This article is the second in a series designed to help our member consultants maximize the value they add for their clients and their professional development.

What are the qualities of a great consultant? What are the “dos and don’ts” of starting a consulting business? What are opportunities and impediments to running a consulting business?

Whether you are new to the consulting industry, or you’ve been a consultant for a while, these are just some of the questions you may have about building a deep understanding of the consulting industry. Staying current with consulting skills, industry trends, competition, and the future of the industry is an important part of your success as a consultant.

In this blog post we provide some recommendations for consulting industry thought leadership by authors that we know. We have tried to focus on the most valuable opportunities for readers rather than writings geared to sell services to consultants. We also include mention of some courses to take to learn more about consulting.

Books by Consultants about Success in Consulting

There are many books on consulting. A short list of the most popular and valuable include:

The Trusted Advisor: 20th Anniversary Edition, by David H. Maister, Robert Galford, and Charles Green. This book holds the keys to building valuable and managing complex relationships with clients. The authors assert that technical knowledge is not enough to ensure mastery as a consultant. Success is defined by your ability to become a trusted advisor to your clients.

Flawless Consulting, by Peter Block. In its fourth edition, this book is a deep dive into the communication skills, tools and behaviors consultants need to influence and help clients achieve their goals. It focuses on creating meaningful partnerships with clients to add more value as a consultant. The new edition includes how to authentically engage with clients in virtual and hybrid work modes.

Million Dollar Consulting, by Alan Weiss. This book is in its sixth edition. It focuses on how to create a highly successful consulting practice using the right mindset, marketing, technology, alliances, global branding and more.

HBR’S 10 Must Reads: The Essentials, by Harvard Business Review, Peter F. Drucker, Clayton M. Christensen, Michael E. Porter and Daniel Goleman. This book includes seminal articles by noted experts, including:

• Michael Porter on how to create competitive advantage and distinguish your company from rivals
• John Kotter on how to lead change through eight critical stages
• Daniel Goleman on how to use emotional intelligence to improve performance
• Peter Drucker on how to manage your career by understanding your strengths and weaknesses
• Clay Christensen on how to foster innovation in mature organizations
• Tom Davenport on how to use analytics to keep your customers loyal
• Robert Kaplan and David Norton on how to measure strategy with the Balanced Scorecard
• Rosabeth Moss Kanter on how to avoid mistakes when championing innovation
• Ted Levitt on how to understand who your customers are and what they want
• C. K. Prahalad and Gary Hamel on how to identify unique, integrated systems that support strategy

Popular Blogs about Consulting and the Consulting Industry

As blogs became a mainstream marketing tool, the number of blogs about consulting has exploded. Here are a few of the top-rated blogs about the industry and about how to succeed as a consultant or consulting firm. We include some firm blogs as well as blogs by consultants and coaches to consultants.

Harvard Business Review – The latest publications from the famous Business School.

McKinsey Featured Insights – Latest thinking on issues that matter most in business and management according to this well-known Consulting Firm.

McKinsey Quarterly – Each week, the Five Fifty offers readers “a quick skim in five—or a 50-minute deeper dive” on a wide range of management topics from the same well known Consulting Firm.

Bain Insights – Regular publications and insights from another renowned Consulting Firm.

BCG Henderson Institute – Insights, ideas, views and news from another key player in the Consulting Industry.

MIT Sloan Management Review – Key Management Consulting insights, shaped by technology, from the Business School of the world’s leading Technology University.

Tom Peters Blog by Tom Peters – Personal blog from the most famous consultant McKinsey has ever produced, and who has written multiple bestselling Management Consulting books. 

Consulting Magazine by ALM Global LLC

Steve Shu Consulting by Steve Shu. Steve is a Professor of Practice of Behavioral Economics at Cornell University, Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management. He is the author of The Consulting Apprenticeship: 40 Jump-Start Ideas for You and Your Business. He’s written many blog posts about consulting.

Management Consulted blog. This is a training and coaching firm that targets new or aspiring consultants. Blog posts include consulting methodologies and firm profiles.

Consultant’s Mind by John Kim, since 2012, a consulting blog about strategy, clients and staying curious. John is an Associate Professor in the Practice, Emory’s Goizueta Business School. He teaches Management Consulting topics including the leverage model, data analysis, logical structuring, storyboarding, presentation skills, project management, and owning your career.

David Field’s Consulting Blog. David Fields is a former consultant turned consultant to boutique firms and solo consultants.

Consulting Success by Michael Zipursky. Michael is a former consultant who now teaches consulting strategies and best practices to other consultants.

The Consultants Peer Group Blog by David T. Norman CMC. David is a Certified Management Consultant, a former Vistage Chair and currently coaches consulting with an emphasis on respect and accountability in consulting roles.

The IMC USA Consultants Blog by IMC USA Certified Management Consultants. Excuse the shameless self-promotion here, but IMC USA is very excited to join the consulting industry blogging ranks. Read posts by our CMC®s and members. We focus on posts about consulting success, consulting case studies from our members (coming soon), certification (IMC USA is the sole certifying body of the Certified Management Consultant (CMC®) designation in the United States), ethics (read our ethics challenge series), education (IMC USA offers courses on starting a practice, on the foundations of successful consulting and a training on ISO 20700 guidelines for consultants, the only approved ISO standard for professional services), and more.

Courses Designed for Consultants by Consultants

As the consulting industry grows, schools and universities have expanded their offerings to include consulting courses and certifications. “Consultants to consultants” offer programs on how to grow your consulting business.

IMC USA is the only not-for-profit organization in the United States that offers courses on how to start a management consulting practice (QuickStart), how to be a management consultant (Mastering Management Consulting) based on the Consulting Competence Framework standard published by ICMCI (the International Council of Management Consulting Institutes), and how to elevate your credibility as a consultant with our ISO 20700 Training: Guidelines for Management Consultancy Services (the only accredited Professional Services ISO standard).

We hope you get value from the recommendations in this blog. We’ll keep adding to the list! If we missed one of your favorite consulting industry books, blogs, or if you’ve taken a course that made a difference in your success as a consultant, please let us know in the comments.