Stuck between mediocrity and excellence

Thursdays are an interesting day for management consultants. (I'm going to steal a theme from a colleague of mine, so I apologize in advance).  On Thursdays, you look forward to flying home.  On Thursdays, the past 4 days of living in a hotel, eating out, and driving a rental car reaches its climax and you begin to crave your own bed, car, and a meal at home.  On Thursdays, you know that your time at the client is coming to an end and you have some flexibility Fri-Sun to cram your in your personal life (seeing your mom and dad, hanging out with friends, and doing stuff around the house.) And on Thursdays, time in a city or town that you would never think of living in during your lifetime actually seems like a decent place to live and work.  Granted, there are weeks where this is a flight out Sunday and flight back Friday. Those are the exceptions. But the reality is that Fridays are less welcome then Thursdays. Thursdays are the days where you are about to go cr...

In 1981, I remember my dad taking me to Eastland Mall in Charlotte to sign me up and play on a more competitive soccer team. The one thing that I associated with playing on a competitive team was trying out which meant a possibility of failing. For a kid that sees the glass half empty, playing for this team did not seem like an attractive proposition. My dad had to basically drag me along to the kiosk where the coach of the team, Don Stout, was there talking to parents of prospective players. I remember vividly how my dad explained that I was a goal scoring machine in the leagues that I was playing in and how Coach Stout got visibly excited about my potential.  Meanwhile, I was hiding behind my dad watching 2 other kids - each in soccer uniforms- running around the mall. Those 2 kids were Coach Stout's son - DJ, and Donnie - who would both be my teammates for the next 8 years of my life. Call it silly, but as soon as I saw how cool those uniforms were, I tugged at my dad and shyly ...

Being at a level in consulting before you enter the promised land (Partner, Principal, Director) is like entering the general population in prison. Now keep in mind that what I know about prison is what I get from watching HLN, Oz on HBO, and some of those prison specials on Nat Geo. That's close enough for me. I think that it's about as good an understanding as I'll get without committing a major felony of some sort. All I know is that being in the general population is not a place you want to be and you want to shorten that period of time as much as possible. Early parole is definitely an aspiration.  To survive in the general population, I think a lot of the similar tactics would have to be applied: You have to align yourself with the head gang in the prison You have to compromise some of your values in order to stay alive (employed) and get ahead You have to barter what you have with others in order to generate meaningful transactions Sometimes the best jobs are the...

I've always believed that being a good manager of people and being a good leader requires full transparency. To me this means explaining the 'why' behind certain decisions and not hiding communication from your direct reports. Because I am extremely approachable and transparent, I think this gets me into trouble. Staff that 'report' to me don't draw the line. The line between a reporting structure and a friend is completely blurred.  That's probably what separates me from a 30 year old that acts like they are 40. There is an air of authority / or what I'll call professionalism that I don't demonstrate which is probably what's been holding me back in my goal of climbing up the corporate ladder. So what makes me a bad poker player is also what is holding me back. You can see my emotions on my face, staff genuinely get along with me - to a fault, and I do not hide anything from anyone. This isn't good. Now that I recognize that I have an issue, ...