Million Dollar Consulting: The Professionals Guide To Growing A Practice_Alan Weiss

Page 377

366

MILLION DOLLAR CONSULTING

lodging, there won’t be a single question. Shouldn’t I make it easier on myself and on them and bill each of them for 100 percent, since I have to visit each one anyway? 5. In doing my research within a client organization, I’m told by a midlevel manager on a strictly confidential basis about an internal leak to competitors and ongoing employee theft. If I divulge this to the president, it will be clear that I was the source, and my value to the client within the organization may suffer. Isn’t it better—and even ethically necessary—to maintain the confidentiality and continue to be a valuable resource within the organization for the client? 6. A client offers me first-class airfare to visit its European offices. I can use my free airline mileage to take my entire family and, by cashing in the first-class tickets, pay for all our food, lodging, and recreation. There’s no reason to explain all this to the client, is there, since it’s my personal business? 7. A competitor of one of my largest clients wants to hire me because my reputation has been associated with my client’s success. Is there any problem with taking on competitive organizations? 8. A client asks me to conduct an anonymous employee survey by mail, but asks me to use a hidden code to differentiate by unit— though not by person—the source of the feedback. This is because the client is sincerely interested in the quality of the unit managers and wants to isolate those whose people are unhappy with their treatment. Is this a legitimate goal to justify the subterfuge? 9. I am asked to write speeches and articles for the president of the organization, who is my client. He confers with me on topics and critiques the final work, but the actual writing is totally mine. The president gives no attribution whatsoever, publishes some of the articles in the trade press, and gives the speeches at business conferences to great acclaim. Is this a service that I should continue to provide? 10. Through an alliance partner, I develop a client contact with the alliance partner’s blessing. After a three-month, highly successful assignment, the client asks me to take on a long-term project in place of the alliance partner, with whom the client has been unhappy for some time. Can I ethically accept this project? 11. The prospect is the antithesis of “green” and environmentally friendly. The firms observes the laws in theory, but not in practice. Can I use my opposition to its wasteful ways as justification not to do business with this firm?


Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.