Work after summer vacation has me on two different tracks. One is the "business as usual" track with my ongoing consulting work – designing leadership seminars, running workshops, facilitating change processes. The other track is business development, of which I have hinted a little here on the blog. This has always been part of my work strategy. I don't profit maximize consulting, instead I try to strike a balance between that kind of work and more entrepreneurial stuff.
I've always been a somewhat reluctant consultant, and I've never really had the passion to become "the world's best consultant in area XXX". No 10,000 hours here (read Outliers).
What does drive me is developing new projects, concepts and businesses. Always small scale, always networked. I guess what makes me like these processes so much is that I get to work with smart people that CHOSE for themselves to get involved. Like I do myself. This creates a totally different dynamic, a dynamic that I have yet to experience in my client work.
My current business development "portfolio" is probably the most exciting in many many years. One super exciting leadership develpment product in the making, one awesome seminar and a small company with amazing potential that me and a couple of friends are setting up to buy. And they are all magically connected – through people and content. I would love to say more, but it'll have to wait a little.
The beauty of these three projects is that they allow me to integrate my two tracks. And the common denominator is the exploration of and practical experimentation in a new world of work and organization. Now, here I believe I've put in my 10,000 hours. I just haven't looked at it that way before.
I'm hoping this autumn marks a whole new level of work for me. Yes, yes.
//jan