Alan Weiss— consultant, speaker, and author— is the founder and CEO of Summit Consulting Group, Inc. His clients have included Merck, Hewlett-Packard, Coldwell Banker, Merrill Lynch, Mercedes-Benz, and General Electric. He is adjunct professor in the graduate school of business at the University of Rhode Island, where he teaches a course on advanced consulting skills. Weiss is the author of more than twenty books, including Great Consulting Challenges (Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer, 2003) and The Ultimate Consultant (Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer, 2001).