World Class PSO: Daily Thought (Trying to get back on track)

Before the summer started, I was in a groove - I was blogging regularly and feeling good about it. Then...summer happened. We had the biggest quarter in our history, we hired new consultants - nearly doubling the size of our team, and we started to make huge strides in maturing the delivery arm of our practice. It's been a good few months!! Now I'm back...

Later this week I will pick up my series on the "Top 10 Qualities of a World-class Consultant." Before I do, though, I wanted to share a quote from the book, 50 Success Classics, edited by Tom Butler-Bowdoin. Tom quotes from Born to Win, by Muriel James & Dorothy Jongeward:

"It takes courage to experience the freedom that comes from autonomy, courage to accept intimacy and directly encounter other persons, courage to take a stand in an unpopular cause, courage to choose authenticity over approval and to choose it again and again, courage to accept the responsibility for your own choices, and indeed, courage to be the unique person you really are."

It may sound corny, but I think this one sentence summarizes the life that we as consultants and project managers need to live. We need to strike a balance between competing forces: The needs of our customers, the needs of our employer, the needs of the delivery consultants, and the contract between all parties. We have to really, truly engage with our customers - care about their successes and failures - and listen carefully to what is being said...and not said.

I have told my consultants that they need to develop the self-confidence required to confidently tell the customer what they need to hear, not what they want to hear. I have also told them that they need to be professional and diplomatic in how they do so.

We walk a tight rope every day. World-class consultants are able to find the balance and be a truly trusted advisor for your customers.