Truthful, not neutral!

About the defining qualities of a good consultant.

Recently, I’ve had quite a few discussions about the defining qualities of a good consultant / advisor.

Apart from the obvious ones such as subject matter expertise, ability to connect distant dots and a willingness to think outside the box, another frequent candidate quality is “neutrality”. On the surface, what’s not to like about being “neutral”, like a referee in a football or hockey match, or a judge in a court of law?

In my experience, "neutrality in a business context suffers from being overused by individuals and companies wanting to hedge their own bets, fearing that taking a side under uncertain conditions could adversely affect their own business fortunes. It is this "opportunistic" side of “neutrality” which has me convinced that “neutrality” is actually a significant barrier to being a good consultant/advisor.

Rather, a slightly altered version is a crucial defining quality of being a good consultant/advisor, and it is being truthful.

To me, being truthful means advising my clients based on facts and staying true to my own convictions, even if some of these facts and convictions are uncomfortable. For example, if I see an airline IT supplier attempting to mislead an airline customer of ours, I will make our client aware and call out the dishonesty, even if it means taking myself out of the running for the “most loved consultant” award of the airline IT supplier’s guild. Similarly, if I believe one of our clients stands in the way of his or her own success, I will make our client aware.

So in my view, being "truthful, not neutral" is a decent North Star, in business (and in life more generally).