Book excerpt: Learn what Geary Rummler means by Serious Performance Consulting (SPC) as you follow an extensive case study that shows what SPC engagement looks like and what a serious performance consultant does. In this examination, you'll see how to use SPC to: Find a viable critical business issue and establish how a project's success will be evaluated. Use a conceptual performance analysis framework to generate hypotheses for gaps in results. Establish the difference between "is" and "should" performance and the find the cause behind it. Specify a solution set that addresses all significant factors that affect the gap in results. "The idea behind Serious Performance Consulting According to Rummler is as simple as it is brilliant: Take a successful project and let the reader follow the performance consultant through the project. Geary Rummler tops it off with a play-by-play commentary in which he explains the consultant's reasoning and offers the reader the benefit of his experience." ?Klaus Wittkuhn, certified performance technologist and management consultant, Germany and South Africa "No smoke, no mirrors, no double-talk. This is much more than a how-to book; it's a professional development plan for any performance consultant who wants to master the craft." ?John Coné, former chief learning officer, Dell Computer, and consultant in organizational learning