[A previous trio, Part 1a , Part 1b , and Part 1c, covered the rules of engagement with clients.]

Holmes sat for some time in silent thought. He had lit the oldest and foulest of his pipes.
“I am not clear yet what you want me to do in this matter, Mr. Mason,” he said at last. “Can’t you make it more definite?”

The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place

Three decades of experience in affordable housing finance, alongside the great detective Sherlock Holmes, the Compleat housing finance consultant, has given me insight into the profession of consulting, and to the services and activities requisite to success.  A hundred years hence, New York City will give rise to the ultimate consultants, the Ghostbusters, but in nineteenth century London, Holmes reigns supreme, because his services are comprehensive.

B6.       Asks all the questions the client finds it difficult to ask

A specialist, be he doctor, lawyer, or affordable housing consultant, must be fully expert in his field, and thus must delve into the muck of human existence:

“He appears to have a passion for definite and exact knowledge.”
“Very right too.”
“Yes, but it may be pushed to excess. When it comes to beating the subjects in the dissecting-rooms with a stick, it is certainly taking rather a bizarre shape.”
“Beating the subjects!”
“Yes, to verify how far bruises may be produced after death. I saw him at it with my own eyes.”

Chapter 1, A Study in Scarlet

When Holmes struck, he knew what he was striking and what effect it would have.

B7.       Identifies the relevant information from a welter of data

As an expert, the consultant can identify what information is critical to uncover, can extract it from sources, and can then arrange the information into a format suitable for interpretation, which the consultant then provides to the client. 

“It is of the highest importance in the art of detection to be able to recognize, out of a number of facts, which are incidental and which vital. Otherwise your energy and attention must be dissipated instead of being concentrated.”

The Reigate Puzzle

Holmes grunted from the sofa.
“The county police ought to make something of that,” said he; “why, it is surely obvious that– –”

All that scrying of entrails is for the purpose of making explicit a vision of the proposed transaction, so that at each time a new fact or resource is added, the consultant is able instantly to update the projection and give the client real-time guidance.

“It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”

The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet

Eliminating the impossible on behalf of Alexander Holder

B8.       Creates options and does not foreclose them

The consultant is the expert, Holmes once lectured me.  The client not required to be an expert.  Not for clients to develop theories, design alternative financial structures, or create options.  That is our job.

When Miss Violet Hunter was puzzled by events at her situation, Holmes spared no effort to decipher them.

“I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we shall no doubt find waiting for us.”

The Adventure of the Copper Beeches

B9.       Makes things decisionable

An effective consultant is like a hound on a leash, Holmes once commented to me as we were being hauled through the streets of London by Toby, a half-spaniel, half-lurcher with an infallible nose.  It is his job to lead the client unerringly to the decision point, and then let the client decide.

Like his bloodhound Toby, Holmes was relentless when scenting a solution

A good consultant thus works for his client by operating independently within the absolute limits of his remit.  There is no need to ask the client for permission to do things which are preparatory or technical in nature, and where no client decision is required. 

Nevertheless, in every complex matter, there come points where the client must choose:

“It was not the wife; it was the children,” groaned the prisoner. “God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My God! What an exposure! What can I do?”

The Man with the Twisted Lip

At such times, the consultant must sketch the probable outcome of actions, and invite the client’s decision:

Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him kindly on the shoulder.
“If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up,” said he, “of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the details should find their way into the papers. Inspector Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case would then never go into court at all.”

The Man with the Twisted Lip

Holmes gave Neville St. Clair a chance to redeem his life and his good name

B10.     Recommends to his client

Even as the consultant operates independently over large stretches of territory, there are some essential decisions that are the province solely of the customer.  Time and again I have seen Holmes nudge a client toward an answer, or frame it in a way that he hoped would yield a particular result, but as he emphasized many times to me, the ultimate decision is always and ever the client’s choice:

“God bless you!” cried the prisoner passionately. “I would have endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left my miserable secret as a family blot to my children.

“It must stop here, however,” said Bradstreet. “If the police are to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone.”
“I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take.”
“In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your results.”
“I reached this one,” said my friend, “by sitting upon five pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast.”

