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Trusted Advisor Fieldbook Wins Gold Medal in Axiom Business Book Awards

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We’re very proud to announce that The Trusted Advisor Fieldbook won the Gold Medal in the Business Ethics category in the 5th Annual Axiom Business Book Awards.

More about that in a moment, but first: congratulations to the 69 medalists in all 21 categories. Check them out: it’s a powerful reading list. And thanks to the Jenkins Group for putting together the competition.

Trusted Advisor Ethics?

You may be wondering, why the Ethics category?

We didn’t set out to write an ethics book, nor will you find that word in more than a few places in the book. And yet we find the honor of that category to be deeply satisfying, and very appropriate.

To understand why, read this commentary on Aristotle’s Ethics:

[Aristotle says that] what we need, in order to live well, is a proper appreciation of the way in which such goods as friendship, pleasure, virtue, honor and wealth fit together as a whole. In order to apply that general understanding to particular cases, we must acquire, through proper upbringing and habits, the ability to see, on each occasion, which course of action is best supported by reasons.

Therefore practical wisdom, as Aristotle conceives it, cannot be acquired solely by learning general rules. We must also acquire, through practice, those deliberative, emotional, and social skills that enable us to put our general understanding of well-being into practice in ways that are suitable to each occasion.

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, introduction to Aristotle’s Ethics

Exactly.

We hoped to write a practical book, grounded in fundamental principles, that would integrate client and provider, profit and professionalism, seller and buyer, leader and team player. Trust, we have found, is an excellent proving ground for such an endeavor.

We are grateful to the Axiom Book Awards for apparently seeing things in a similar way.

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Many Trusted Advisor programs now offer CPE credits.  Please call Tracey DelCamp for more information at 856-981-5268–or drop us a note @ [email protected].

Dueling Book Reviews: Chris Brogan and Charlie Green Interview Each Other

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Andrea Howe and I, as you know, are celebrating this month’s publication of The Trusted Advisor Fieldbook.  As it happens, friend-in-trust, Chris Brogan has a book coming out very soon as well–Google+ for Business: How Google’s Social Network Changes Everything.

Like peanut butter goes with jelly, it was obvious we had to interview each other.  I do the honors here with Chris, and we obviously have far too much fun.  Not to mention subtitles and StarTac phones.

Enjoy the video.

Book and Speech Reviews from the Twin Cities

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Last week I had the pleasure of speaking in Minneapolis at the annual meeting of the Twin Cities Compensation Network about trust-based relationships from an HR perspective. They were also kind enough to buy a few copies of The Trusted Advisor Fieldbook.

Today Ann Bares has a blogpost – Trust and the Compensation Professional –  about that subject, that talk, and that book.

Ann is a true professional in the field. In addition to years of work contributing to the TCCN, she is also founder and editor of The Compensation Café, a collaborative blog in the compensation field.

Pop on over to Compensation Force to read Ann’s review and commentary, I think you’ll enjoy it.  And thanks, Ann, for the kind writeup.

Win a Free Copy of The Trusted Advisor Fieldbook Redux

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We’re excited about the early success of The Trusted Advisor Fieldbook: A Comprehensive Toolkit for Leading with Trust. It’s gotten a #4 ranking on The Washington Post Book World paperback bestseller list, a five-star Amazon review, and a growing list of features and media mentions.

Find out what all the hoopla is about―reply by Friday, December 2, 2011 midnight EST to win your free autographed copy of the book. Details below.

And the Winner Is…

Last month we ran a contest inviting readers to tell us about your favorite Trust Tip based on the daily countdown of #TrustTips on Twitter (144 in total from the time we started till October 31, the day The Trusted Advisor Fieldbook was officially released). We listed a few of our favorites, then turned it over to you to share yours.

The lucky winner is Dawna Houston, who gets a copy of the new book autographed by both of us, as well as this opportunity to be singled out on our site (also known as “eternal fame”).

Dawna’s favorite Trust Tip was #TrustTip 8: Trust enhances innovation: it allows people of different views to convert conflict into collaboration.

Dawna observed, “I have watched fear and anxiety absolutely shut down creativity, both personally and professionally; this tip is a great reminder that when we cultivate trust, our minds naturally open and our awareness expands.” Well said, Dawna. Congrats!

Are You Feeling Lucky?

You’ve got another chance to win. Simply take a look through the free download of chapter 1 and tell us how much money Charlie gave the taxi driver. If you get it right, you’ll be entered in the drawing. Send your answer in an email by Friday, December 2, 2011 midnight EST.

We look forward to hearing from you!

“Consult This” Consults Us

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Charlie and I recently recorded a podcast interview with Mike McLaughlin on the subject of trust and professional services. We covered a lot of ground in 16 minutes, including the one piece of advice we’d each give consultants about building trust with clients.

Consult This

Mike is an accomplished thought leader in the world of professional services. A former partner with Deloitte Consulting, he’s the author of two books (Winning the Professional Services Sale and Guerrilla Marketing for Consultants, in collaboration with Jay Conrad Levinson), the founder of MindShare Consulting LLC, and the publisher of Management Consulting News, a monthly newsletter that delivers practical ideas to thousands of professionals around the world. He also writes another monthly newsletter, The Guerrilla Consultant, which extends the concepts and strategies in his first book.

Mike regularly taps into experts on a variety of relevant topics, and posts his own insightful content on his blog, Consult This. Some examples include:

  • Let Them Take Credit. How, by giving up the credit, you actually earn credit (and more business).
  • What’s in a Name? How the job titles we use on business cards, email signature lines, and web sites convey a world of meaning to others, some of which isn’t helpful.
  • When it All Hits the Fan. Why we should consider ourselves lucky when a client calls us on the carpet for a customer service failure.

We were honored to be among the likes of Peter Block and Peter Bregman, whom Mike has interviewed in the past, among others.

Q & A

Mike asked us some interesting questions. He wanted to know:

  • Do buyers trust professional service providers more, less, or about the same as they did when The Trusted Advisor was published?
  • If you’re meeting a client for the first time, what are the best steps to take to begin to build trust?
  • On the flip side of the coin, what common behaviors do you see that detract from building trust?
  • What do you say to the pushy sales manager who wants you to “accelerate” the sale before trust is established?
  • If you’ve lost trust with a client, what can you do to regain it?
  • If you could give a consultant just one piece of advice about building trust with clients, what would it be? (Charlie and I had different answers for this one.)

Check out his blog post today to find out how we answered.

Connect with Mike on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Hot off the Presses: The Trusted Advisor Fieldbook

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We are very happy to officially announce the publication of The Trusted Advisor Fieldbook: A Comprehensive Toolkit for Leading with Trust. Published by Wiley Books, it is now being sold at fine bookstores worldwide and online at major booksellers.

Whose shoulders does it stand on? The book’s pedigree begins with the classic The Trusted Advisor, by Charlie with esteemed co-authors David Maister and Rob Galford in 2000.  In 2005, Charlie wrote Trust-based Selling, which squared the circle of trust and sales.

What’s up with the leadership emphasis? Since 2000, the world has gotten flat, connected and linked—trust drives success. The relevance of trust to leadership has increased 470% (our subjective estimate). We connect the dots.

What’s new? Material on creating a trust-based culture; networking; risk-taking; selling to the C-suite; rapid trust creation; leadership. And more.

Why a “fieldbook”? It’s practical, tactical. Loaded with how-to’s. Deals with the nitty-gritty of situations from business development to dealing with untrustworthy partners. It has so many lists it has a list of lists.

Who likes it? Tom Peters, David Maister, Chris Brogan, Neil Rackham, Jim Quigley, and more…

Find Out More

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