A Casual Conversation With Murad Mirza on Mentors, Customers and his Consultancy

" It's my pleasure to benefit others in terms of achieving success through sharing thoughts on various aspects."


Q: Murad, As a busy International Business Consultant, it must be hard to retain clients in this competitive market. Please give us some thoughts on Customers and getting them to stick with you.

A: Customer Relationships

1. You can take a great leap in terms of improving customer relationships if you consider them to be your personal assets

2. Customer loyalty is gained through a personal rather than a business relationship

3. My greatest success in retaining clients came through the strategy of giving them my chair and sitting in their place

4. I am my worst customer in ensuring consistent quality service

On Getting Called Back as a Consultant

Getting called I am able to make a greater contribution and develop a broader range of experiences across industries by returning to consultancy, especially, in terms of rising above organizational politics and bringing an independent frame of mind in resolving problematic siuations. It also serves as a buffer against maintaining regular employment during tough economic times, e.g., recession.

Q: How Important is Continuing Education to you?

A: On the Importance of Continuing Education

Static knowledge results in professional stagnancy.

Therefore, no opportunity should be missed in terms of improving your skills, competencies to remain relevant within an ever changing world. Try to create an optimum balance between education and professional experience to ensure that your progression on the career ladder does not become a victim of an inability to meet the specified criteria for success.

Q: And on Mentors?

A; The significance of mentoring cannot be overstated, especially, for upcoming professionals.

However, care should be taken in terms of developing overdependencies or undue protectionism that can lead to unnecessary organizational politics and the resulting wastage of talent focused on survival in aligning with the stronger party, rather than, thriving with prudent advice.

Thank you Murad.... wise thoughts. I am sure that there is a great deal more to be said about each of these topics and I am hopeful that others will weigh in with comments too. Patty De

Murad S. Mirza