Are You Courageous?
The Making of an Exceptional Advisor
We’re always at our best when we remove ourselves as the center of attention and instead have the courage to make our clients the most important people in the world. And there are many opportunities to do so; here are a few:
The courage to be open-minded. Too often consultants maintain a worldview based solely on what they know. This is antithetical to good consulting and the exceptional advisors who entertain all points of view, and are always open to new experiences and the new knowledge that typically follows. Exceptional advisors always keep an open mind.
The courage to not know. We’ve all seen know-it-alls who confidently espouse their self-proclaimed genius while betraying their ignorance. This phenomenon is known as the Dunning-Kruger effect, and it’s prevalent in the consulting world. It’s especially troubling because the same psychological mechanism that breeds overconfidence in incompetent people, leads highly competent people to second-guess themselves. There’s a happy middle ground we must strike; exceptional advisors are never hesitant to admit they don’t know something.
The courage to compromise. In a client organization filled with individuals who have, for years, competently – if not optimally – plied their trade, we would always do well to adjust our ways to suit their sensibilities. If we fail to consider conflicting inputs, those who have been ignored will at best work with us begrudgingly, and at worst go out of their way to make our lives miserable. Exceptional advisors happily entertain ways in which their approaches can be modified to satisfy their clients.
The courage to slow down. It’s human nature to want our value to be acknowledged, and the sooner our value is acknowledged, the better we tend to feel about ourselves. But we need to take our time, to carefully evaluate the context in which our clients’ problems exist, listen to multiple points of view, and allow the process to unfold naturally. We’re usually at our best when we act as facilitators, not agitators.
The courage to innovate. As exceptional advisors, we know when to take calculated risks. While best practices are brandished with abandon as we bathe in the safety of their proven effectiveness, they can become hackneyed and obsolescent. To be genuine thought leaders, we must invent, and courageously offer innovative approaches to solve difficult problems.
The courage to step back. It’s easy to get caught in the weeds, especially when we’re dealing with a subject about which we have deep knowledge. But if we spend too much time on minutia, we risk missing the forest for the trees. We do well when we step back and observe from a distance, gaining a larger perspective to which we then can tie our in-depth knowledge and expertise.
The courage to put skin in the game. We may feel pressured to put a lot of time into an engagement when far less effort will get the job done. When we agree to fix or cap our fees, we take on some of the risk, effectively putting skin in the game and demonstrating to our clients that we have confidence in our abilities to get things done in the time we suggest. That’s part of the credo by which exceptional advisors abide.
The courage to be vulnerable. When we think of our engagements as obligations to provide a service, complete an engagement, effect an outcome, or otherwise reduce our work to a mere transaction, we miss a valuable aspect of consulting. The quality of our working relationships helps our work dramatically by infusing it with a personal appeal. This requires a willingness to be vulnerable, to express our concerns and fears as we offer our solutions. Exceptional advisors understand this wholeheartedly and cherish the quality of their working relationships.
The courage to keep our mouths shut. “Better to be silent and thought the fool than open our mouths and remove all doubt,” so goes the saying. We may feel as if we have to speak up because we’re being paid, after all. While our value is certainly enhanced by what we know and what we say, it’s at least as important to listen, observe, and ruminate. So what we don’t say is often far more valuable than what we do say.
The courage to admit mistakes. We’re all human, and we all make mistakes. Sometimes those mistakes are detrimental to the welfare of our clients. A missed detail, an unanticipated consequence, an erroneous calculation or conclusion can throw us for a loop. While we go to great lengths to avoid these unpleasant circumstances, they can and will occur. When they do, the best we can do is own them, say “I messed up,” and offer a fix. The only way forward from our mistakes is to admit them, learn from them, and move forward.
The courage to be ourselves. To be effective, we must balance our humility against our confidence. No client wants to work with a consultant who lacks a little bravado. Our clients want assurances that we know what we’re doing, and that who we are aligns well with what we bring to their organizations. We only differentiate ourselves by daring to be authentic. We can only be authentic when we are unabashedly ourselves.
For a deeper exploration of bringing courage to your consulting work, pick up a copy of Rob’s bestselling book, The Courageous Consultant: Seven Keys to Becoming an Exceptional Advisor.