I recently listened to a talk by Alan Weiss, and it got me thinking.
The people in your organisation are your assets. Each person has unique talents that can be put to work to make your organisation a more successful one.
The question is though, where is that talent focused? Is it focused on your products, your services, your relationship with the customer? Or is it focused internally: people are unhappy with the compensation system, you got that job and I didn’t.
If you take 100% of your people’s talents, what’s the percentage? What’s the breakdown?
If 30% of your people’s effort is focused on internal affairs and you can redirect it so that only 10% of people’s effort is focused internally, then that is a major boost in productivity.
Focus on what matters. Focus on the customer.
[Game closed, no entrants, no winners.]
I haven’t written for a while, and have spent far more time lately on blog re-design, and fighting fires than on thinking about consulting and business strategy. Not ideal, I know, you’ll have to forgive me.
The good news is that reading my blog is not the only, or even the best way, to learn about consulting and strategy. One of the best ways to get experience is to get out there and talk to people who know more than you do, and more than I do.
To make things interesting, I am proposing the following game: interview a consultant, win a prize!
I have one A$500 Red Balloon gift voucher to give away which can be redeemed in Australia for a range of awesome gifts and once in a life time experiences (sky diving, hot air ballooning, bungee jumping, para-sailing, jet boating, laser skirmish, you get the idea)! RedBalloon is arguably Australia and New Zealand’s leading online retailer of experience based gifts, and the A$500 gift voucher could easily be yours. The gift voucher is valid until December this year so if you don’t like nice gifts or exciting experiences you can easily re-gift it, or sell it on eBay!
Here are the rules:
- Interview a consultant, entrepreneur or business leader. Talk to someone who has the skills, knowledge and experience that you would like to have. Talk to someone interesting, someone who inspires you. Talk to one person, or talk to lots.
- Record the interview. Write it down, record the audio, take a video, paint an oil painting, or do an interpretive dance. You are creative, and I’m looking forward to seeing what you come up with!
- Send me a copy of the interview by Friday 26 March 2010, Sydney time.
Once all the interviews are in, I will determine a winner, and publish the winning interview on this blog at the end of March. The winner will not only get the satisfaction of winning, the recognition gained by producing a first class piece of work, and the experience gained by preparing for and interviewing the person (or people) of their choice … the winner will also receive my coveted A$500 RedBalloon Gift Voucher which can be redeemed on the RedBalloon website.
Best of luck!
Ten years ago, what were you doing?
For me, I was just entering my final year of high school and gearing up to sit the final exams called the Higher School Certificate. Expectations were high! Our teachers told us that these were the most important set of exams that we would ever take because “a good performance will get you into a good university and ensure a bright future!” (what they failed to tell us was that a bright future requires, more than anything, a clear direction and the determination to overcome setbacks along the way). So, with no clear direction in mind, I took their advice to heart and have spent the better part of the last decade at university.
I end the decade with only slightly more money than with which I started it. A decade of study is a heavy investment, and I am pleased to report that I think it has been worthwhile after all. I have learnt a lot, as one would hope, and I can always dust off and sift through the piles of text books and notes if I ever forget something. The lectures and exams were instructive (and at times character building), but more than anything the years of formal study have given me the opportunity to meet, learn from, and become friends with a large number of exceptional people – some like-minded, some brilliant, some inspiring, all wonderful in their own way.
And so, I find myself ten years older, a little wiser, with a long and growing list of qualifications and many valued friends. Expectations are high and a clear direction is needed. Where to next?
Ten years from now, where will you be if you keep going in the direction that you are headed?
Note: Thank you to Robert Chiu for making this post possible.
1. The importance of a résumé
A résumé is a document which summarises your background and accompanies your cover letter as part of your job application. The résumé is important because it helps you to win an interview and will probably be used by the company to compare you against other applicants.
2. Personalise your résumé
- Be direct: clearly state your results and achievements
- Tell a compelling story: be mindful of how the experience and activities you mention in your CV affect the story that you are trying to tell about yourself. For example, if all of your experience highlights your analytical skills, you would want to make sure that your extra-curricular activities highlight other qualities, such as your communication and team work skills
- Easy on the buzzwords: avoid unnecessary jargon and technical language. Your résumé should be easy to understand.
