| There are hundreds of varieties of | | | | his hi-tech miniaturized printer in the car, |
| Consultants these days. We can find | | | | then turns to the shepherd and says, "You |
| Consultants to take care of our diets, our | | | | have exactly 1623 sheep.""That is correct, |
| physical well being, our mental well being, | | | | take one of the sheep" said the shepherd. He |
| and pretty much anything you can imagine when | | | | then watches the young man select one of the |
| it comes to business.The story below might | | | | animals and bundle it into his car. Then the |
| just indicate that we take ourselves a little | | | | shepherd says, " If I can tell you exactly |
| too seriously sometimes.A shepherd was | | | | what you do for a living, will you give me |
| herding his flock in a remote pasture when | | | | back my beast?""O.K., why not?" answered the |
| suddenly a brand new Beemer advanced out of | | | | man."Clearly you're a consultant" sad the |
| the dust clouds towards him. The driver, a | | | | shepherd. "That's correct," says the yuppie, |
| young man in a Brioni suit, Gucci shoes, Ray | | | | "but how did you guess that?""No guessing |
| Ban sunglasses, and a Zegna tie, leaned out | | | | required," answered the shepherd. "You turned |
| his window and asked the shepherd, "If I can | | | | up here, although nobody called you. You want |
| tell you exactly how many sheep you have in | | | | to get paid for an answer I already knew, to |
| your flock, will you give me one?"The | | | | a question I never asked, and you don't know |
| shepherd looked at the man, then looked at | | | | a thing about my business. Now give me back |
| his peacefully grazing flock, and calmly | | | | my dog."The lesson seems to be to keep my |
| answered, "Sure."The yuppie parked his car, | | | | Consulting assignment to the things I know |
| whipped out his IBM ThinkPad, connected it to | | | | about. I think I'm safe because sheep scare |
| a cell phone, and surfed to a NASA page on | | | | me.Dennis Schooley is the Founder of Schooley |
| the Internet. He called up a GPS satellite | | | | Mitchell Telecom Consultants, a Professional |
| navigation system, scanned the area, and then | | | | Services Franchise Company. He writes for |
| opened both a database, and an Excel | | | | publication, as well as for and |
| spreadsheet with complex macro formulas. He | | | | franchises.blogging.com, in the subject areas |
| then sent an email on his Blackberry, and | | | | of Franchising, and Technology for the |
| after a few minutes he received a response. | | | | Layman. |
| Finally, he prints out a 150-page report on | | | | |