To pay a man for driving a nail into two planks of wood you measure the worth of the job, monitor the time and materials taken and assess whether it is done well or badly. You may negotiate the price but “the labourer is worthy of his hire.”

More difficult is assessing the price and value of good thinking, a rare commodity that cannot be easily measured; it weighs nothing and the act of thinking is not confined to a special time or place. Some think best in the shower, others when exercising. Many think in small doses – an idea churning around in their minds for a long time – and the solution or invention pops out when they least expect it.

A tip for creative thinking: when a problem gets too difficult, forget about it for a while. The solution may emerge while you are asleep. Our brains work in mysterious ways and at unpredictable times.

How then are we to weigh the value of consultation, work done to help a business or individual onto the right track?

Not by hours of attendance at an office; all that guarantees is presence. It does not predicate thought. Is length of report a measure? I would say ‘yes, but not in the way most people would think’. Long reports are usually full of hot air and jargon. Good thoughts can generally be expressed simply and briefly. Be especially wary of expensively dressed reports; they contain the worst conclusions.

How can you assess the quality of advice? In my opinion, very simply. If it seems obvious and you are tempted to say ‘I could have thought of that myself’ then it is probably useful advice. Common sense is most uncommon but it is always recognizable.

Here are some points to ponder about anyone offering to help your business or your life:

Do his questions to me get straight to the heart of the matter? Are they about the real problem or opportunity? Easy to ask about trivial matters, hard to ask difficult questions.

Does he keep on asking questions – maybe even repeating them – after you think you have answered them? If so, excellent. First answers are often the ‘public’ answers, what we would like everyone to think, answers that excuse us or avoid making us look stupid. The real answers usually lie behind them.

Does he probe your answers or does he just accept what you tell him? Often the best advice is not about the brief but about the approach to finding the answer. In my mentoring I try to get Mentees, whether individuals or companies, to come to their own conclusions – with my help. Then they truly understand and believe what they have decided.

Does he suggest way out ideas to stimulate thought about the problem or opportunity? You do not have to have an official brainstorming session to benefit from whacky thinking. The best conclusions in the world come from freeing the mind, not from boxing it.

Does he encourage you to ask him questions? A good advisor learns more about you from the questions you ask than from the information you supply to him. The root of all problems is how we see things. Your questions reveal this.

Does he push you to look beyond the immediate horizon? While it is obviously important for the advisor to keep his feet firmly on the ground it is equally important that you occasionally get your head above the clouds. That’s where the air is clean and the vision distant.

Only those who can see their goals clearly, reach them.