I have never been able to understand why some consultants and consulting practices are so bent on secrecy. A key premise of the consulting engagement is that the client is going to divulge important and sensitive information to you, like human resource and payroll information, or maybe their secret marketing sauce. In this climate doesn't the consultant owe the client the same transparency? I have recruited a lot of consultants over the years for both Oracle and NetSuite implementations and in telephone and live interviews several have admitted, no it was really more like 'described with pride', their efforts to limit the client's visibility into what they did and how they did it. And they must have had the idea that this was something that I wanted to hear. This is especially true for those who know how to do NetSuite Customization. C'mon guys, I know it took a while to understand but lets not treat it like a scientific discovery. Actually, they never go to the next step in the hiring process. What's the point of having a person on staff who has such a narrow vision of the world - we used to call them bus drivers, they look at the passing world through a small piece of glass, but that's an insult to bus drivers - that they believe that helping the client understand how the application works is the secret sauce that they simply cannot divulge. How odd! But in fact this belief is pervasive in application software implementation consulting. If we keep the knowledge tightly secured, the belief goes, we'll naturally decrease competition and soon we'll be rich. And the client will have to call us back in a few months to make some small changes because they do not yet understand the application. It's all good! We can put out the fires we set. You almost have to pity the pathetic fool who believes that this is the way to go. And there are a lot of them. Visibility and transparency are a much better way to market your talents. Do you really believe that a client kept in the dark is your best opportunity for growth? Get real, if the only thing you have to take to market is some esoteric, hidden understanding of a software application you had better find a new business. Real consultants go to market with imagination: The ability to see the client's business as the client and the client's customers do. Then map the application to maximize its benefits to the business. Yeah, it's hard work and that is no secret. | 
