Peter Crow
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Are you an Advisor or a Consultant?

17/1/2014

2 Comments

 
Periodically, I'm asked whether I'm an advisor or a consultant. For many years now, the answer I've provided has been 'advisor', often in an effort to avoid the stigma commonly associated with 'consultant'. (Consultants are the guys that borrow your watch to tell you the time, right?) However, as I've studied the English language more closely in the last couple of years, I've become much more comfortable with the term 'consultant', because it most accurately describes who I am and what I do. Let me explain.

Generally speaking (although perhaps somewhat simplistically):
  • A consultant is a problem-solver, a simplifier. They are someone you call on to find a way forward, when you have a problem in need of a solution. At their best, consultants provide answers, or at least recommendations. They may or may not actually do the work to implement any solution you choose to pursue.
  • An advisor is a problem-definer. They are someone you call on as an impartial sounding board, to stimulate your thinking and to test ideas. At their best, advisors help survey the horizon and bring the future into focus. They may well recommend the names of others (consultants!) to help solve a problem once it is more clearly defined.

While my priority as a pracademic is to think broadly about corporate governance and strategy in order to discover possibilities and pursue options, my clients are most interested in solutions to problems they face today – recommendations and answers – which fits nicely with my instinct to understand and solve problems.

Now your turn: Are you an advisor or a consultant?
2 Comments
Alan Kennedy link
17/1/2014 01:43:14

Gday Peter
Interesting point. I have always been an advisor and active on the client's behalf in the choosing of the right consultants to use. That said, I think there are 2 basic types of consultants. One is a SME. I believe I fall into this category albeit the expertise is highly limited. :) The second is an extra pair of hands to do something the organization could do if it had the internal resources. Cheers, Alan

Reply
Peter Crow link
17/1/2014 02:12:00

Thanks Alan, you make a good point. I've heard the "extra pair of hands" folk described as consultants as well, although I'd be more inclined to call them "contractors" or "specialist workers".

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