Having outstanding Technical Skills alone is not enough to guarantee success as a consultant. In order to reach the highest levels of the consulting profession, consultants must also have outstanding interpersonal skills. Developing those Soft Skills will help a good consultant become a great consultant! The goal of this book is to help people develop those interpersonal skills. This book will teach readers how to avoid making errors that will diminish their business reputations and it will do it in a way that is both entertaining as well as informative. The lessons learned in this book will help consultants become as effective as possible..
About the Author: Don has had a very active and varied career that has covered more than 4 decades. The first half of his career was spent in management positions in a number of well-known companies including GTE, SCI, Intergraph, Motorola, Excellance, Thiokol and Disc Manufacturing. During that period of time, he was able to see all aspects of business from the client company's point of view. Don was always a proponent of using technology to improve business performance and led several technology review and implementation projects. In 1992, Don joined the ranks of technology consultants as a staff consultant for Pinnacle Consulting and has worked in the consulting profession continuously since then. He has worked as an independent consultant and as a staff consultant for Oracle. Currently, Don is a Senior Solution Architect at Metaformers Inc. Don acquired some very specific training during his consulting career but that training never focused on soft skills. The focus was on the technical aspects of the job rather than on the interpersonal aspects. Since the very beginning of his career, Don has learned that little things that can make the difference between success and failure. Success requires more than a detailed knowledge of technology. It requires the ability to work and communicate effectively with other people. In this book, Don, in his own unique way, shares some of those little insights that are actually very important. They are so important that they can make the difference between success and failure as a consultant. Don has been a frequent speaker at business meetings and events. He taught evening classes at Motlow State Community College in Tennessee and has served as a mentor to many people as they have entered the consulting profession. His help and support has been especially beneficial to people who are transitioning into consulting after working in industry on the client side. Don was born in Huntsville Alabama and lives with his wife, 2 dogs and a cat on the east coast of Florida at Satellite Beach. He has served clients at many cities across the United States and in several foreign countries including Colombia SA, Australia, Trinidad and Mexico. Even after spending more than 4,000 nights in hotel rooms and untold hours in airplanes and in airports, he continues to serve his clients as a full time, travelling consultant.