Practice This

I have recently attended Influence at Microsoft workshop. Here is one of the key takeaways from it – you should master your introduction as the first step to become influential.
During the workshop there was an interesting data that shows how much influence each part of your introduction makes. This is the breakdown:

7% – what you said
33% – how you feel about
60% – why it means so much

U2 – Desire, Rattle & Hum

Madonna – Express yourself, Like a Prayer

Christina Aguilera – Car Wash, Shark Tale

The Pussycat Dolls – Sway, Shall We Dance?

Sergio Mendes “Mas Que Nada” feat. The Black Eyed Peas, Mas Que Nada Pt.1
Black Eyed Peas – Sexy, Elephunk

KLF – Justified & Ancient, The White Room / Justified & Ancient

C+C Music Factory – Things That Make Me Go Hmmm…, Gonna Make You Sweat

C+C Music Factory – Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now), Gonna Make You Sweat

Snap – Power, Power: Greatest Hits

Crystal Waters – Gypsy Woman, …

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is a highly successful book by Stephen R. Covey. I was wondering how I could specifically apply the habits to consulting practice. These are the habits:

Be proactive.
Begin with the end in mind.
Put first things first.
Think win-win.
Seek first to understand, then to be understood.
Synergize.
Sharpen the saw.

And this is what I came up with when applying it to consulting.

In Part I discussed consultant’s goals. I also discussed how the goals can be limited by different factors and constraints and what risk a Consultant can be running while trying to achieve the goals. The gist of the previous post is the list of challenges that consultant should be aware expressed as questions. If you know what challenges to anticipate you can effectively combat without choking.
In this post I will discuss Consultant’s constraints and associated challenges. While you can mitigate risks you cannot avoid constraints. The trick is finding a …