The Journey...

Carol, my wife and the love of my life, early in our relationship gave me an appropriate piece of advice. "This (life) is not a dress rehearsal - we only go around once".

I think back to when, at a much younger age, I believed learning probably slows down as one ages; learning in the sense of being exposed to new things and appreciating the newness or difference. Not true. There is one aspect about consulting that provides the "rush' for me and gets the neurons firing and that is new projects and the people I encounter. There can be a lot of sameness in the actual work and I still do categorize each consulting assignment based on what the norms tell me or past experience but each "job" is different due to the players. Even when I work with long time associates we seem to embark on a learning journey.

"In any trade or craft, competencies allow practitioners who understand the essential disciplines and principles involved to choose the tools (and methods) that will (help them) produce workable results" This is a somewhat paraphrased quote from the book: Clued In, by Lewis P. Carbone.

I provide services based on my tool kit. A tool kit of 35 years of experiences and also recently learned skills. Working within the technology sectors causes constant learning or a strong desire to jump off to run a small ice cream stand on the beach somewhere. The methods or tools I employ are not technology but I must work with and understand the client's product technology and the market where the product will be delivered.

There are basic factors in every job that I understood and know well; at least I thought I did. Many of these factors are ones I described in the previous article. But perhaps by chance or by natural selection or by progression or regression (the jury is still out on that) I undertook on a project that in all honesty had no hope of success. Success as I have defined it, or as it has been defined for me, over the years. Fundamentally: The project or enterprise business success.