Today I was told a great consulting proposal should be made up of 70% questions and 30% answers. While it's a rough guide, it's surprising. Writing a proposal is a response to a set of problems you have been tasked with solving, yet this suggests questions are equally, if not more, valuable than answers.
When I first started kayaking seriously, I would rarely finish a session without having sore hands. The friction between my hands and the paddle would build up until it rubbed the skin away, leaving painful sores. Other kayakers would try different techniques to prevent this, but I found the only thing that worked was to let my hands harden naturally.
Over the last eight years, I've worked with a lot of different companies as a consultant. One question I've asked every company is, 'what goals do you have?' and I cannot think of a single one that didn't mention growth. I have nothing against growth, but I wonder if it's always the right goal.
Every business wants to be a competitive success. We want to build great teams, that can continually innovate to delight greater and greater numbers of loyal customers while reducing costs and increasing revenue. However, for most organisations, this is a dream
Every time you send an email, launch a product or release something you created into the world, you’re exposing yourself to criticism. We’re all fearful of this criticism and maybe other things as well like wasting money, annoying someone in power or making a fool of yourself.