Want to learn the ideas in Flawless Consulting better than ever? Read the world’s #1 book summary of Flawless Consulting by Peter Block here.

Read a brief 1-Page Summary or watch video summaries curated by our expert team. Note: this book guide is not affiliated with or endorsed by the publisher or author, and we always encourage you to purchase and read the full book.

Video Summaries of Flawless Consulting

We’ve scoured the Internet for the very best videos on Flawless Consulting, from high-quality videos summaries to interviews or commentary by Peter Block.

1-Page Summary of Flawless Consulting

Overview

This book is a revision of the original 1992 version. It explains how to succeed in the consulting industry by attracting clients, organizing your pipeline and growing your business into a million-dollar one.

Every day, somewhere in the United States, a business that is struggling makes a call. The people who answer this distress signal are consultants.

Consulting is an important part of business, but managers don’t really understand what a consultant does. They think that consultants are experts who will solve all their problems, but they can only advise and teach – not take over.

This passage presents the key points of consulting work. It explains why consultants spend so much time talking to clients and what they talk about during that time, as well as how meetings are their greatest weapon.

Big Idea #1: Being rational is good. However, focusing on interpersonal dynamics and emotions can be even better.

Some people believe that being rational is the key to making good decisions. They try not to be emotional and focus on logic.

Sometimes, we don’t need to be as technical or rational. Consultants are people too and they have to remember that when dealing with clients. A consultant has to connect on a personal level in order for the client to take their advice seriously.

The bottom line is that a consultant needs to understand the people and their emotions in order to solve problems.

Consider a hospital where many different types of doctors and specialists see a single patient. An internist may draw blood, while another doctor administers medicine. Database software could streamline this process by helping organize the multilevel process; however, it’s not enough to just have the software on hand—each person involved in the process will need to adjust how they work with each other and use that software properly for all of it to be effective.

While it’s important to understand the people you work with, don’t ignore your own feelings. Pay attention to what you feel about a situation and that might help you figure out how to resolve it.

So if you feel that management is too hard on employees, it’s a sure bet that the employees do as well. Armed with this bit of intuition, a consultant can then discover ways to improve communication between staff and management.

To sum up, use your feelings and instincts as data to better understand the situation in front of you!

Big Idea #2: Great consultants not only tell you what to do, but they also show you how to do it by following their own advice.

Let’s imagine a consultant, someone who looks important and walks around your office taking notes. Although this person may look like he has power, in reality he doesn’t have much power at all.

A consultant can advise people or motivate them to implement new ideas. If you’re a consultant, how can you be as effective as possible?

If you’re going to be a consultant, it’s important that you are honest and open. You have to practice what you preach. If your company is traditional with hierarchical structures, then a flat hierarchy wouldn’t work because people would just get confused if every decision wasn’t made by the top level of management.

Now, what would you think if your consultant didn’t seem to know much about flat hierarchies and responded with, “Do as I say. I’m getting paid a lot of money from the CEO and he wants things done my way.”

If you were in this situation, you’d be horrified. And it would probably make you not want to hear anything from that bossy individual. This is because bad behavior isn’t just socially unacceptable; it’s also unproductive. Since people often learn by imitation, if someone wants your advice on something, they’ll follow what you do and what you say as well.