The best consultants — and the ones who draw the most business — are conversationalists. We all know people like this: They have the uncanny ability to discuss any topic. They always bring some new insight to the conversation and offer the potential to turn a client’s business on its head. Not only do they have exceptional knowledge in a specific field, but they are also savvy businesspeople.

Unsurprisingly, the smartest consultants are also well-read. They know what’s current and how it will affect their clients’ businesses. They’ve read the latest books and studies, and they know how to apply the knowledge. If your intention is to become one of the best consultants in your field, you need to become the most knowledgeable and well-read consultant.

The Need for Consultants to Know Business

A consultant’s currency is knowledge, and in a perfect world, consultants would devour information. Clients are looking for advice they can trust, so consultants need to find the most reliable information sources. It’s important to not only read books in an area of expertise, but to read books on business in general. Clients pay for knowledge related to their industries, but they really want to know how that knowledge is going to increase their bottom line. As a consultant, your expertise must reach past the client’s company and into the realm of business success.

Consultants who have the added edge of business acumen are more successful. They translate their knowledge into tactics that help increase their clients’ business. When clients see the ROI, they view the consultant as a trusted adviser who helps drive the success of the company and lowers risk.

Reading is time-consuming, and time is a scare resource. Many professionals simply don’t have the time to read enough books to acquire the multitude of perspectives they need, even when the books focus on specialized topics that increase their value to their clients. They must turn to other resources to stay relevant and to increase the likelihood of getting hired for consulting projects. (Continue to read this article at: http://linked2leadership.com/2013/04/02/the-more-you-know-the-more-likely-you-are-to-be-hired/)

Increase your business acumen by reading the following abstracts.

What The CEO Wants You To Know

Just Business

The Business of Learning

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Lucerne, Switzerland – July 30, 2012 – Albert Einstein once said, “Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex and more violent. It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction.” getAbstract concurs. Good authors recognize problems and break them down to their basic elements. Moreover, the very best writers even have some ideas about how to solve these inextricable dilemmas.

For the 12th time since 2001, getAbstract is proud to award a prize for the best business books of 2012 at the opening of the Frankfurt Book Fair, on October 10, 2012. getAbstract (www.getAbstract.com) assessed more than 10,000 English and German business books in the fields of leadership and management, strategy, sales and marketing, human resources, economics and politics, finance, and career development, and we have selected 10 finalists. The 2012 nominees are:

GERMAN

- App-Economy by Ansgar Mayer – mi-Wirtschaftsbuch/Münchner Verlagsgruppe
- Ausgegeizt by Uli Burchardt – Campus Verlag
- Data Unser by Björn Bloching, Lars Luck, Thomas Ramge – Redline/Münchner Verlagsgruppe
- Der amerikanische Patient by Josef Braml – Siedler/Random House Verlagsgruppe
- Zerschlagt die Banken by Rudolf Hickel – Econ/Ullstein Verlage

ENGLISH

- Inside Apple by Adam Lashinsky – Business Plus/Hachette Group
- Paper Money Collapse by Detlev S. Schlichter – John Wiley & Sons
- Reverse Innovation by Vijay Govindarajan, Chris Trimble – Harvard Business Review Press
- Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman – Farrar, Straus & Giroux
- Too Big to Know by David Weinberger – Basic Books/Perseus Books Group

Two of the nominated titles from each language category will receive this well-established and, in the international publishing world, coveted business book award. The official awards ceremony will take place on October 10, 2012, from 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., at Frankfurt Book Fair’s “Lesezelt” in Frankfurt am Main.

About the getAbstract International Book Award

This year, the award celebrates its 12th anniversary. When getAbstract launched its business book award in 2001, it was the first international award of its kind. Since then, getAbstract has presented the prize to such esteemed authors as George A. Akerlof, Robert J. Shiller, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Ian Morris, Benoît Mandelbrot, Malcolm Gladwell, Niall Ferguson, Joseph Stiglitz, Thomas Sowell, Chris Anderson, Peter Sloterdijk, Gunter Dueck, Uwe Jean Heuser, Wolfgang Münchau and Hans-Werner Sinn.

For more details about previous award winners, please go to:

http://www.getAbstract.com/Bookaward.