Which Of These Six Deliverables Should Premium Consultancies Offer To Their Clients?

Once upon a time in Japan, a samurai lost his master. Not knowing what to do without a master to serve, he went crazy. Stark barking mad. And then in his mad state, he set out to find the solution to his problem.

As he was wandering from one village to the next and the next again, he heard about an old Zen master who claimed that knew the answer to any question. Our hero decided to find this Zen master and seek remedy from him.

After years and years of roaming the land, he found the Zen master's shack, and impatiently burst inside where the old master was meditating with his eyes closed. The mad samurai screamed at him and demanded him to tell him the difference between heaven and hell.

The Zen master totally ignored him. He continued his meditation without even bothering to open his eyes. By now, the mad samurai was as furious as a box of frogs. He went into a rage, drew his sword and was about to chop off the Zen master's head, when the Master said in a dead calm tone of voice and his eyes still closed...

A dimwit like you couldn't understand it anyway, so there is no point in wasting my breath on you. By then the samurai was so furious that steam was blowing from all his body orifices. I kill you, you miserable bastard!

He raised his sword and was about to strike, when the Zen master whispered: This is hell. At that moment, as if struck by lightning, the mad samurai stopped his sword mid-air and realised what the Zen master had just said. And what an arse he's made of himself. At that moment, he understood that heaven and hell existed only inside his head.

He understood that the world was neutral and it was up to him what he made of it in his head. He lowered his sword and praised the Zen master who was willing to teach him a lesson even by risking his own life. The Zen master opened his eyes, smiled and said: And this is heaven. This story explains that real progress can exist only in practice. Only practice can lead to real understanding.

Until we apply our skills, all we have is mere data and information inside our heads. They are as far from applicable knowledge and real understanding as grains of sand are from a microprocessor. Yes, microprocessors are made of sand, well, silicon, but there is an interim process.

Or think of coffee... As per the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA), it takes 10 grams of ground coffee to make one cup of brewed coffee. The coffee bean costs about $10/kg, giving you 100 cups of coffee. At Starbucks prices, this is about $500. What makes the difference? Anyone can pick coffee beans.

No big deal. But not everyone can sell coffee for $5 a cup. Business is the same is the same. Anyone can make gadgets.

But not everyone can sell it to the cream of the crop of the market at top dollars. And this is what we discuss in this month's gut-wrenchingly euphoric episode of Commando Consulting, entitled, Which Of These Six Deliverables Should Premium Consultancies Offer To Their Clients?.

Enjoy!