A different breed of consultant

I you think a consultant is likely to “think out of the box” you might be expecting too much! In the vast majority of cases, whether these hired guns are great or mediocre, affordable or quite expensive, they'll tell you things you want to hear and that are solidly anchored in previous practices and proven outcomes. They generally won't take a chance and as a result, very seldom innovate. Sure, they'll assure their clients that they are providing them with leading-edge counsel and solutions but in fact they'll never take a chance or hardly ever question the path followed by the majority.

Obviously, this may suffice for most assignments that are requiring a simple recipe or a routine, step-by-step implementation plan. It won't work too well when serious problems have to be confronted head-on, complex developments or never-before seen situations must be handled and innovative solution need to be made available. This explains why, in most instances, few clients are fully satisfied with the consulting services they purchase. In these specific instances two heads might often prove better than one, and – as a simple safety measure – asking two experts instead of just one might be the most productive path to problem-solving.

While one is expected to deliver a “how-to” or a “standard” solution, the other is more likely to creatively rethink the whole process and find some effective ideas to extract the client out of a logjam. The beauty of “out of the box” consulting though is that it can - and probably should - be used when everything else fails or comes short of expectations. In that case, the small additional investment should be seen as extra insurance, as it provides an alternative approach and a built-in second opinion that will go a long way in validating or transforming the prescribed solution...