I don't.
He or she exists only in his or her self-awareness.
The skilled management consultant provides skills, strategies, and tools that are proven to work—and an infectious belief in the cause.
However, the advisor must also possess:
✅ Humility,
✅ curiosity and
✅ the ability to listen.
Advisors may have different approaches to their clients' challenges, but one thing is certain:
Reliable output comes AFTER input and analysis.
In other words, the client must be asked about the company's past and status quo before the advisor can begin to 'figure out' the client's business.
The advisor who stops listening to his clients will sooner or later fail.
It can certainly be tempting to interpret your own success stories as proof that you have 'cracked the code' and found a system so effective that you no longer need to analyze the specific contexts, experiences, and situations that customers face.
But cooperation suffers when the customer feels they are not being listened to.
And more importantly:
There is no single approach to advising that suits all companies and situations. After all, the advice must be as varied as the needs of the companies themselves.
So, dear advisor:
Ask! Listen! Think! Advise! In that order.
An important PS: If the client is an owner family that has finally plucked up the courage to ask for help with a sensitive family-related problem, an unresponsive advisor may be the reason why they completely and irrevocably decide against seeking external advice (even though the need is there).
