Gene Razzetti CMC retired from a 27 year career in the Navy in 1992 at the rank of Captain. He commanded ships and shore facilities, where he learned about auditing when they still called it inspections or investigations. He has worked in the Washington and South Florida areas since 1992. He works in the Maritime industry, implementing and auditing safety and quality management systems. Gene is a trained lead auditor in ISO 9000 and ISO 14000, and the International Safety Management Code for ships and supporting offices. He is an associate consultant with several firms in Washington and Florida. He is also currently a research analyst with the Center for Naval Analyses, working in the areas of logistic support, ammunition resupply, and force protection. He commits lots of valuable time to IMC USA as a member of the Finance, Ethics, and Certification Review committees.

Summary of Last Month's Program. The January program was "Key Legal Issues for Consultants." It was presented by Nancy O'Connor, a partner at the international law firm of Bracewell and Patterson, and heads the firm's Labor and Employment Practice in Washington, DC. She provided a practical perspective of a number of employment issues, including independent contractor versus employee relationships, exempt status and requirements for payment of overtime, unemployment data (including the fact that independent consultants are not part of DOL employment statistics), and some myths concerning "volunteered" services by employees. The active Q&A and positive feedback reflected a high level of interest in this topic. See Program Archives Page.

New Consultant Directory Profiles Posted. Two more members have posted their profiles. Look at these colleagues to see how you might work together: Paul Arveson, Director of Operations, Balanced Scorecard Institute and Simantini Chakraborty, Senior Associate, KPMG LLP. The directory now has 45 member profiles.

Speaker's Bureau. Nine IMC NCR members are confirmed Speakers in the IMC NCR Speaker's Bureau for our anticipated formal launch on March 1, 2004. We expect to have some modifications made to our website (to be put up early February) so that those interested in identifying a speaker can let us know their interests and needs easily. The 20 topic areas covered by the nine members include Change, IT Management, Ethics, Decision Making, Leadership and others. The Bureau is a terrific forum for IMC NCR members to meet potential customers, broaden the stream of income and shine before prospective clients by speaking about areas in their areas of expertise. For more information, e-mail Bernard Robinson.

Mentoring Program. The new IMC NCR Mentoring Program, designed primarily to help members prepare for their certification, will start officially in March. The program pairs a senior consultant mentor with a mentee to help the latter with business planning, marketing, contacts, and practice review - whatever the mentee needs to build a practice and become certified. See more on this free program, including how to get involved as a mentor or mentee, on the IMC NCR website.

You're an Expert. Why Not Let Other's Know It? BetterManagement.com is inviting the Business Management community to contribute to its website. They're looking for a wide range of content, such as white papers, articles, case studies, and implementation experiences. If the editors from BetterManagement.com choose to publish your submission, you will receive full credit which includes: Name, Title, Company and Link. This is a great chance for you or your company to be recognized and drive traffic to your website. (To submit content).

Consulting News. IMC NCR is in discussion with Kennedy publications about getting a chapter subscription to Consultants News. The online version (and archived issues) would be accessible to chapter members once we reconfigure the site to provide for member only areas. See Kennedy Publications for more information about CN. We do need to know how many IMC NCR members are interested in having access to this publication (free to members). If you think you would use CN as an IMC NCR member, email IMC NCR Membership.

New IMC USA Website IMC USA has redesigned its main website, and will be making further structural and content imporvements in the next few months. Look over the new site at www.imcusa.org. Note that the IMC NCR site structure wa used for new IMC USA site.

Consulting Technolology Showcase. Much of what we do as consultants is highly personalized and customized to the client's needs. However, there are an increasing number of enabling technologies that can increase our effectiveness and save time. IMC NCR plans to host a Consulting Technolology Showcase this summer to give members and guests a closer look at these technologies. Tools such as BRS (business planning), Expert Choice (decision making), GroupMindExpress (collaboration, project/knowledge management), Visio (mapping/flowcharting), and Outlook (contact management) may save you time and increase your value to clients. If you regularly use and would recommend similar tools, please let Mark Haas know. We'd like to have a half or full day of vendor presentations to demonstrate how these tools can increase our value.

Is the IMC NCR Website Working for You? Over the 18 months, a steadily increasing number of people have used the search function on our site. In the last month, 456 visitors used search boxes to find consultants or content on the site. Just under 10% of those are searching from the Executive part of the site, an indication that we are making progress in attracting more than just consultants. As we retool the site over the next few months, we will be looking for more content to further increase the usefulness of the site to managers and executives.

Management Consulting Competency Framework. As part of making the certification process more rigorous and up to international standards, the IMCs in the 36 member nations of the International Council of Management Consulting Institutes (ICMCI) have captured consulting best practices and set required standards for the profession. Much of this is reflected in the new US certification process leading to the CMC, but more will be coming over the next year or so. The competency framework encompasses technical and sector disciplines, consulting competencies, and professional behaviors. Reflecting the increasing demand for professionalism for management consultants, no longer will it be possible to become certified armed only with technical knowledge of a particular discipline or industry sector. The CMC process in the UK is a good example of where certification is headed, a description of which can be reviewed on the UK IMC website.

The Other Half of Your Day.

• What Not to Say at a Consulting Interview: "I think three letter acronyms are for people too stupid to remember whole phrases."
• What a Consultant Shouldn't Tell a Client: "Of course it's right; the spreadsheet says so."
• How to Know You're Dating/Married To A Consultant: Valentine's Day card has bullet points.
• How to Know You've Got the Consulting Bug: Can fit the thematic undercurrents of War and Peace into a two-by-two matrix.
• One Thing You'll Never Hear from a Consultant: "I can't take the credit. It was Ed in your IT department."

IMC NCR Mission: Get Smart, Get Friends, and Get Business

Join IMC. If you're satisfied that IMC is the right professional organization to help you "Get Smart, Get Friends, and Get Business," then join IMC online. You will become a member of IMC USA and may affiliate with any US chapter at no additional charge.