Are You Looking for an Energetic, Non-Traditional Speaker for Your Event?

My speeches and workshops are customised to achieve specific pre-defined objectives, like acquiring better talents and clients, raising fees, delivering services in more valuable ways, improving teamwork, deepening brand recognition, etc.

Before designing the programme itself, I ask clients to plan both the objectives (what to achieve) and the goals (actions after the event) of the programme, and define what sort of quantitative and qualitative improvements they want to see at the firm as a result applying the new knowledge.

In designing programmes, I look at issues like...

...Is the session designed to serve as a tactical "How to..." discussion on certain aspects of daily operation and management; or a strategic purpose of the firm, that is, big picture thinking relating to the firm's overall direction and vision?

...Is the session meant to be broad and shallow, covering many topics; or narrow and deep, allowing us to explore a few specific subjects in considerable depth?

...Is the programme purely informative and educational, or is it "provocation" and inspiration for massive action?

...What is the audience looking for in the programme? Is it insights, and new perspectives or practical "How to..." tips?

...Do you want me to speak as a generalist on your industry in general, or are you looking for firm-specific advice?

...How do you want your visuals to be presented to your team?

When it is up to me, I prefer the plain old flipchart, for it allows the highest level of interaction, and the more interaction there is, the more of the presented material will "stick."

Since each type of presentation requires different time frames and amount of preparation, all I ask you is to think about these issues well in advance, and give me adequate notice to prepare.

Now you may ask what topic(s) I speak on.

There are no topics here. A consulting firm, that is, the Professional Knowledge Firm, unlike a traditional "labour based" industrial organisation, is the only non-compartmentalised business model. It's like a tight-knit super-flexible and hyper-agile commando versus a highly segmented and rigidly compartmentalised behemoth army.

In an army you have fighter planes, heavy horses, submarines, archers, tank regiments, light cavalry and other units. That is, you have specialists with deep and narrow skill sets. In contrast, in a commando you find cross-trained generalists with deep understanding of multiple skills. Each member of the commando can shoot, use the radio, administer first aid and CPR, use explosives, throw knives, scuba dive, skydive and drive various military vehicles.

Or using a sports example… Compare sprinters to decathletes. Yes, decathletes are not as fast on the 100m dash as sprinters, but they have nine more skills which they are very very good at, while sprinters are utterly incompetent.

Consulting firms are the proverbial Swiss army knives in the world of commerce. And just like the Swiss army knives with all the tools hidden in the handle, firms may not look much on the surface. But just as you start using the tools on that knife, firms too become extremely potent when they start applying their intellectual capital to advance their clients' causes.

And when you take a closer look at a successful consulting firm, the overall dynamic of the firm bears a nipplepiercingly close resemblance to a military commando. There is no sales department, no marketing department, no shipping department, no purchasing department, no human resources department. Partners and associates share each function among themselves.

Maybe this is the reason why the military is often referred to as the "Ultimate Professional Service Firm". And being a former military myself, I often recognise why this mysterious "Ultimate" is missing from so many firms. And this mysterious "Ultimate" is the soft stuff, like energy, passion, enthusiasm, inspiration and a euphoric desire to be the best people can be. It more character than merely better skills. More culture than merely savvier strategy. More inspiration than merely more efficient operation.

So, the forever recurring theme is how to create better bottom line for the firm and more fulfilling careers for the firm's people by delivering more value with less time and effort.

And here is the problem. To bring the "Ultimate" into consulting firms, they must be willing to change the "Being" of the firm not merely the "Doing". In consulting firms it's the people and their character who shape the firm's character and in turn make or break the firm's future.

For instance, you can have the best marketing plan but if your people's overall belief is that marketing is dirty and slimy, then nothing will happen.

So, everything must start with the people. Undiscovered management genius, General Patton was dead right when he said...

General Patton on Winning... "It's the cold glitter of the attacker's eyes not the point of the questing bayonet, that breaks the line. It's the fierce determination of the driver to close with the enemy, not the mechanical perfection of the tank, that conquest the trench. It's the cataclysmic ecstasy of the conflict in the fighter, not the perfection of his machine gun, which drops the enemy in flaming ruin. Yet volumes are devoted to armaments and pages for inspiration."

And have you noticed that the "Ultimate Professional Service Firm" never hires impressive resumes. The army knows that the past has nothing to do with the future people of the right character can learn all the necessary skills.

There is one topic I don't speak on and never will: Motivation. It doesn't work... Never has and never will. Why? Because unlike inspiration, which is an internal voice coming from the heart and soul, motivation is an external force being inflicted upon us by others convincing us to do what they want us to do to fit into their agendas. See traditional selling: By my stuff because it's good for my piggy bank.

Someone once said, "I would rather restrain a fanatic than try to resurrect a corpse". And although the two musical geniuses, Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry named their brilliant band Dead Can Dance, as a former crematorium attendant, embalmer and gravedigger I can report to you that the dead CANNOT dance and cannot be motivated. So, if your firm is staffed with zombies, then there is no help except removing them.

But in my experience, zombies are attracted only to "zombie" cultures which can be changed if the firm's leaders are willing to change.

So if this "More margin with less labour" and the "Ultimate Professional Service Firm" concepts are attractive to you, we may have a connection. Let me know.