‘Martial’ Consulting
I once had the opportunity to spar (that is, “practice fight”) with a world-renowned master, champion martial artist. I had 7 years of martial arts training, but this gentleman was far out of my league. Luckily, he was very nice to me and only defended himself (no attacks). He told me something I will never forget.
After our match, he asked me if I knew the difference between a master martial artist and a beginner. After much guessing on my part about quickness, technical knowledge, practice and various other obvious (and partially correct) answers, he told me that the biggest difference is this: a master is always thinking 27 moves ahead.
The truth is, at my level, I was reacting to what happened, but not predicting what would happen. He was way ahead of me.
This lesson applies perfectly to consulting. A consultant should always be thinking, as great consulting mentor coached me, “…not just about the car in front of you, or the cars you can see, but about the cars around the bend that you cannot see.” Eventually, you start to think about the future of cars. Then, the future of travel.
The lesson is to think as far ahead as your experience lets you. Practice it. Cultivate the ability to plan and predict. You will predict, and therefore prevent, many disasters this way. To your clients, you will eventually appear to be psychic.
Epilogue: During this sparring match, the master lost concentration for just a moment. Unbeknownst to me until days later, when he blocked one of my kicks, I broke one of his fingers. He showed no reaction. Two lessons from this:
- Do not lose focus, even when you have superior skills and experience, as they do not make you invincible.
- When things go wrong, do not overreact. Just deal with them.
