I may be misrepresenting the gist of Evelyn's intentions in her recent post, Not For Everyone, but her approach to recasting her consulting services struck a resonant chord for me.

I have long held that a useful consultant has to miss big with at least 25% of potential clients, or maybe more. She quotes Henry Beckwith -- "Avoid nice." -- and Laura Cutler -- "Nice is nowhere. You do not want everyone to like what you do... You want 10 percent to love it." -- and concludes "Avoid nice. Go for remarkable."

She hasn't completely outlined what the result of this soul-searching is. My sense is that those who realize that their calling is consulting -- advising others -- have to have an epiphany at some point that includes the understanding that you can't help everybody. Some are not ready to be helped, and in some cases, there may simply be a mismatch of personalities or worldviews that makes the dynamic between the consultant and client difficult or impossible. Or, the company may be strangled in political infighting, or dominated by a unrealistic market strategy. I have seen all of these, and more.

I fire approximately half of my clients: some in the initial contact (I get dozens of folks approaching me every month seeking free advice, for example, and I weed through those for the likely ones), some in the early discussions, and some even after an engagement has started. I rig all engagements to start with an initial day of intense work, so that I can quickly take the temperature of the client -- the individuals, the company style, the politics -- and determine if there is any hope for my prospective advice to take root. If there isn't, what's the point? Aside from the fees, of course; but my true goals lie beyond.

For example, my writings about social tools and architecture have led to interesting engagements with a variety of entrepreneurial start-ups with very engaged, very interesting people. On the other hand, I have had some really agonizing work with larger, more conservative, and slow-moving companies who -- in principle -- want to gain the benefits of social media for their companies, but are unprepared for anything but the most superficial adoption of the social mindset necessary. I plan in the future to be even more active in weeding out those that I think are unlikely to undertake change necessary for progress.

So, like Evelyn, I will be characterizing my personal consulting services -- and those of Corante, as well -- as really only suited to one in ten or less. We are ready and eager to work with those who are committed to change, open to new perspectives, and poised to act. Those who are merely going through the motions, who are hoping to find a shortcut, or a way to make superficial tweaks to their business plans, technologies, or marketing programs, please don't contact me. The rest: let's talk.