The Trusted Advisor: 20th Anniversary Edition

In today's fast-paced networked economy, professionals must work harder than ever to maintain and improve their business skills and knowledge. But technical mastery of your discipline is not enough, assert world-renowned professional advisors David H. Maister, Charles H. Green, and Robert M. Galford. The key to professional success, they argue, is the ability to earn the trust and confidence of clients. The creation of trust is what earns the right to influence clients; trust is also at the root of client satisfaction and loyalty. The workings of trust are even more critical in the new economy than in the old. Maister, Green, and Galford enrich our understanding of trust -- yet they have also written a deeply practical book. Using their model of "The Trust Equation," they dissect the rational and emotional components of trustworthiness. With precision and clarity, they detail five distinct steps you must take to create a trust-based relationship. Each step -- engage, listen, frame, envision, and commit -- is richly described in distinct chapters. The book is peppered with pragmatic "top ten" lists aimed at improving advisors' effectiveness that can be put to use instantly. It also includes a trust self-diagnostic in the appendix. This immensely readable book will be welcomed by the inexperienced advisor and the most seasoned expert alike. The authors use anecdotes, experiences, and examples -- successes and mistakes, their own and others' -- to great effect. Though they use the professional services advisor/client paradigm throughout the book, their prescriptions have resonance for other trust-reliant situations -- selling, customer relationship management, and internal staff functions like HR and information technology. The result is a tour de force -- brilliant, penetrating, unique. It is essential reading for anyone who must advise, negotiate, or manage complex relationships with others.

Charles H. Green is an executive educator and business strategy consultant to the professional services industry. Charlie has taught in executive education programs for the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, and for Columbia University Graduate School of Business, as well as independently through his firm, Trusted Advisor Associates. His current work centers on the nature of trust-based relationships within organizations, and on the management of professional service firms. Green is a graduate of Columbia and Harvard Business School. He spent the first twenty years of his career with The MAC Group and its successor, Gemini Consulting, where his roles included strategy consulting (in Europe and the United States), VP Strategic Planning, and a variety of other firm leadership roles. He is the author of numerous papers, with articles published in the Harvard Business Review and Management Horizons. He is president of Trusted Advisor Associates, which he founded with Rob Galford. He resides in Morristown, New Jersey. Robert M. Galford is currently a Managing Partner of the Center for Executive Development in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was formerly the executive vice president and chief people officer of Digitas, Inc., a leading Internet professional services firm with over 1,400 employees. He taught for many years on executive programs at the Columbia Graduate School of Business and the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, in addition to consulting to professional services firms, technology companies, and financial institutions. Rob has lived and worked in both Western Europe and North America as a vice president of The MAC Group and its successor firm, Gemini Consulting. He has practiced law with the international firm of Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle in New York and Washington, and has also worked in investment management for Citicorp. Rob's writing and commentaries on management have been published in the Boston Globe and he is a three-time contributor to the Harvard Business Review. He currently sits on the boards of directors of Forrester Research, Inc., and Access Data Corporation. He also hosts the business video Talk About Change! with the popular cartoon character Dilbert. David H. Maister, one of the world's leading authorities on the management of professional service firms, is the author of several successful books, including Managing the Professional Service Firm, True Professionalism, and Practice What You Preach, and coauthor of The Trusted Advisor.

Introduction How to Use This Book

1. A Sneak Preview What would be the benefits if your clients trusted you more? What are the primary characteristics of a trusted advisor?
2. What Is a Trusted Advisor? What do great trusted advisors all seem to do?
3. Earning Trust What are the dynamics of trusting and being trusted?
4. How to Give Advice How do you ensure your advice is listened to?
5. The Rules of Romance: Relationship Building What are the principles of building strong relationships?
6. The Importance of Mindsets What attitudes must you have to be effective?
7. Sincerity or Technique? Do you really have to care for those you advise?

1. The Trust Equation What are the four key components that determine the extent of trust?
2. The Development of Trust What are the five stages of trust-building?
3. Engagement How do you get clients to initiate discussions with you?
4. The Art of Listening How can you improve your listening skills?
5. Framing the Issue How can you help clients look at their issues in a fresh way?
6. Envisioning an Alternate Reality How can you help clients clarify what they're really after?
7. Commitment How do you ensure clients are willing to do what it takes to solve their problems?

1. What's So Hard About All This? Why are truly trust-based relationships so scarce?
2. Differing Client Types How do you deal with clients of differing types?
3. The Lieutenant Columbo Approach What can we learn from an unorthodox winner?
4. The Role of Trust in Getting Hired How do you create trust at the outset of a relationship?
5. Building Trust on the Current Assignment How can you conduct your assignment in a way that adds to trust?
6. Re-earning Trust Away from the Current Assignment How can you build trust when you're not working on an assignment?
7. The Case of Cross-Selling Why is cross-selling so hard, and what can be done about it?
8. The Quick-Impact List to Gain Trust What are the key things you should do first?

Appendix: A Compilation of Our Lists A comprehensive summary and list of concepts, insights, tips, and tactics. Acknowledgments Notes and References Index About the Authors