Consultant Peter Block defines a consultant as “someone who has influence over an individual, group, or organization, but who has no direct authority to implement changes”. He contrasts this with a surrogate manager, who is a person who “acts on behalf of, or in place of, a manager”. The key difference is that a consultant never makes decisions for the individual or group, whereas a surrogate manager does make decisions. Consultancy UK defines the role as providing “professional or expert advice in a particular field of science or business to either an organisation or individual”.