Consulting Philosophy

Research has shown that when consumers have TOO MANY options, they tend to choose none of them and do not make a purchase. The key is to present just a few options. (Which, tangentially, makes the approaching Democratic primary fascinating,

Our kayak guide pointed out a sand shark swimming by us yesterday. Later, he showed us a manta ray with a baby. I mentioned that sharks and rays were very closely related. He asked me an interesting question: "Why?" I don't

It's smart to have a coach and ask for help. Top people do this in business, the arts, sports, entertainment, and various aspects of life. But also trust your judgment. Your default position shouldn't be the coach but your own decision.

Doing a task for a client (the dreaded human resource people's "deliverables") does next to nothing. Creating a result is important, but isn't necessarily lasting. Focus on sustainable results which almost always means transferring important skills to the client and staying around in

I had to look up where Clemson is located (South Carolina). They've been to four consecutive national championships, won two, including an absolute thrashing of previously unbeaten Alabama last night. They were coached better, better prepared, and far more aggressive. That's how

The beach accommodations at the Ritz Carlton in Naples are superb and run very well. The pool areas are awful, with people claiming chairs at six in the morning with a hat or shoe and never actually using them. I

It's 6:30 in the morning, and I'm sitting at a desk in my perch high up in the W Hotel Times Square, staring up Broadway in the rain. The omnipresent lightshows are blinking Prudential Insurance, Phantom of the Opera, and

After a speech once, two women approached me within five minutes of each other. One said that I was "remarkably gender neutral" and used male and female pronouns equally. The second said that I was "gender biased" and didn't take

Here's the deal: If your client is in the insurance business, for example, you don't tell the buyer how to create insurance products and the buyer doesn't tell you how to consult. Stop trying to please the buyer by conforming with

The sprinklers finish their job around 6:15 am here in Nantucket. There are 15 pieces of slate that form a walkway to the pool gate, each surrounded on all sides by grass. So the sprinklers create small "pools" on the