How to solve a complex problem: an ounce of shag

B11.     Puts the right team on the case, and manages his subcontractors

Even the cleverest consultant is but a single man, and some assignments call for teams of people.  Indeed, when portfolios are involved, or vast geographies must be covered.  For this the consultant needs to be able on short notice to assemble a team of subcontractors:

As he spoke, there came a swift pattering of naked feet upon the stairs, a clatter of high voices, and in rushed a dozen dirty and ragged little street Arabs. There was some show of discipline among them, despite their tumultuous entry, for they instantly drew up in line and stood facing us with expectant faces. One of their number, taller and older than the others, stood forward with an air of lounging superiority which was very funny in such a disreputable little scarecrow.

For all that they were street urchins, the Irregulars were professional

“Got your message, sir,” said he, “and brought ’em on sharp. Three bob and a tanner for tickets.”

Holmes had a romantic view of street Arabs, as we called them.  These homeless children, byproducts of the Victorian slums, suffered exploitation, violence, and disease.  Nevertheless, London’s slums were hives of entrepreneurialism, and Holmes, like any good prime contractor, dealt equitably with his subcontractors:

“Here you are,” said Holmes, producing some silver. “In future they can report to you, Wiggins, and you to me. I cannot have the house invaded in this way. However, it is just as well that you should all hear the instructions. I want to find the whereabouts of a steam launch called the Aurora, owner Mordecai Smith, black with two red streaks, funnel black with a white band. She is down the river somewhere. I want one boy to be at Mordecai Smith’s landing-stage opposite Millbank to say if the boat comes back.”

Holmes also knew how to delegate and to insist upon subcontractor accountability:

“You must divide it out among yourselves and do both banks thoroughly. Let me know the moment you have news. Is that all clear?”

“Yes, guv’nor,” said Wiggins. “The old scale of pay, and a guinea to the boy who finds the boat.” “Here’s a day in advance. Now off you go!”

They were named Irregulars but they performed yeoman service.

He handed them a shilling each, and away they buzzed down the stairs, and I saw them a moment later streaming down the street.

We should note that just as Holmes could be a deniable ambassador for his client, the Irregulars were deniable ambassadors for Holmes.

“If the launch is above water they will find her,” said Holmes as he rose from the table and lit his pipe. “They can go everywhere, see everything, overhear everyone.”

The Sign of the Four, Chapter 8

B12.     Executes decisions made wholeheartedly, even if having disagreed

I never had occasion to record it in my diary – Holmes forbade me even to document it privately – but on a handful of occasions, Holmes was called upon to execute client instructions he had counseled against.  Considerations of state occasionally intervened, the tawdry business of diplomacy being a field of endeavor that Holmes eschewed entirely.  More commonly the client made a dreadful blunder, and Holmes was then consulted a second time to minimize the damage. 

If that happened, the client emerged shaken, grateful, and in awe of Holmes, and thus the perfect referrer of interesting cases:

I read as follows:

Sir:
Our client, Mr. Robert Ferguson, of Ferguson and Muirhead, tea brokers, of Mincing Lane, has made some inquiry from us in a communication of even date concerning vampires. As our firm specializes entirely upon the assessment of machinery the matter hardly comes within our purview, and we have therefore recommended Mr. Ferguson to call upon you and lay the matter before you. We have not forgotten your successful action in the case of Matilda Briggs.

“Matilda Briggs was not the name of a young woman, Watson,” said Holmes in a reminiscent voice. “It was a ship which is associated with the giant rat of Sumatra, a story for which the world is not yet prepared.”

The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire

“Yes, here we find Vavasoeur, and Vandeleur and the Giant Rat of Sumatra

The world is still not prepared …

 [Continued in Part 3a.]

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The blog, Watson, is a most valuable institution, if you only know how to use it.

The Adventure of the Six Napoleons

In my three decades of experience accompanying my friend Sherlock Holmes, the world’s foremost consulting housing finance detective, the Compleat Consultant, I have seen him solve mysteries far and wide, and use methods both of detection and reasoning that have been justly celebrated around the world.  Yet there was more to Holmes that a magnifying glass or a microscope – or even of his logic.  Holmes had the activity and energy that even his great brother Mycroft lacked:

“That Mycroft should break out in this erratic fashion! A planet might as well leave its orbit.”

