The Consultants' Survival Guide

Practical advice from Marsha D. Lewin

On success as a consultant

"Over these decades of consulting, the most successful consultants I've known were self-starters whose enthusiasm, individualism, and drive did not blend with big business norms. They saw a problem, identified what needed to be done, and went on to solve it. They didn't wait for committees to pass on the idea and to run it up the corporate ladder for serial approval."

On surviving in a cyclical economy

"Plan ahead for the inevitable downturn in the economy. That's clearly the way to be in the best position to be able to endure the hard times. . . . The down cycle may not be accommodating enough, however, to hit us after we've put away all the money we had planned on and will need for the future. That's why advance planning strategies must be supplemented by strategies to cope with an existing economic peril. And, once you've made it through the dangerous times, you'll want to evaluate your situation to ensure that you adjust your strategies from survival mode to those that enable you to plan ahead until the next threat."

On strategy

"Strategies are fundamental mental and emotional underclothes visible only to you and yours. . . . Our strategic plan is the mooring, the underpinning that we use as our target for the tactics with which we deal in our daily lives."

On controlling expenses

"I emphasize reviewing your expenses periodically because situations change, and pricing of various options changes as well. If you make decisions on a never-again basis, you might find you are paying way too much for the basic services and you are merely causing yourself to work harder to stay in the same place."— from The Consultant's Survival Guide

When businesses, government agencies, and other organizations are faced with problems they can't solve on their own, they turn to you, the management consultant, for expertise, perspective, and rational solutions. But what happens