When does it make sense to hire a consultant?

Director of Consulting, Hank Harris answer the question in an installment of Consulting Conversations. Watch it now!

That's a great question. I think that if you consider why CEOs hire consultants -- because it seems somewhat improbable on many levels -- but what it boils down to is most CEOs of a business, even a private business, they have an agenda, and they've got to get things done.

So one reason you occasionally employ consultants is that you've got a sense of urgency; and, it can be very, very difficult to initiate change with people in an organization who are all used to doing things a certain way, and so, the consultant can be kind of -- I use the metaphor of sand in the oyster -- to really help change get going in an organization at a speed that it otherwise would not.

A second way to use a consultant is there may be something that you want the consultant to do that either because of reasons of technical knowledge or because the consultant would be more objective, it makes sense for somebody like that on the outside to lead that effort.

We'd love to hear from any private business owner in North Carolina that thinks we could be of some help to them and understanding how their business gets better or where it might go in the future.