Preface:
Before you start reading: Although this is a short post, several links are provided. These links provide illustrative and satirical support for the point I am making.The links are well worth reading.
The crisis OD is facing has caused many practitioners to sell their soul. Now “selling one’s soul” is a tough thing to admit, and we all probably look at other consultants and claim that they, not I, have sold out.
So I prepared a short quiz that will indicate the degree of having sold out.
There 6 signs may indicate the severity of the sell out. I am not going to define what this means, because, like pornography, we all know it when we see it.
The Quiz:
- You function as an order taker; the client orders OD products from your product suite.
- You avoid confronting the client because you need the income.
- You provide the client with clear delivery dates, before work has begun, because procurement wants it that way.
- You acquiesce to making OD a wow experience.
- You provide many clients with the same “best -selling” spiel.
- You cross dress as a change manager as needed to get the work.
If you agree with 3 of these statements, we know what profession you are in, so please quote the price.
Spot on–as an internal I have sold about 45% of my soul. the rest is practicing surreptitiously getting the clients to believe that it was their ideas in the first place. The hardest part is getting them to acknowledge that there is a problem in the first place.
As always thank you from the Big Apple,
Sylvia
At last, a test I can pass. It seems I haven’t sold my soul after all.
Thanks Allon – excellent … well stated … a very important message…. something we all need to have a ‘self-check-in’ from time to time… right on target… !!!!
Havn’t sold-out yet … I know the cost in and the gifts…. even through the tough times…
…starting to appreciate your wit…
Patrick
Merci!
Excellent! And yes, I have sold out at times. Ouch.
I can recall two distinct opportunities where I could have sold my soul. In both cases, they implied working for a large consulting firm. Both knew the price of everything in the OD product line, both ignored the value of OD.
I could have been a millionaire….really.
The best way to be a millionaire is to start a business in Israel with 2 billion dollars 😉
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