Consulting Insight
Consulting Is Not Linear. Here Is What Actually Changes over time
A graph of how consulting changes over time that started as a bit of humour and turned into insight. One line says it all....
Technique
Is Your Program Actually Viable?
Missed dates and stressed teams aren’t the problem. They’re symptoms. The Viable Systems Model (VSM) can help consultants diagnose structural underlying issues.
Consulting Insight
So you're in the ADF and considering becoming a consultant
Leaving the ADF can feel like stepping onto a new map. What you need is the civilian language, a few consulting frameworks, and this 180 day plan to turn experience into influence.
Best Self
The Hard Realisation About Utilisation That No One Tells You
Many consultants mistake high utilisation for career security. It is not! When the chips are down, firms don't value what you have done. They value the relationships you have built.
Consulting Insight
Timesheets Without Tears: How to Make Them Work for You
Timesheets are necessary commercial hygiene in consulting, but they also reveal culture. Done well, they’re quick and useful; done poorly, they steal Fridays.
Best Self
ChatGPT Performance Review Simulation
A ChatGPT super script to gamify and simulate your next performance review to improve how you show up at the real one.
Project Management
The Anatomy of an engagement Status Report That Builds Executive Trust
Executives don’t ignore status reports by accident. They ignore bad ones on purpose. Good reports surface uncomfortable truths early and make it obvious where leadership attention is needed.
Technique
ChatGPT script to give you a winning consulting approach
Win your next assignment with structure, not luck. This script helps you craft a best-practice consulting approach through guided questions that turn ambiguity into clarity, delivering clear phases, outcomes, deliverables, and tools you can adapt for any engagement.
Best Self
Finding Your Consulting Superpower: 10 Ways to Uncover Your Unfair Advantage
In a world where AI and templates are swallowing the middle, being vanilla is a fast track to irrelevance. Your instincts, quirks and eccentric Éclat aren’t flaws; they’re what make you, you
News
Best of.....
Summer reading for those ConsultantCafe articles you missed or want to read again.
Consulting Insight
Lessons in developing an Investement Logic Map from the North Pole
Chapter 4: This is the 4th in a series on Santa's digital transformation. See my Investment Logic Map Framework here and lessons for consultants when they develop one with a client
Best Self
You were made redundant. Now what?
Im so sorry you were made redundant, but here are some tips to get back on your feet again.