Getting Naked

I'm not going to lie; Michael Casey was one of my least favorite people in the world. Even the mention of his name could put me in moderately bad mood.

And so, if you had told me a year earlier that I would spend four solid months of my professional life learning about him and his annoying little consulting firm, I would have told you it was time for me to change careers.

But that's exactly what happened, and I've lived to tell about it.

After focusing on topics ranging from teamwork and leadership to employee engagement and meetings, acclaimed management expert, consultant, speaker, and New York Times best-selling author Patrick Lencioni has finally turned his attention towards his own craft —consulting and client service. Tapping into the simple but powerful model tht his firm, The Table Group, has been built on for more than a dozen years, Lencioni presents what may be his most engaging, humorous book yet.

Getting Naked tells the remarkable story of a management consultant who is trying desperately to merge two firms with very different approaches to serving clients. One relies on vulnerability and complete transparency; the other focuses on proving its competence and protecting its reputation for intellectual prowess. In the process of managing the merger, the consultant is forced to learn life-changing lessons that prove to be as relevant as they are painful.

As he does in his other books, Lencioni provides readers with concepts that are accessible and compelling. Here, he explains the three fears that provoke service provides — whether they are internal consultants, sales people, financial advisors, or anyone else serving long-term clients — to unknowingly sabotage their ability to build trust and loyalty. And as always, Lencioni provides a practical approach for overcoming these fears.

• Introduction
• The Fable
• Part One: Theory
• Enemies
• Me
• Horrible Promotion
• Acceleration
• Band-Aids
• Part Two: Practice
• Contact
• Q&A
• Brass Tacks
• Discovery
• Gasoline on a Fire
• Backlash
• Debrief
• Messiness
• Show
• Recovery
• Anticipation
• Reentry
• Advice
• Part Three: Research
• Exposure Therapy
• Give Away
• Consistency
• Speed Reading
• Danger
• Digestion
• Counsel
• Endurance
• Test Run
• Humility
• Swallowing Medicine
• Preparing the Witness
• Part Four: Testimony
• Trial
• Offense
• No Holds Barred
• Sucker Punch
• Deliberation
• Cross-Examination
• Making the Case
• The First Fear
• The Second Fear
• Deception
• Further Explanation
• The Third Fear
• Dropping Shoes
• Gut Check
• Onward
• The Model
• The Origins of Getting Naked
• Naked Service Defined
• Shredding the Three Fears
• Broader Applications of Nakedness

As usual, it is more like an advertising brochure, with extremely short chapter, and one small message per chapter. Idiotic plot, stupid characters, as usual in the type of business-book-as-a-novel that seems to be so popular after The Goal became a success.

But it contains a core message that somewhat still rings true, so it is worth reading, despite all it flaws.