Having been a consultant for the better part of one’s career, it becomes important to identify and learn from mentors who have mastered this tough to master art of consulting. One of these well known mentors is Peter Block, whose book “Flawless Consulting, a guide to getting your expertise used,” is one of the best references for defining consulting and distinguishing its required skills as separate and different from technical or personal skills. This classic has got to be the richest, down to earth, practical, and resourceful reference for consulting professionals.

 In his book, Block defines the consulting engagement and details thoroughly all its stages from initiation through closure. He also give heads-up advice to consultants on the types of problems they should anticipate in each consulting phase and how to over come them in a professional, or as he puts it: in a “flawless” way.

 His definition of “flawless consulting” is a remarkable one. To him, this mastery level of consulting occurs when the consultant is being authentic and attending directly to the activities of the consulting process. To him, flawless is more about how a consultant carries self through the consulting process, rather than the outcomes of the consulting engagement.

The book does not try to philosophize consulting or make it too sophisticated. Instead, he tackles the concept from a human perspective of people who are touched by this experience, and accordingly respond to it in different ways depending on their background and roles. He describes, for instance, clients and their attitudes towards consultants. He also clearly and candidly looks at the perceptions of consultants to their profession and themselves.

In his book, block does not try to sell ideas, neither is he too afraid to get into the nitty-gritty details of what happens during consulting. It is an accurate account from someone who “has been there, done that,” and maybe even burnt quite a few times for making some of the mistakes he warns his readers against.

The book is not short of great advice and interesting information that might be an eye opener for readers.

One of them is his definition of a consultant, which most people perceive as an “outsider” to the organization who comes in, makes an assessment, implements a new system, and then leaves. Block shows that this common thinking about consultants is not accurate. He defines a consultant as anyone who has no direct authority over a situation, other than trying to influence others to follow without direct authority over them. Under that definition, consultants can be internal or external to the organization. In effect, whenever someone finds self giving advice without authority to make the change proposed in the advice, that person is consulting. As Block explains, consulting is a role more than a position, as almost every person in the world will find themselves taking on the consultant role once in a while. Therefore, his book is not only for the consultants, according to the traditional definition, but rather to every person who wants to perfect the ability to influence others to follow advice even when they themselves have no direct authority over the situation.

Another great aspect of Block’s book is its focus on people’s feelings and attitudes throughout the consulting engagement and how these intangibles end up being transformed into behavior that can carry through or undermine the consulting engagement and its potential benefits. Therefore, he recommends that consultants are clear, first with themselves, on how they feel towards the engagement and the client. Then, they have to communicate feelings clearly, without being offensive, to the client in order to be successful as consultants.

A beautiful aspect of this book is its focus on the importance of the consulting engagement as a 50/50 proposition. Meaning, for consulting to work, it has to be an equal partnership between the client and consultant. One working alone will not be enough for success. Block stresses the importance to get commitment from clients to do their equal share of the responsibilities of the engagement and hold them to these commitments.

The book originally came out in the 1981, and its second edition was published in 1999 in 400 pages. A word of caution: if you are planning to buy the book, be aware that Block recently published another great book that is a sequel to his original book. It is called “The flawless consulting field book and companion,” and was published in 2001. This is a different book that builds on and supplements the original book. My advice is to get the original first before you read the new one, as it will make understanding the basic philosophies behind Block’s consulting style clear, which is necessary, in my opinion, before reading the new book.

Many consultants worldwide are students of the Block’s school of thought on consulting. His advice enriches a consultant’s career and increases the value from the experience of consulting to client and consultant. If there was one book that every consultant, whether internal or external to an organization, should read, it would definitely be this book. If one was going to burn all my books on the subject of consulting and asked me to pick only one to spare, I would pick to spare this one.