Consulting Capacity
Everything Steve Jobs ever said has been used by someone to add weight to their pet opinion. I wrote about cargo culting last week, and one of the most prevalent examples of copy/paste culture is the bastardization of Jobs's points of view.
You could interpret this in 2 ways:
consultants are frauds because they don’t build products
when you deflect accountability, you avoid real learning
My preferred interpretation is the latter. If you watch the 2 minute video, you’ll hear several critical points:
ownership over a sustained period gives you perspective
seeing your recommendations actually play out matters
the accumulation of scar tissue helps build up resilience
accountability extends to both planning and execution
operating at a superficial level is a missed opportunity
Having spent over 5 years in a consulting firm, I saw the anti-patterns above time and again. But it wasn’t always from the consultants. With 3/4 of my career taking place outside consulting, I’ve cross paths with tons of folks who aren’t owners, who lack resilience, who shirk accountability, etc. The reality is we all have “consulting capacity”, and it’s a trap we can all stumble into. If you’re thinking “not me”, ask yourself if you’ve ever used a Steve Jobs story to get around the fact that you’re operating “a mile wide, an inch deep” (watch the video)…
I’d love to hear from readers about situations where they avoided accountability and later realized it was an overlooked learning opportunity - please chime in via the comments feature below👇. And if you enjoyed this post, please consider subscribing!
childish drawing / interpretation