“Find an answer to all these questions, and you will have done good service for your country.”
“Why do you not solve it yourself, Mycroft? You can see as far as I.”
“Possibly, Sherlock. But it is a question of getting details. Give me your details, and from an armchair I will return you an excellent expert opinion. But to run here and run there, to cross-question railway guards, and lie on my face with a lens to my eye–it is not my métier. No, you are the one man who can clear the matter up. If you have a fancy to see your name in the next honours list– –”
My friend smiled and shook his head.
“I play the game for the game’s own sake,” said he. “But the problem certainly presents some points of interest, and I shall be very pleased to look into it. Some more facts, please.”

The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans

B.        Services and activities

Energy – an attribute, I know, not a service – is a sine qua non of the successful consultant.  A consultant’s mind must always been spinning with his client’s problems:

He sprang from his chair and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and unclasping of his long thin hands.

“I am going out now!”
“To the police?”

“No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may take the flies, but not before.”

The Five Orange Pips

B1.       Protects his client’s interests

Clients, he once told me with great exasperation, have the annoying habit of acting despite our advice.  Then he chuckled. 

I heard a sharp rustle, the night air blew into the heated room, and the avenger was gone.

On occasion those ruined by evildoers received vengeance.

If they did not, if they always acted wisely, why then there would be no clients for me, no emerald stick pins, no continuing stream of challenges.

When given the opportunity to do the right thing, he acted:

Hardly had the woman rushed from the room when Holmes, with swift, silent steps, was over at the other door. He turned the key in the lock. At the same instant we heard voices in the house and the sound of hurrying feet. The revolver shots had roused the household. With perfect coolness Holmes slipped across to the safe, filled his two arms with bundles of letters, and poured them all into the fire. Again and again he did it, until the safe was empty.

The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton

When I later asked Holmes why he had done this, at some risk to ourselves, he looked at me as if I were daft, and said merely, Common decency warrants no surcharge.

Common decency warrants no surcharge

B2.       Coordinates and communicates

A good consultant communicates.  I always told my patients both my prescription and my diagnosis and the observations on which it was based.  The patient being an actor in his own treatment, that knowledge would serve not only to calm their minds but also help them change their habits to speed recovery or prevent illness.  Throughout our association, Holmes delighted in secretiveness, leading to the breathtaking denouement.  That was an error:

One of Sherlock Holmes’s defects–if, indeed, one may call it a defect– was that he was exceedingly loath to communicate his full plans to any other person until the instant of their fulfilment.

Often Holmes observed and deduced things he could not communicate to others.

Partly it came no doubt from his own masterful nature, which loved to dominate and surprise those who were around him. Partly also from his professional caution, which urged him never to take any chances. The result, however, was very trying for those who were acting as his agents and assistants. I had often suffered under it.

The Hound of the Baskervilles, Chapter 14

It reduced his effectiveness.  In later years, when he had retired to Sussex to keep bees, he admitted as such.

“What I expected to see”

“I am sure that you inquired your way merely in order that you might see him.”
“Not him.”
“What then?”
“The knees of his trousers.”
“And what did you see?”
“What I expected to see.”

The Red-Headed League

B3.       Will be deniable-ambassador if required

As a consultant, one is the client’s agent – so one is often called upon to represent one’s principal in encounters with other parties:

“An illustrious client has placed her piteous case in my hands.  This fiend has several imprudent letters–imprudent, Watson, nothing worse–which were written to an impecunious young squire in the country. They would suffice to break off the match.  Milverton will send the letters to the Earl unless a large sum of money is paid him.  I have been commissioned to meet him, and – to make the best terms I can.”

The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton

Ambassadorship also works in the opposite direction, as when one wants to repair a breach or right a wrong, without exposing one’s principal to other parties:

Good heavens! what is this? Lord Bellinger! Lord Bellinger!”

As an ambassador, Holmes arranged the return of valuables without necessarily disclosing from whom he got them.

The Premier snatched the blue envelope from his hand.
“Yes, it is it–and the letter is intact. Hope, I congratulate you.”
“Thank you! Thank you! What a weight from my heart. But this is inconceivable–impossible. Mr. Holmes, you are a wizard, a sorcerer! How did you know it was there?”
“Because I knew it was nowhere else.”
“I cannot believe my eyes!” He ran wildly to the door. “Where is my wife? I must tell her that all is well. Hilda! Hilda!” we heard his voice on the stairs.

