on the requirements document. We now have the financial and management capacity to provide a solid member-centric system that will host a rich Find-a-Consultant capability, host chapter websites, allow member profile self management, offer a library of members-only content, provide consultant discussion forums around industries and disciplines, and more.
Finally, please join me in welcoming our new IMC USA board members and the 2007-2008 officers, installed at the Annual Meeting in June:
New Directors – Class of 2010:
2007-2008 Officers
Sincerely,
Mark R. Haas CMC Notes from the Executive DirectorA Personal InvitationI am writing to you this month, in my first Connector column, from the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) Annual Meeting in Chicago. As you have experienced if you’ve attended Confab or Consulting-World, new ideas and best practices are spreading like wildfire! In opening remarks to the Annual Meeting the incoming chair of ASAE made a humorous, but very apt, observation about his philosophy of association management, saying “I am a fan of the CASE method: Copy And Steal Everything”!
Most of you not only maintain your membership in the IMC USA, but also must keep up with your own industry or technical discipline by participating in other associations. By its very nature, the membership of the IMC USA is incredibly diverse in experience and skills—I can only begin to imagine how much we can learn from each other!
Although it’s not typically included in the laundry list of IMC USA member benefits, I’d like to put forth another way that the Institute can help you differentiate yourself and the unique value and experience that your consulting services provide to your clients. To that end, I’d like to extend a personal invitation:
…To “Get Known” in your professional association. (As they say: “You never know someone until you work with them.”) …To take ownership in your Institute: what do YOU see in the future of the management consulting profession and the IMC USA? …To find your personal niche from which to contribute to the consulting profession (and earn those CMC Outreach points in the process)! …To become more engaged in the premier professional association and sole certifying body dedicated to individuals consulting to management. As “the Voice and Heart of the Management Consulting Profession,” the IMC USA needs your voices and hearts as the key ingredient to maintaining and strengthening the welcoming culture of the organization and our 25 IMC USA chapters. We need your ideas, your participation and your support to ensure that we are the best that we can be in serving you, the profession and the larger community.
We all know that the world is changing. In those (rare, yet necessary) moments when we can stop to reflect, the direct impact on our daily lives and how we do business is remarkable. The latest trends, innovative technology, governance improvements, changes in demographics…every individual and every organization strives to convert these changes into opportunities, and ultimately, into benefits. And as you have heard in Mark’s Letter from the Chair, the IMC USA is no different. We have a myriad of opportunities for you—THE MEMBERS—to get involved: new ideas to implement, projects underway, initiatives on the horizon.
As the summer winds down and everyone returns from vacation, it’s time to get down to business! Whether you have two hours or 200 hours to spare in the coming year, whether you can commit to chairing a committee, writing an article, or only to completing this survey, we invite you to fill out a short interest survey, available online at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=NCaS9GUgsdATWeZbbrZa_2fw_3d_3d.
We look forward to hearing from you, and to discussing how you can take your IMC USA membership to the next level.
Best regards, Megan Renner Acting Executive Director megan@imcusa.org
Book ReviewsSubmitted by Mark Haas CMC
Title: The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life
Rosamund Stone Zander is a family therapist and Ben Zander is the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, not two professions that one would think would weigh significantly on leadership. This book, however, reflects the core issues of leadership, “followership,” participation, meaning and contribution that leaders and managers in every institution deal with. Through examples, many of which relate to his orchestra, Ben Zander provides a way to see your contribution to an organization both as leader and follower. This may be as far from hard-core management theory as one can get, but you will find that it profoundly affects how you think about and lead your organization. As for consultants, regardless of whether your practice is strategy, leadership, HR, operations, marketing, or logistics, thinking like a leader will help you better advise your leader clients.
Have You Read Any Good Books Lately?
Title:
Members on the MoveBette Price, CMC , President and CEO of The Price Group, has been quoted in an article on delegation which will appear in the September issue of Harvard Management Update. Bette also has been elected to the board of directors of the Dallas/Ft. Worth Chapter of TexChange, a statewide organization that focuses on business development issues of high-tech companies.
IMC USA is looking for submissions for upcoming issues: Members on the Move. Do you have news? Received an award? Doing research? Spoke at a meeting? Used an interesting product? Let your colleagues know! Submit an update to connector@imcusa.org. Please limit your text to four to five sentences and include relevant links.
Member Benefits of the MonthIMC USA continues to develop relations with organizations that benefit members. We are pleased to have brought benefits from Blue Chip Expert, The Business Source, Citrix, View Assessments, Vistage, HBSP, AMA, GroupMind Express, ASBC, One Page Business Plan, RainToday, and ExpertClick. We have a few more in process to round out our offerings to help members Get Smart, Get Known and Get Business.
This month’s features…
Get Smart – To Get Business - really good business – we first have to Get Smart. With Confab, October 27-30 in Reno, NV, IMC USA focuses on the next generation of consulting. Confab provides attendees a highly-interactive conference with dynamic speakers, engaging workshops and exceptional networking opportunities. This remarkable experience includes:
Keeping in line with Confab’s future focus, get ready for a swift turn around the high-tech corner with the first ever Confab podcasts. Download latest podcast in MP3 or download the podcast in iTunes. Read more about Confab in the Calendar of Events.
Get Known – The Yearbook of Experts and expertclick.com provide visibility and publicity services for consultants. Media rely on Yearbook to quickly find experts to interview for news stories, and othe r organizations use it to find experts. IMC USA members receive discounts for these services and Yearbook makes a $100 donation to the IMC USA Oak Tree Fund for each member who subscribes during IMC USA conferences.
Get Business – Vistage International has affiliated with IMC USA to offer chair opportunities to IMC members and to explore other opportunities for collaboration between the two organizations.
Calendar of Events
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Saturday, October 27 – Tuesday, October 30
Monday, November 26 – Friday, November 30
Update Your Member ProfileRecent changes in your job title, company, or e-mail address? Be sure to visit http://www.imcusa.org/ to update or modify your personal member profile.
QUESTIONS/COMMENTS ABOUT YOUR MEMBERSHIP? E-mail us at: membership@imcusa.org or call (800) 221-2557. |
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