Focus: Client Industries

	Healthcare »A Pulse Check on Healthcare Consulting Healthcare is the industry to be in,” says Ted Chien, executive vice president at Ingenix, a healthcare consultancy based in Eden Prarie, Minn. And he has plenty of evidence to back him up: It's an industry that is the great equalizer, touching all people in all geographies at all income levels.
	Manufacturing »Out of the Box: Consulting in the Manufacturing Industry In an industry where consistency and standardization reign supreme, confusion sparked by a rapidly tilting playing field has thrown a wrench into North American manufacturers' game plans. And now companies – and consultants – are adjusting their thinking for manufacturing's new global reality.
	Retail »KSA’s International Play In consulting, mergers and acquisitions can be rough business. There’s no shortage of firms—both the acquired and the acquirers—that have fallen victim to the M&A minefield. To hear Mark Wietecha tell it, consulting mergers have been, in a word, “brutal.”
	Public Sector »Social Work: Consulting in the Public Sector Unlike funding, talent and new infrastructure, there is no shortfall of tremendous problems among government organizations at the local, state and federal level in the U.S. or overseas, according to public sector practice leaders.

Focus: Service Lines

Human Resources »Peter Cheese of Accenture Peter Cheese wrote the book on talent management—literally. Cheese, managing director of Accenture’s Human Performance practice is co-author of The Talent Powered Organization: Strategies for Globalization, Talent Management and High Performance. The book lays out some of his major thoughts around defining, discovering, developing and deploying top talent today. “There is simply not enough talent to go around,” Cheese says. “This is the reality.”

Operations »Excellence in Diversity: Consulting Firms Honored

Travel Advisory

• »The Capacity Crunch: Carriers Unveil Massive Flight Reductions It's a tough time to fly—and it might be an even tougher time to find a flight. American Airlines, United Airlines, Continental Airlines and others have announced flight schedule reductions as cost-saving measures by the end of the year.
• »Hertz Eases Refueling Costs If you're renting with Hertz, you won't feel as much of a fuel pinch anymore, as the company is responding to customer feedback regarding its refueling policies and is now charging in line with local fuel prices.
• »Road Warrior: Going Green Between airplane fuel, fast-food wrappers and hotel towels, there's a lot of waste when it comes to traveling. If you're looking to ease your conscience without losing your sense of style, here are some earth-friendly travel products you might want to check out.

Book It!

• »Leadership and the Sexes While we often think of the workforce as a whole, the fact remains that those who make up the workforce are very different people, separated by a number of factors, not the least of which is gender.
• »The Execution Premium It's one of the most popular words in the consulting vernacular—"execution.” It's the yang to strategy's ying. But what comes in between?
• »The Business-Oriented CIO The CIO is in a tough spot at most companies—in fact, the press material for The Business-Oriented CIO says the position's title is a possible acronym for "Career Is Over.”
• »Authentic Conversations If your conversations at work are starting to feel as strained as the ones that make you cringe at Thanksgiving dinner, this could be the book you need.
• »Liberating Passion Isn't it about time to bring passion back to the workplace? Today, it can be hard to tap into that passion if you just feel like a cog in the industrial wheel, but the right leaders, who already have that passion to succeed, can help bring it out in their staffs—at least that's what Omar Khan and Paul B. Brown say.

Consultants on Consulting

• »An Argument for Strategy-Driven Organizational Design Have we consultants, in our zeal to ride this epic economic wave, perhaps created an eerie, parallel universe…a corporate–sprawl of McOrgstructures, properly benchmarked, adorned with change management and paved with glossy PowerPoint decks?
• »Drive Performance as a Talent-Powered Organization Today, more than ever, businesses all over the world realize the importance of their people to long-term success. But few believe that their organizations are able to make an adequate response to the growing challenges of workforce demographics and global economic change.
• »Of Salad Bowls and Melting Pots: Diversity in the Workplace Having grown up Chinese in Europe, the Middle East, South-East Asia and Oceania, I can say this is about the lessons I've learned—and that continue to learn—in adding value and being valued, while being yourself.
• »Practical Ethics for New Consultants Clients hire consultants for the people, skills and information to solve problems. To get the job done, consultants work with clients in advisory positions and have access to confidential information and influence over decisions. This is a demanding environment with unique ethical considerations.