Ian Ross and Brian Wood have worked together for many years in different business contexts, and today we collaborate from the perspective of our separate consulting businesses.
At one level, the contents of this book are simply an articulation of the mechanics and the tools and techniques we use in our consulting businesses on a regular basis. They are a mix of things we have learned from other people, things we have developed from them, and our own original work. This book puts these models and methods out into the world for anyone to use – for free. We have written about them in a way that makes them as accessible as possible, and have striven to be accurate and complete – while still welcoming feedback and suggestions for improvement.
We believe that this book is capable of benefiting anyone who reads it and seeks to understand the mechanics we present and use the tools and techniques we describe. But we don’t think that is necessarily the most efficient way to get the maximum out of it. We have both read a lot of books in order to work out what makes sense, but the greatest learning and most rapid development of skills has come from applying these things in practice with other people – whether in the safety of a training environment or alongside a skilled mentor.
Which brings us back to consulting. While our businesses have different histories and outlooks, the common thread is the application of the mechanics of “why?” to hard business issues in order to produce hard business results – results that are win/win for all stakeholders rather than victory for the few at the expense of the many. It’s what we do for a living. We are happy to give you this book for free and would also be delighted to hear from you if you think we could help you, either personally or in your business: whether as learning facilitators; coach/mentors; or skilled consultants.
You can contact us here, or look at our consulting websites: