Stuck between mediocrity and excellence

We are currently in the midst of writing volumes and volumes of information that dump the bowels of our firm on to paper so that our target client can evaluate us and thus,choose to spend a lot of money with us. The target client's request for proposal was pretty close to the size of the Bible. It looked like it was written by a lawyer and probably exceeded the weight requirement required by any airline before they charge you a baggage fee. That said, there are some lessons learned from this process to pass on so that I don't forget what I did wrong this time around. Figure out what the applicable sections or pieces of information are. We had a team member boil down the request to a book that fit in a 1" three ring binder. I think we spent 2 weeks trying to figure out what we needed to answer. Manage the process. Don't let the process manage you. We have a "proposal manager" that is trying to impose a process that has all of these steps and that actually ...

In the profession that I am in, "What have you done for me lately?" is becoming more common than not. It's amazing how quickly our leaders forget that they made a decision that impacted my direction and others and then forget about it weeks later. My job is about chasing clients and delivering work. Our organization is divided among several services and industries that claim ownership of one practitioner or another. If there are not any opportunities in your industry or service, you have to go to another one so that you can hit your goals. I actually think that it's a positive to go across industries because you can expand the pool of opportunity in which to sell and deliver work. The unfortunate thing is that every leader must protect their own kingdom or cell (see previous blog). It's kind of like being part of the mafia- my only reference being the Sopranos. If you go out and help a captain, it better be for the right reason of the boss or you'll end up ...

One of my favorite lines when I'm recruiting is that potential applicants should evaluate the consulting firms by the people. If you can develop a connection with the people that are recruiting, then you've met the likability criteria. Business is half how smart you are and half how many people like you. In the business that I am in, if you have an advocate this is powerful enough, you can almost get away with anything - up to a point.  I actually think that there are people liked so much, that others are willing to look past the content and knowledge of the individual simply because they like working and hanging out with them. I remember a project that I would consider a 'failure' on my part simply because I could not see eye to eye with the lead Partner. He was an extreme on the spectrum of knowing he didn't want, but not knowing what he wanted - or maybe I was too thick headed to understand what he wanted. Anyway, I remember his exact words were, "Perry,...

Today is what I will call a representative day of being a Sr. Manager. Keep in mind that I am being measured on 2 things: 1.) How much I sell (with a team); and 2.) How many people I manage on a billable engagement. Those two things drive my priorities as it pertains to work. So that means I go where there is an opportunity, sacrificing any personal or professional plans (up to a point), that I have in place. At the end of the day, I have to pay my bills and support a family. That's just life. Today, I cut my weekend with my wife in NYC short by getting on a plane out of La Guardia at 10 AM. Despite the intent of working, I instead slept until we landed in Dallas. At that point, American switched gates on us 4 times as we encountered a 3 hour delay for maintenance. For those of you that travel, 'maintenance' is one of THE worst reasons of all because you have no idea what that means except that it will be the longest delay you can experience. Upon arriving in San Dieg...

My latest analogy is comparing the business that I am in to a clandestine cell system. By definition, a clandestine cell - "only accounting for the leadership, can also be viewed topologically as a ring or chain network, with each leader/node heading their own particular hierarchy" [paraphrasing Wikipedia]. As I look across my profession, this is what I see - right or wrong. Let me go through a checklist as I continue to read the supporting paragraph in Wikipedia:  "Such networks function by having their sub-networks provide information and other forms of support (the ‘many-to-one’ model), while the core group supplies ‘truth’ (of interpretation of [said religion] in this case—spiritual and political) and decisions/directions (the ‘one-to-many’ model)." Check "Trust and personal relationships are an essential part of the [said group] network (a limiting factor, even while it provides enhanced security)." Affirmative "Even while cell members are ...