According to Mariam Naficy
, qualities to emphasise in your consulting résumé include:
- Evidence of intellectual curiosity e.g. research thesis
- Analytical skills
- Communication skills e.g. member of the university debating team
- Business skills e.g. starting a small business
- Enjoyment of travel (include this information under “Personal”)
- Team work skills e.g. university group assignments, work experience
- Language skills
3. Structure your résumé
Structuring your résumé is important. There are a few tips to bear in mind:
- Employ consistent formatting throughout
- Place your name, address, phone number, and email address at the top of the résumé
It makes sense to organise the information on your CV so that it portrays you in the best possible light. The firm you are applying to will be interested in the following information:
- Education
- Work Experience
- Extra-curricular Activities
- Skills
- Personal (optional)
3.1 Education
If you have limited work experience, place your education first. If you have won numerous honors and awards, you may want to create a separate “Honors” section rather than list all of your achievements under “Education”. If your grades are not good, there are at least four ways that you can paint yourself in a more positive light:
- Highlight your marks in a particular subject. E.g. GPA in economics of 4.0
- Highlight your marks for particular years E.g. WAM for final year of 82
- Highlight your marks in your major
- Highlight your work experience. If you have relevant and impressive work experience you should highlight this in your cover letter, and provide supporting details on your résumé
3.2 Experience
Include paid jobs as well as relevant business-related extra-curricular activities; other nonpaid activities can be included under “Activities”.
There are a few tips to bear in mind:
- Arrange your experiences in a logical order (e.g. reverse chronological order)
- Outline your achievements and responsibilities
- Don’t include menial jobs, such as your stint flipping burgers at McDonald’s
3.3 Activities
Include nonpaid activities that you have undertaken outside the class-room. You may want to arrange this section in order of significance rather than reverse chronological order.
3.4 Skills
In my opinion this section is not crucial, but you should consider whether you have any special skills that would be relevant for the job e.g. computer skills, language skills.
3.5 Personal
This section is optional, and can be used to demonstrate your personality by including information which you couldn’t include anywhere else e.g. overseas travel, community service.
4. Sample résumé
To help you get started, I have prepared a sample résumé to give you an idea of what your résumé might look like when it’s finished.
Following on from the previous post which considered whether consultants are just highly paid scapegoats, let’s consider a common consulting stereotype which sheds some light on where consultants add value.
Consultants are people who borrow your watch, tell you what time it is, and then walk off with the watch.
Attributed to Robert Townsend, this well known stereotype conveys the idea that consultants charge a high price in exchange for providing you with information that you already have.
There is an element of truth here. Consultants do charge high fees, and can often provide common sense advice which appears to be no more than a statement of the obvious. While it may seem counter intuitive, there are 3 good reasons why paying consultants to provide “statement of the obvious” advice may be extremely beneficial. In particular, consultants are able to help an organisation by:
- Supporting organisational change: Politics, vested interests, and the force of habit can make it difficult to effect meaningful change within an organisation. Consultants can assist management by supporting organisational change in two way. Firstly, consultants are able to provide independent research-based support for a particular plan of action. This kind of external support can legitimise management’s plan, and provide an impetus for action by clearly explaining the reasons why the proposed plan of action should be undertaken. Secondly, consultants are able to engage with staff at all levels within an organisation. If employees within the organisation feel a sense ownership in the change process then they are less likely to resist any changes that are made, and the proposed plan of action is more likely to succeed.
- Accelerating information gathering: Anecdotal evidence suggests that employees are often more honest and open with external consultants than with their peers. As such, consultants are well placed to be able to collect more information more quickly than could be done by full-time staff members.
- Ensuring rigorous analysis: Consultants like to be in a position to provide their clients with clear recommendations and, in order to support these recommendations, they will ask questions, conduct interviews, obtain data, consider industry reports, and conduct rigorous analysis. The ultimate recommendation may be straightforward, or even a “statement of the obvious”, however the important thing is that the reasoning and analysis behind the recommendations are sound. By obtaining an outside opinion, management can avoid the inherent risks associated with rash and ill-informed decision making.
