Consultant = Court Jester

I’ve just found a very interesting entry in David Maister's blog, called Passion, People and Principles. The entry is entitled The Dream Job?, It’s basically an excerpt from “Lear’s Fool: Coping With Change Beyond Future Shock” by D. Verne Morland.

It compares the role of a court jester to that of a consultant. Just think about it. Consultants are supposed to be those respected outsiders who can overstep the “corporate mark” and can make disturbing and provocative announcements to improve their clients’ condition.

But instead, many consultants are too busy stretching assignments and inflating billable hours by doing what’s beneficial to them almost regardless of whether or not it’s beneficial to their clients.

This article will give you both a good laugh and maybe (I hope) a few minutes of serious pondering upon our roles as consultants.

Of Sailors and Mountaineers: The Inherent Dangers of Internal Competition

I’ve just realised that I made a pig’s ear of the last newsletter issue. I uploaded everything correctly to the server, and then sent a test message to myself to test the link to make sure it works. And then I went back and sent out the announcement.

And what happened? I sent it out to my test list, which is my own email address. So, I received it in due course but no one else.

Having rectified the problem one week later, here I send the link for the latest issue: Of Sailors and Mountaineers: The Inherent Dangers of Internal Competition.

Hopefully it reaches you this time and you find it valuable.

One little favour from you if you are in BC, Canada. A friend of mine is looking into employing one new person who can be employed on a government subsidy basis. The government pays one half and she pays the other half of the wages. Do you know how this systems works? Could you email me some pointers, so I can direct my friend in the right direction? Thanks a lot.

Thoughts?