Hello all, I am tearing down the proverbial "fourth wall" here to tell you how much I appreciate you following my writing. We are still a small tribe, but a loyal one. Thank you.
I started The Daily PPILL as a pressure valve for the ideas boiling in my head, where the temperature got a lot higher ever since I have been engaged in consulting.
"I was fooled into thinking that I would just 'do more of the same', but from outside the corporation. I was a bit off"
The transition from the corporate world to a consulting function has been a gradual one. As I suspect many of you reading this, I was fooled into thinking that I would just hit the ground running and basically "do more of the same", but from outside the corporation's walls. To say it lightly, I was a bit off. Consulting has given me the opportunity to be a better professional and overall a better person, not just by the obvious time management challenges and client focus but by:
- Had to do a LOT of listening. It is no longer about me. It is the client's challenges and problems. And better, their solutions. The solutions that are at their reach. Not the ideal one, not the best one, not the one that "I am selling", but the one that works for them.
- Had to be more empathic. By listening to people, I had to be more culture conscious, learn about each person's personal challenges, hopes, and dreams and use those as context for what I hear.
- More maniacally focus on the truth and facts. If I have to make a recommendation, better be sure of what's going on. This can mean no recommendation until we find out. The good thing, is that we have these things called "hypothesis" and "experiments" to prove them wrong. Just more adjusted to process.
- Had to work on my confidence. In this new reality, yes, I still seek to protect the client and not ignite any unwanted rub, but I am not as concerned about corporate structure. I often get to talk to C-Level executives, or at least, present to them. And all of them put their pants on (or skirts if that's their choice) one leg at a time, just like me; and most of the time we get to talk about something that will benefit us both.
- I had to brag. I always thought that people should do the work, and let the work talk for itself, but in this line of business, people want to know who are they talking to, so I had to learn to talk shamelessly about my experience and accomplishments.
BETTER/BIGGER/FASTER
Just like in this industry, the only constant is change, and I have now decided to add one more skill to my toolbox. A few weeks ago I started the effort of becoming a certified ExO Consultant. ExO is a proven framework that allows any organization to become an Exponential Organization, the type that performs at levels that are tens of times better than their peers, and can give shareholders a 40x return. I expect this to open other interesting avenues to help individuals, established corporations and startups to continue innovating and to thrive in our changing world. As you may expect, you will be hearing more about this in the following weeks.
Thanks for being there!