I’m remedying that with the outline below, which covers proposal processes: What to look at and how to divvy up the work, from the time an RFP first comes in the door until you put it in FedEx. It’s a framework that can work for everyone from one-person shops to large agencies.

The smart folks over at McKinsey have a real winner in their most recent article on marketing, and it gets to the heart things every marketer should be asking themselves today.

A colleague from another shop and I recently talked about hiring and how you ferret out talent in an interview. We traded interview questions and, while I don’t want to post his without permission, you’re more than welcome to use mine.

A weekend conversation about social media and the value PR brings to the table got me thinking about our industry’s value cascade — how we transmit value to clients and employers under the best scenarios, vs some less-than-best variants. Here’s what I think it looks like on the consulting side:

Ideally, we deliver expertise, which drives the formation of custom strategies. These strategies, combined with access, deliver results and value.

If we lack any one of the three legs of the proverbial stool, we can still make things work, albeit with different approaches.