20 JANUARY 2016 Consulting®
THE LEADERSHIP CAPITAL INDEX
Realizing the Market Value of Leadership
By David Ulrich
Berrett-Koehler Publisher, Inc., 288 pages; $29.95
Investing in a strong leader you
believed in—from Jack Welch to
Steve Jobs—probably got you a
far better return than even the most
rigorous research of the tangibles
that company valuations are based
on. So why isn’t there an objective
system for investors to measure the
value of leadership? Now there is. In
The Leadership Capital Index, author
David Ulrich introduces a rating for
predicting the impact leaders have on
intangible value creation. Drawing on research from investor
and business leaders, Ulrich analyzes two broad domains, the
individual domain and the organizational domain, each with
its own unique set of factors to evaluate leaders.
A rift has existed between business
and society for two millennia, despite
the central role business has played in
civilization. As former BP CEO John
Browne shows—along with Robin
Nuttall, a Partner in McKinsey &
Company’s London office and Tommy
Stadlen, a former McKinsey Partner
and technology entrepreneur—how
select companies, from Hershey’s to
Heinz, have bridged the gap for mutual
benefit. Plenty of others, such as Enron
and the East India Company, have tried
and failed, the trio point out in Connect. The authors argue that
companies must learn how to connect with the world around
them. According to McKinsey research, the related value at
stake is approximately 30 percent of corporate earnings.
THE CONSULTANTS
HANDBOOK
A Practical Guide to Delivering High-Value and Differentiated Services in a
Competitive Marketplace
By Samir Parikh, Wiley, 232 pages, $40
Consulting is becoming an increasingly
critical function in today’s organizations,
where expert knowledge translates into
competitive advantage. The Consultants
Handbook introduces the essential
practice skills required to consult and
make sharp, well prepared interactions
in a wide range of
business situations.
Based on his 20
years of experience
in international
consulting, Samir
Parikh, founder
of SP Consulting,
outlines a set of
simple practices
that you can apply
immediately. This
handbook covers
the fundamental
skills and attitudes required by successful
consultants from novice to practitioner
level, irrespective of their specialist
area. It untangles the key variables
present in any consulting service and
introduces practical ways to improve
their effectiveness based upon the
author’s experience of helping consulting
organizations to develop and excel in
the marketplace. The book explores
consulting ‘from the ground up’ steering
away from theory and focusing instead
on practical application, providing a solid
platform upon which to build further
domain-specific competence.
