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11 min 12 sec
Available in:English

The Trusted Advisor Fieldbook: A Comprehensive Toolkit for Leading with Trust

Shows how to earn trust with clients, colleagues and bosses by listening for feelings as well as facts, keeping the focus on the other person, and turning rivals and difficult relationships into working partnerships.

Table of Content

Many professionals work hard on their expertise and their pitch, yet clients, colleagues and bosses still keep them at a distance. In The Trusted Advisor Fieldbook, Charles H. Green and Andrea P. Howe place the cause somewhere less obvious: trust grows when your attention moves off yourself and onto the other person. A colleague who mentions a hard month, a client who sounds frustrated, a new team sizing up its new manager: each is a moment where that shift either happens or does not.

The authors treat trust as a set of habits anyone can practice, from listening for the feeling under someone’s words to admitting when you lack an answer. They carry those habits from a single conversation out to partnerships with rivals and to the work relationships that feel stuck. Expect a handful of lines to say and checks to run in your next meeting, your next negotiation and your next tense exchange with someone hard to work with.

In a meeting, a colleague opens up about a difficult personal experience connected to the project. The two responses most people reach for both seem helpful, and both can cost you the very trust you were hoping to build.

Being smart, prepared and polite still leaves some people oddly hard to trust. The authors name one more trait to pair with credibility, reliability, and intimacy, and that is keeping your self-orientation low.

A new client call or a first day leading someone else’s team leaves little time to win people over. Trying hard to be trusted can make things worse, so what actually speeds it up?

Two firms that usually fight for the same work decide to share a project. The authors use that picture to show what changes when everyone stops counting who wins, and who does the leading.

The client who fights every point and the boss who blocks every idea can feel like permanent fixtures. The authors suggest the way out begins with something most people avoid in a tense room.

Across every situation in the fieldbook, from a colleague’s hard month to a stubborn client, trust follows the same movement. Attention leaves your own performance and settles on the other person: their words, their mood, their interests, their fears. The skills look different in a first meeting, a joint venture and a deadlock, yet each one asks you to care about the other side’s success as much as your own and to show it in small, visible ways.

That makes trust something you can practice on an ordinary working day. In your next meeting, close the laptop and listen for the feeling under the facts, naming it when you hear it. When you do not know an answer, say so plainly. Before a first conversation, find one real thing about the other person’s work worth mentioning. And with the person you find hardest, tell them honestly that you would like the two of you to work together better.

None of this requires charm or a gift for speeches. It requires noticing, again and again, who the conversation is really for.

About this book

What is this book about?

Plenty of capable professionals polish their expertise and their pitch, then find that clients, colleagues and managers still keep them at arm's length. Charles H. Green and Andrea P. Howe argue that the missing piece is trust, and that trust depends less on charm or speaking talent than on where your attention goes. Their fieldbook treats trust as a set of habits. It starts with listening to tone, mood and emotion as well as words, and with clearing away the distractions and inner chatter that get in the way. It names four qualities that make someone trustworthy: credibility, reliability, intimacy and a low focus on oneself. It then applies them to building trust quickly in a first meeting, to turning competitors and other departments into partners, and to repairing work relationships that have stalled. Readers get specific lines to say, questions to ask themselves and small changes to try in their next meeting, negotiation or tense conversation.

Book Information

Rating:

Genre:

Communication & Social Skills, Management & Leadership

Topics:

Empathy, Listening, Trust

Publisher:

Wiley

Language:

English

Narrator:

Rachel

First published:

October 24, 2011

Pages:

288

Length:

11 min 12 sec

Get the book:

Amazon

Who it's for

  • Wanting client trust sooner

    Consultants, salespeople and advisors who want clients to trust them sooner.

  • New managers inheriting teams

    New managers taking over a team and needing goodwill from day one.

  • Working with someone difficult

    Professionals stuck with a difficult boss, client or colleague who want a calmer, more productive relationship.

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About the Author

Charles H. Green

Charles H. Green founded Trusted Advisor Associates, which helps professionals become trusted advisors to their clients and helps organizations develop trustworthy leaders and teams. After studying philosophy and earning a Harvard MBA, he spent twenty years in management consulting at The MAC Group and Gemini Consulting before starting his firm in 1995. Andrea P. Howe is a principal at the same firm, where she designs and leads workshops. She began in IT consulting, holds a master's in Organization Development, and has worked with clients such as Accenture and Deloitte.

