We’ve drowned ourselves in the somewhat banal “walking the talk” over the past decade or more, as if it had never occurred to anyone that they are a hypocrite for requesting behavior that they, themselves, don’t model. I’ve never begun with the proposition that my client is “damaged” in some way, and are too stupid to realize the obvious.
Surprisingly, many consultants immediately begin to diagnose the buyer’s behavior, as if the very reason they were hired is because the buyer is too dumb to have figured things out alone, rather than assuming the healthier position that it takes a strong, secure person to acknowledge that they need help.

A contrarian view

I’ve made my living watching the mainstream march blithely by, so let me observe now, as I watch the herd: Perhaps talking the walk is even more important.
Earlier this year I conducted the Million Dollar Consulting® Graduate School at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Naples, FL. The senior management of the hotel were kind enough, wise enough, and healthy enough to agree to allow the dozen participants to work on some actual hotel issues. (Bear in mind this is generally considered to be the finest Ritz Carlton property in the country, and the chain is considered to be in the rarefied air at the very top of the hospitality industry.)
I introduced the consultants in the room to the hotel managers as, “World class consultants who we’re fortunate to be able to assemble in one place to take advantage of your facility and to reciprocally help out a bit.”
Later, one of the consultants said to me, “I was wondering when you were going to introduce me after the world class consultants, but then I realized that you meant me!” Several others commented that, “Management treated us as if we are the best of the best, and hung on every word.”
That’s what happens when you talk the walk.

Validity and other niceties

Braggadocio occurs when you can’t live up to your words. Smugness is the condition of bleating about your strengths at every opportunity. But healthy pride in your value and the honest relating of your strengths and accomplishments is simply tunefully blowing your own horn (short of which, there is no music).
And, besides, I introduced these folks, they didn’t introduce themselves. They merely sat there and looked dutifully modest (some hiding shock). Don’t forget, these are among the finest consultants around, because they’re not going to be in my College first and Grad School second if they’re not.
Through the simple expedient of correctly setting the stage—talking the walk—these consultants’ opinions were seriously considered and their questions honestly and rapidly answered. At the conclusion, when we made our recommendations, the hotel managers were deeply appreciative and, as the senior person present commented, “I’m just in awe.”
Me, too.

The moral

So, what are you telling your clients, as well as yourself? Are you telling them they have the means and the brains to get through troubled times and that you can establish internal best practices with them, or are you implying that they’ve been acting stupidly and they don’t have much to help them? Are you telling them that you’re the perfect person for the assignment, or that you’re oh so overwhelmingly appreciative that they’ve given you this opportunity (because no one else believes in you all that much)?
It easy to catch someone not walking the talk, because you can point out behaviors that aren’t congruent with the beliefs, e.g., if customer input is so important, why don’t you personally accept customer calls? But it’s more difficult to catch someone not talking the walk, because you haven’t seen them walk yet.
I’m constantly asking consultants whom I have seen in action why they don’t talk about themselves and their work more consistently with their results: “You’re not one of the consultants specializing in professional retention, you’re one of the top experts in the hiring, development, and retention of professional services experts.” Say that as if you believe it and mean it.
The CEO of a Fortune 25 company asked me once upon being introduced to me by a division general manager, “Who is the best person in the country to help us with elevating our field performance?”
“I am,” I talked.
“Right answer,” he said, as we walked.

© Alan Weiss 2008. All rights reserved.

Alan Weiss, Ph.D. probably has the strongest independent consulting brand in the country, and maybe beyond. He is the author of 27 books appearing in 8 languages. His newest, The Global Consultant (with Omar Kahn), is due out in the fall from Wiley. He runs the unique Million Dollar Consulting® College three times a year. He has won dozens of writing and consulting awards and is a member of the Professional Speaking Hall of Fame.® Contact him at http://www.summitconsulting.com, or his blog, http://www.contrarianconsulting.com.