Just as Holmes sometimes agreed not to seek to penetrate another’s anonymity, he could persuade others not to try to penetrate his client’s:

The Premier looked at Holmes with twinkling eyes.
“Come, sir,” said he. “There is more in this than meets the eye. How came the letter back in the box?”
Holmes turned away smiling from the keen scrutiny of those wonderful eyes.
“We also have our diplomatic secrets,” said he and, picking up his hat, he turned to the door.

The Adventure of the Second Stain

A good consultant like Holmes is naturally curious about many things, so his inquiries will not necessarily reveal on whose behalf he is making them. 

B4.       Will play the attack dog if required

A consultant is more than just an advisor, he is often an ambassador, a spokesperson, an advocate.  Many clients are hesitant; they fear scandal, publicity, even confrontation.  They are unused to the waters in which we swim, and if presented face-to-face with their antagonist (such as Charles Augustus Milverton, whom Holmes dubbed ‘the worst man in London‘), they will show weakness that will be exploited. 

Enter the consultant, who can speak for his client’s wishes:

A Case of Identity

“The law cannot, as you say, touch you,” said Holmes, unlocking and throwing open the door, “yet there never was a man who deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!” he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon the man’s face, “it is not part of my duties to my client, but here’s a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat myself to– –”

Mr. James Windibank had no wish to discover to what Holmes intended to treat himself.

He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road.

A Case of Identity

After all, Watson, he said to me, our clients pay us not for our efforts but for our results, and I believe this one will be satisfactory.

B5.       Negotiates as required

Negotiation is a skill.  It can be earned.  Most people do not negotiate much, and few people negotiate anything and everything for a living. 

Holmes was gray with anger and mortification.

It was important here for Holmes to recognize that his own feelings were unimportant; all that mattered was the service for which he had been commissioned.

“Wait a little,” he said. “You go too fast. We should certainly make every effort to avoid scandal in so delicate a matter.”
Milverton relapsed into his chair.
“I was sure that you would see it in that light,” he purred.

When necessary, Holmes would swallow both his pride and his passions.

Negotiation involves a mutability of character, and the challenging task of being both aggressive for one’s client and alert for any signs or signals from one’s antagonist:

At the same time,” Holmes continued, “Lady Eva is not a wealthy woman. I assure you that two thousand pounds would be a drain upon her resources, and that the sum you name is utterly beyond her power. I beg, therefore, that you will moderate your demands, and that you will return the letters at the price I indicate, which is, I assure you, the highest that you can get.”
Milverton’s smile broadened and his eyes twinkled humorously.

Giving more joy than all the candelabra and butter dishes in London: Charles Augustus Milverton

“I am aware that what you say is true about the lady’s resources,” said he. “At the same time you must admit that the occasion of a lady’s marriage is a very suitable time for her friends and relatives to make some little effort upon her behalf. They may hesitate as to an acceptable wedding present. Let me assure them that this little bundle of letters would give more joy than all the candelabra and butter-dishes in London.”
“It is impossible,” said Holmes.

The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton

Negotiation involves knowing when to keep silent – to provide the other party space for reflection.  Writing blog posts similarly involves knowing when to adjourn until tomorrow.

Burning the midnight oil writing blog posts, eh Holmes?

[Continued tomorrow in Part 2b.]

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Not entirely devoid of interest 

“You are engaged,” said I; “perhaps I interrupt you.”
“Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one”–he jerked his thumb in the direction of the old hat–“but there are points in connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and even of instruction.”

The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle

Continuing my modest monograph on the consultancy attributes of the Compleat Consultant, my friend Sherlock Holmes, the world’s foremost consulting housing finance detective, we have seen that he can be both sympathetic and severe with his clients.  Holmes was no less severe and demanding of himself.

A11.     Will do what it takes to achieve the greater goal

If the cause required it, Holmes risked injury and death

Not only would Holmes take risks and exhaust every possible avenue, he also was willing to undertake the simplest, most tedious, or most personally embarrassing tasks if they furthered the client’s goal of solving the mystery:

“You’ll be interested to hear that I’m engaged.”
“My dear fellow! I congrat– –”

“To Milverton’s housemaid.”