Ratings & Reviews

Ratings at a glance

4.1

Overall score based on 40 ratings.

What people think

Listeners find this book to be an excellent tool for the Trusted Adviser, with one listener noting that it delivers helpful models for coaching engagements. The presentation is straightforward, as one listener observes that the material is quite easy to comprehend.

Top reviews

Hassan

This fieldbook is a masterclass in turning abstract relationship concepts into concrete, repeatable actions. While the original book laid the groundwork, this one provides the actual tools needed to execute on the trust formula in high-stakes consulting environments. I found the section on handling complex client interactions particularly enlightening because it breaks down the 'Self-Orientation' component of the formula into manageable behavioral shifts. Truth is, most of us in professional services think we’re trustworthy, but we lack a systematic way to demonstrate it consistently. The frameworks here are simple enough to use in a coaching session but deep enough to change your entire business philosophy. It’s an essential resource for anyone who actually cares about their clients' long-term success rather than just the next transaction. Highly recommended for those who want to move beyond the theory and into real-world application.

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Jan

The chapter on self-orientation was a total game-changer for my perspective on client meetings. We often focus so much on our own credibility that we forget the 'denominator' in the trust equation, which is where most relationships actually fail. This book takes everything we know at a subconscious level about rapport and makes it systematic and actionable. Not gonna lie, I was skeptical about another 'fieldbook' addition to a classic, but this one adds tremendous value for practitioners who need more than just theory. The tools and exercises included are actually useful for team training sessions. It’s resourceful, informative, and written in a way that makes you want to start changing your habits immediately. If you want to be more than just a vendor, you need to master these concepts. This is definitely the 'how-to' manual I wish I had ten years ago.

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Bee

Wow, this is exactly the kind of toolkit I’ve been looking for to help transition my team from 'service providers' to true partners. The Trusted Advisor Fieldbook takes the high-level concepts from the original and turns them into something you can actually use in a Tuesday morning meeting. The trust formula is such a simple, elegant way to think about professional relationships, and this book makes it feel achievable for anyone. Personally, I loved how the authors used simple, accessible language to tackle some really nuanced social dynamics. It’s chock full of useful material and frameworks that work just as well for internal team building as they do for external client management. This is definitely going on my list of 'must-reads' for every new hire in our department. It’s resourceful, informative, and deeply practical. Love it.

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Selin

Finally got around to working through this guide, and it’s clearly aimed straight at the professional services wheelhouse. What I appreciate most is that the language is incredibly accessible; the authors avoid the dense corporate jargon that usually plagues these types of 'how-to' business books. It’s a very practical guide to building trust without it feeling like some sort of gross manipulation tactic. Look, the reality is that genuine concern for others is the only way this works, and Green makes that very clear from page one. The book walks through common business scenarios and provides guidelines that are easy to understand and even easier to implement. While some sections feel a bit like filler, the core frameworks for coaching and client engagement are robust enough to make this a staple on my shelf. It’s a solid resource for anyone looking to deepen their professional connections.

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Cherry

As someone who coaches new consultants, I’ve found this book to be an invaluable resource for my training sessions. The frameworks presented are simple to understand, making it easy to explain complex relationship dynamics to juniors who are just starting out. It’s not just about being 'nice'; it’s about a calculated, genuine approach to building professional reliability. The trust formula is a powerful diagnostic tool when a client relationship starts to sour, helping you pinpoint exactly where the breakdown is happening. Gotta say, the layout of the book makes it very easy to dip in and out of specific topics as they arise in your daily work. While I agree with others that it drags a bit toward the end, the early sections are so dense with value that it’s still a must-buy for any consulting firm. It’s a clear, honest guide to doing business the right way.

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Narumon

Picked this up specifically to find new ways to apply the trust formula in my daily interactions with stakeholders. The book is clear: this isn’t a guide to manipulation or 'hacking' people. Instead, it emphasizes that your concern for others must be genuine if you want to see real results. I found the practical tips for different business situations to be the strongest part of the text, offering a clear path forward for even the most awkward client conversations. In my experience, most business books are too theoretical, but this one actually provides the 'how' alongside the 'why.' Some parts are definitely more useful than others, and a few chapters felt like they were stretching a single point a bit too thin. Nevertheless, the core message is vital. If you can learn to apply these strategies, you’ll work much more effectively with others. It’s a very solid companion to the original.

