7 Habits of a Highly Effective Consultant

The Consulting Club had a guest speaker today.Consulting Magazine named Mr.Atul Vashistha,CEO neoIT as one of the “Top 6 IT Powerbrokers” (2005) and as one of the “Top 25 Most Influential Consultants” (2006).He addressed the consulting club today through a videoconference.

It was a interactive session. He gave us an overview of what neoIT does and then shared his views on the consulting industry. He also talked about the trends across the world (Globalization).

Some takeaways:
He states that in his organization, he expects the consultants to have certain traits.
He refers to these traits as “hallmarks of a good consultant” and calls it the “7 Habits of Highly Effective Advisors”. They are
• Skills in client acquisition
• Skills in Client retention (Show the value to clients)
• Focus on Client delivery
• Providing New services
• Staff Development (Develop your juniors)
• Developing knowledge (Stay ahead of the curve)
• Managing supplier relationship (Get involved with the Stake holders)

A few more tips for wanna be consultants:

Always be Client Focused
Get used to travel
Get used to challenging some one in a very collaborative environment.
You might not see the execution even if you set the strategy.

A few traits that you should develop
• Multitask oriented
• Very adaptable
• Autonomous
• Thought Leaders

We found the talk extremely interesting. We thank Ashok for organizing the event.