“Good heavens, Holmes!”
“I wanted information, Watson.”
“Surely you have gone too far?”
“It was a most necessary step. I am a plumber with a rising business, Escott, by name. I have walked out with her each evening, and I have talked with her. Good heavens, those talks! However, I have got all I wanted. I know Milverton’s house as I know the palm of my hand.”
“But the girl, Holmes?”
He shrugged his shoulders.
“You can’t help it, my dear Watson. You must play your cards as best you can when such a stake is on the table. However, I rejoice to say that I have a hated rival, who will certainly cut me out the instant that my back is turned.”

The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton

A plumber with a rising business, Escott by name

Though personally a loner, a man without profane desires and sparing with praise, Holmes nevertheless inspired by example.  His commitment to his clients being so total, his absorption in his work ethic so great, that those around him found themselves rising to his standard, starting with myself:

“ Well, really, this is a very pretty little mystery! What do you intend to do, Miss Morstan?”
“That is exactly what I want to ask you.”
“Then we shall most certainly go–you and I and–yes, why Dr. Watson is the very man. Your correspondent says two friends. He and I have worked together before.”
“But would he come?” she asked with something appealing in her voice and expression.
“I shall be proud and happy,” said I fervently, “if I can be of any service.”

Chapter 2, The Sign of the Four

Readers know with what happy event my commitment was rewarded.

Once or twice Holmes used me, as he used himself and others, both for my labor and for my credulity, as when he sent me to Dartmoor and Baskerville Hall as his agent on the spot, while he secreted himself on the great Grimpen Mire:

 “Come out,” said he, “and please be careful with the revolver.”

“Please be careful with the revolver.”

I was astonished, and not a little peeved:

“Well, I am glad from my heart that you are here, for indeed the responsibility and the mystery were both becoming too much for my nerves. But how in the name of wonder did you come here, and what have you been doing? I thought that you were in Baker Street working out that case of blackmailing.”
“That was what I wished you to think.”
“But why keep me in the dark?”
I was still rather raw over the deception which had been practised upon me, but the warmth of Holmes’s praise drove my anger from my mind. I felt also in my heart that he was right in what he said and that it was really best for our purpose that I should not have known that he was upon the moor.

The Hound of the Baskervilles, Chapter 12

A12.     Does not exceed his brief

The converse of Holmes’s commitment to his client’s objectives was his readiness, one might even say merciful disposition, not to proceed beyond his remit:

“Once or twice in my career I feel that I have done more real harm by my discovery of the criminal than ever he had done by his crime. I have learned caution now, and I had rather play tricks with the law of England than with my own conscience. Let us know a little more before we act.”

The Adventure of the Abbey Grange

To be sure, Holmes’s discretion was also a form of threat; if the person on whom he applied pressure cooperated, no harm might come to her. 

He drew a small piece of cardboard from his pocket. It was the face of a woman cut out of a portrait.

“I thought it might be useful.”

“I have carried this because I thought it might be useful,” said he. “The policeman has recognized it.”
She gave a gasp, and her head dropped back in the chair.
“Come, Lady Hilda. You have the letter. The matter may still be adjusted. I have no desire to bring trouble to you. My duty ends when I have returned the lost letter to your husband. Take my advice and be frank with me. It is your only chance.”

The Adventure of the Second Stain

The consultant also prepares for contingencies, since when a matter reaches its head, one needs multiple action options:

Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand and a bundle of paper before him. “Just tell us the truth,” he said. “I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall not use it unless it is absolutely needed.”

The Boscombe Valley Mystery

“Farewell, then,” said the old man solemnly. “Your own deathbeds, when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace which you have given to mine.”

A13.     Is comfortable with value-based billing

While Holmes would occasionally take on assignments pro bono, or assist the police out of civic duty, he had the ascetic’s gleam for substantial recompense if the payor was wealthy and the matter urgent and critical.