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Mason

Ever wonder why some consultants seem to have a 'magic touch' with clients? This book demystifies that magic by showing that trust is actually a skill that can be learned and measured. While I’ve read a lot of books on organizational development, this one stands out because of its focus on the 'Fieldbook' aspect—it’s designed for practitioners, not academics. The book walks you through common business situations and gives you a script and a mindset to navigate them successfully. Truth is, building trust is the starting place for all great relationships, business or otherwise, and this guide helps you on both fronts. I did feel that the second half dragged a little, but the value in the first 100 pages more than makes up for it. It's a great resource for anyone in professional services who wants to stop guessing and start building real rapport.

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Iff

After hearing so much buzz about the trust formula, I was eager to dive into this practical guide. To be fair, the first few chapters are absolute gold and easily worth the price of admission on their own. They provide a clear roadmap for building credibility and reliability that I started using immediately with my team. However, as I got deeper into the second half, the content felt increasingly like general fluff that could have been summarized in a few pages. I found myself highlighting less and less as the book wore on, as it became quite repetitive and lost that initial punchy momentum. It’s still a decent resource for consultants, but you might find yourself skimming the latter portions once you've grasped the core mechanics. It’s a bit of a mixed bag, though the early insights are undeniably powerful for client relationships.

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Aom

Honestly, I have mixed feelings about this one despite its great reputation. The core concept of the trust formula is brilliant, and the first few chapters do a fantastic job of breaking it down into actionable steps. However, as the book wore on, I found myself highlighting less and less of the text because it started to feel like a lot of redundant information. It’s a very practical guide in theory, but the execution in the later chapters is a bit dry and repetitive. To be fair, the language is accessible and the frameworks for coaching are helpful, but I don't think you need to read every single page to get the point. I’d recommend reading the first half thoroughly and then just using the rest as a reference for specific situations. It’s a good resource, but perhaps not the page-turner I was hoping for based on the reviews.

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Ratchada

Not what I expected given the high praise for the original 'Trusted Advisor' text. While the first third of the book has some worthwhile reminders, the remaining two-thirds felt like a lot of general fluff and filler to justify the page count. Frankly, if you’ve already read the main book and have a basic grasp of the trust formula, there isn't much new here to justify the time investment. The writing style is simple to understand, which is a plus, but the content becomes so repetitive that it’s hard to stay engaged past the halfway point. I was looking for deep, granular tools, but instead, I got a lot of recycled concepts that didn't feel nearly as 'practical' as the jacket promised. It might be helpful for a complete novice, but for experienced consultants, it’s a bit of a letdown. I’d suggest just sticking to the original and making your own notes.

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Questions about this book

Charles H. Green and Andrea P. Howe argue that trust at work comes from shifting your attention away from yourself and toward the other person. They apply that idea to listening, to building trust quickly with new contacts, to turning competitors and other departments into partners, and to repairing difficult relationships. Charm and speaking skill matter less, in their view, than empathy, honesty and genuine attention.

The authors name four qualities. A trustworthy person is credible, reliable and someone others feel close enough to open up to, and they keep their self-orientation low, meaning their attention is on the other person more than on themselves. Practical signs include being honest and direct, showing you understand someone’s concerns, and admitting when you do not know an answer.

Go in expecting that trust can form fast, commit to building it without forcing how it happens, and center the other person’s needs. The authors’ example is a manager inheriting a well-liked colleague’s team: they research the people and projects beforehand and open a meeting with the marketing lead by discussing a recent successful campaign, respecting the past while showing excitement about the future.

Prepare to understand the other person rather than to counter every point, and look for common ground. Consider what fears or past experiences might drive their resistance. Be open about your concerns and hopes for the relationship, for example by saying you think you could work together better. Let small disagreements go to protect larger goals, and expect progress to take time.

It suits consultants, salespeople and other advisors who depend on client trust, managers stepping into new teams, and anyone working with a challenging boss, client or colleague. Its suggestions are small and concrete, such as closing your laptop in meetings, naming the frustration you hear in someone’s voice and asking whether both sides of a negotiation can benefit.

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