Call me lazy. But I'm posting a link to a blog that I can relate to. Bottom line for me is to not say 'yes' to every ask of me -- or better yet, not volunteer prematurely. (Although I think that is strongly encouraged at my level). At the end of the day, the only one that ends up suffering is me (or you) depending on who is reading this. There is a balance that needs to be struck among taking care of yourself, helping other people, and working the job. There is also nothing wrong with saying 'no'. However, if you love what you do, then I think the balance comes much easier. One day I plan to find that balance. http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/corkindale/2009/09/is_work_taking_over_your_life.html

As a person raised in an Asian household, there were a number of things that I learned.  Education is not an option. Going to college was not an option. Getting a Master's degree was strongly encouraged. Pursuing a PhD was on the master to do list. Work hard and you will be recognized. Somewhat true. But in the business that I'm in, you need to let people know that you are working hard. Place more of an emphasis on the team and not on yourself. Also somewhat true until performance review time. Somehow you have to make yourself look better than the person next to you. Kill or be killed I guess. A company or organization that you work for should align with your values. I have poor reading comprehension skills, but I believe that in the book, Tribal Leadership, aligning with values is one of the higher stages of leadership. One of the issues that I have - yet am fully aware of and understand - is that I have targets to hit and that could mean boxing out a peer o...

I was informed last week that we lost a bid for a multi-million dollar project. It was a proposal that I worked weekends and long nights on while managing and coordinating 40+ consultants to develop content. There were a number of things that should have led me to believe that we did not have a chance. But I had convinced myself that I should march to the orders of leadership and do the best job that I could. Let's start with my list of why things didn't pan out. We had no preexisting relationship with the target client or the company's decision makers. 9 out of 10 of these where we compete with a certain other competitor, we'll lose because of price (we knew this from Day 1) The team that put together the response was switched out with another team to do the orals presentation. The team that did orals had no idea of the effort or detailed content that went into the response. The client asked for local resources (i.e., New Jersey). We sent resource from Texas to le...

Flying home today, I thought to myself, "Why does it feel like Friday?" Is it the lack of sleep where days and hours are running together? Is it the fact that days are flying by because of the number of people that I have to interact with and the marathon meetings? I don't know. All I know is that I'm able to get coffee at Starbucks, but am skipping lunch. I can go for a run at 8:00 at night and eat late while I am reading a 90 page document, but I oversleep. There is absolutely no way that I could imagined my life like this 10 years ago. I have a number of Facebook friends and I have to think that their lives are normal. I see pictures of their kids. I see pictures of people on vacation. I see status updates that tell me that they are able to watch TV during prime time and not have to catch up on it on DVR. Lately, I've been getting very intimate with Kimmel, Letterman, and Fallon. At the end of the day, you have to ask yourself, "What is driving this t...

A former Sr. Manager that has since left the firm told me that as a Sr. Manager I had one of two choices - using a tennis analogy: I could stay back and play the baseline or I could rush the net. His key message was to never, never get caught in no man's land. That basically means one thing. Don't get stuck being someone's lieutenant. That said, I think that to compress your time at Sr. Manager, you have to continuously rush the net. Staying back and playing the baseline only prolongs the pain of being where you are. Here are my three things today: There is a way to work micromanagement into a process. I never thought it could happen in the environment that I work in. But by god, it's been done. There is such a thing as a 30 minute attention span - and that's pushing it. There is work to be done. Meetings should be scheduled to effectively manage the work and produce. The paradox of the government. How can an entity produce the largest RFP in the entire univ...

It's good to be home. There's something to be said for working in a city like D.C. But there is a lot more to be said to actually be in your own home and the city that you call home. It almost angers me to know that I have to get on a plane Labor Day evening - only to be quelled by the fact that I get to come back Thursday early night. To get on with my Labor Day weekend, here are my 3 things. I love college football. I will always love Tennessee football. Thank you dad for getting me hooked on Volunteer football. I can't wait until I have kids so they can do the same. A guy sat beside me on the plane today and asked me curtly to turn my cell phone off as the plane was taxiing to take off. He said, "please." But for some reason it rubbed the wrong way. I have yet to figure out why. What is the new normal in terms of work life balance. My philosophy has been that if you love what you do, then work life balance is a non issue. I still fear the day where I wake up...

It is now September and proposals are coming and not going anywhere. In a make or break year for me, it looks like things are breaking. If I had to estimate my time and what I did in the sales process, I would say that it's 95% written word and 5% potential client interaction. Wait a second -- I'm just a glorified Word or PowerPoint jockey! One of my rules is that clients buy people, they don't buy documentation. I'm breaking that rule! Every business development experience has been a new one for me this year. On this particular one, I have people working remotely. But there is something to be said for sitting in the same conference room and talking to a live person while you are working. It just seems more effective. Here is what I've come to realize: I know within 2 interactions with a person whether I like them, whether I can deal with them, or whether they are a waste of space. People take care of their own. Align with those type of people and you can do n...