“You would not think £1000 apiece an excessive sum for them?”
“I would pay ten.”
“That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? Here is a pen. Better make it out for £4000.”
“You have it!” he gasped. “I am saved! I am saved!”
The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom.
The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet

While Holmes would occasionally take on assignments pro bono, or assist the police out of civic duty, he had the ascetic’s gleam for substantial recompense if the payor was wealthy and the matter urgent and critical.

Holmes opened the case, and moistening his finger he passed it along the shoe. A thin film of recent mud was left upon his skin.
“Thank you,” said he, as he replaced the glass. “It is the second most interesting object that I have seen in the North.”
“And the first?”
Holmes folded up his check and placed it carefully in his notebook. “I am a poor man,” said he, as he patted it affectionately, and thrust it into the depths of his inner pocket.

The Adventure of The Priory School

From Holmes, I learned much about how to relate to and deal with customers, lessons I applied to my own medical practice.  Now I shall turn to the services and activities he provided once on the case.

It is paramount to examine all the evidence

[Continued on May 26 in Part 2a.]

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“I think that I had better go, Holmes.”
“Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my Boswell.”

A Scandal in Bohemia

Whenever I could, I looked in on Holmes

In looking over my modest chronicles of the various housing-finance exploits of my friend Sherlock Holmes, the world’s foremost consulting housing finance detective, I am struck that, although he has been endlessly willing to discuss his secrets for creating successful affordable housing ecosystems, and for deducing what has gone wrong in the real-world situations he confronts, he has never troubled to provide the world with the monograph on the business of consultancy that it would normally be his prerogative to claim.

“You know my methods, Watson – apply them!” has he often counseled me, even as he has chided me for romanticizing the business of affordable housing finance, and thus in this monograph I shall endeavor to articulate, based on my observation and deductions, how his manner of dealing, skills and attributes that have made my friend Sherlock Holmes so valued by his clients that high and low come from all across Europe and the world to seek his advice on their most baffling problems. To that end, and having explored via the vast set of information tubes on such masterly and profound disquisitions those of the ultimate consulting firm, I here offer for consideration the Adventures of the Compleat Consultant.

Throughout our long association, Holmes demonstrated an interest in cities.

Neither the country nor the sea presented the slightest attraction to him. He loved to lie in the very centre of five millions of people, with his filaments stretching out and running through them, responsive to every little rumour or suspicion of unsolved crime

The Resident Patient

Holmes thrived on London’s airs of mystery and intrigue

He is also an urbanist:

“Do you know, Watson,” said he, “that it is one of the curses of a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed there.” “Good heavens!” I cried. “Who would associate crime with these dear old homesteads?”

“They always fill me with a certain horror.”

“They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin than does the smiling and beautiful countryside.” “You horrify me!” “But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of a drunkard’s blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of country which makes the danger. ”

The Adventure of the Copper Beeches

Though Holmes lived for his work, as he often reminded in our adventures, he relied upon the humanity of London and Londoners to supply him with material. He was a consultant, initially humble in means if never humble in self-regard, and hence how he related to his clients was of paramount importance. And I, as a doctor, likewise had clients – patients – to whom I showed many of the same qualities and loyalties that Holmes did to his clients. Indeed, I have found Holmes’s rules of engagement regarding clients to be invaluable in many professional service disciplines, from affordable housing finance to the simplest of practical consultancies.

            A1.       Knows who his customer is and gives his loyalty only to the customer

So long as the client dealt honestly with Holmes, Homes had no doubts where lay his duties. High or low, rich or poor, no matter the circumstance, once Holmes had taken the case, he had assumed his client’s goals and objectives. He gave his loyalty to the customer:

There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing, and by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes’s finger-tips upon the edge of the table.

I found it remarkable how Holmes could look with dispassion on all who consulted him.

They must play fair with us, Watson, I remember him saying to me in the context of a case I have not recorded, and if they do, then we must play fair with them.

Then my friend rose and threw open the door.
“Get out!” said he.
“What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!”
“No more words. Get out!”
And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running footfalls from the street.

“After all, Watson,” said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his clay pipe, “I am not retained by the police to supply their deficiencies.”

