Confessions of a Consultant
John F. Gartner

6x9 - 256 Pages

Confessions of a Consultant: Survival Business Skills For Scientists & Engineers

This text book was originally designed and the contents taught at the University of Waterloo, Faculty of Science, Science & Business Program.

When an engineer or scientist is hired by a consulting firm, they are usually hired on their academic merits in their chosen profession. But, no sooner do they enter a consulting establishment, than they are asked to do a number of tasks for which they have received no training, such as:
o Marketing and Business Development
o Project Management
o Collecting Money
o Budgeting Work
o Appearing as an Expert Witness

And the list goes on. So this text book is designed to expose the engineer/scientist to some of the skills necessary to survive in a consulting environment.

Every service firm is composed of three main types of people:

o Finders: Those people that are good at getting work.
o Minders: Those who manage the work and the money.
o Grinders: Those that actually do the work.

Too often the mechanics of running a service firm—the mechanics of accounting, legal issues, taxes and fiscal return to shareholders—become the driving force of an organization instead of the art of managing people and defining core values.

This text book is organized around Finders, Minders and Grinders and what skills they need to effectively do their jobs.

About the Author

John Gartner graduated from the University of Toronto in Applied Geology in 1959.
In 1973, he and Pat Lee formed Gartner Lee Associates Limited, a firm that specialized in the applications of science to the solution of environmental problems. John was President for twenty years and chairman for twenty-five years. In 1998 he became an Adjunct Professor at the University of Waterloo.