The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle

A2.       Prioritizes his customer

In this world, every person is unique, every case different. A good consulting detective, Holmes counseled me, must serve every client as if she were his only client. That, he said, was the definition of service. When facing a client, he gave that client his whole attention:

Once Holmes was intellectually engaged, he could be suavity itself

Holmes rubbed his hands, and his eyes glistened. He leaned forward in his chair with an expression of extraordinary concentration upon his clear-cut, hawklike features.

“State your case,” said he in brisk business tones.

Chapter 2, the Sign of the Four

This does not mean the detective is limited to only one client at a time; rather, that each time the client needs the consultant, the consultant is there to provide assistance.

“I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner,” said Sherlock Holmes. “You may rely upon my doing all that I can.”

The Boscombe Valley Mystery

“You may rely upon my doing all that I can.”

Clients engage consultants not for their effort but for their results. The job is not merely eight to six, as it is in our modern London, nor even the more leisurely nine to five that I understand the Americans will come to favor, still less the thirty-five hour week that the French may choose to impose. Rather, a consulting assignment has a definitive objective or end in mind, and in its pursuit the consultant must be relentless and never-sleeping.

He seldom bestirred himself save where there was some professional object to be served. Then he was absolutely untiring and indefatigable.

The Yellow Face

Holmes never tired when there were mysteries to unravel

A consultant, Watson, must always be on call, and I knew that at any time, Holmes would honor me with his friendship and trust as he sallied forth to solve yet another riddle”

It was on a bitterly cold night and frosty morning, towards the end of the winter of ’97, that I was awakened by a tugging at my shoulder. It was Holmes. The candle in his hand shone upon his eager, stooping face, and told me at a glance that something was amiss.  

“Come, Watson, come!” he cried. “The game is afoot. Not a word! Into your clothes and come!”
The Adventure of the Abbey Grange

 

A4.       Never tells his customer what to want

 

As the range of human frailty is limitless, so too are our sacred and profane desires. Many thus are the clients who came to Holmes’ door, often desperate not just for their mystery to be solved but instead for their loved one to be returned, their honor restored, their secret protected. If Holmes accepted their cases, which he invariably did if the client was forthcoming, the puzzle difficult, and the time available, from that moment on he might flummox the police or deal duplicitously with malefactors, but never would he presume to instruct the client in his or her desires. If he took the case, it was to serve the client’s ends. 

Thus Holmes was always clear about his objectives. When brother Mycroft sought the recovery of the Bruce-Partington plans, there was no doubt in Holmes’ mind about what could be sacrificed or overlooked in pursuit of the ultimate objective. Similarly, when called upon to recover a valuable diamond, he was unswerving in his commitment:

When inaction was required, Holmes could be perfectly inactive 

“Yes, the great yellow Mazarin stone. I’ve cast my net and I have my fish. But I have not got the stone. What is the use of taking them? We can make the world a better place by laying them by the heels. But that is not what I am out for. It’s the stone I want.”
The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone  

In the end, as readers know, Holmes both recovered the jewel and captured the malefactors.  But there was never any doubt as to which he was prepared to let go by, and which was essential.

A5.       Never makes the client’s choice for the client 

Although Holmes never truckled at setting himself up as judge and jury where John law was concerned, he had no delusions of grandeur concerning his clients.

 

“Well, it is not for me to judge you,” said Holmes as the old man signed the statement which had been drawn out. “I pray that we may never be exposed to such a temptation.”
The Boscombe Valley Mystery  

He once said to me, in the course of the case of the politician, the lighthouse, and the trained cormorant, of whose particulars we were sworn to secrecy, that “a client, Watson, is owed our energy, our insights, and our wholehearted commitment to her problem – but neither our reproof nor our foreclosing her options. No client thanks us for superseding her right to choose for herself.” 

The first thing I knew about it was when I saw you two gentlemen driving back in her dog-cart.”

“And I had my doubts about you gentlemen, I should add.”

 

Holmes rose and tossed the end of his cigarette into the grate. “I think, Watson, that in your medical capacity, you might wait upon Miss Smith and tell her that if she is sufficiently recovered, we shall be happy to escort her to her mother’s home. If she is not quite convalescent, you will find that a hint that we were about to telegraph to a young electrician in the Midlands would probably complete the cure.”
The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist

 

More truths will be revealed in due course

 

[Continued tomorrow in Part 1b.]

 

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