 Photo by Craig Adderley I often reflect on the daily grind and wonder how we get through it. The stresses of work and family alone can drive one to the funny farm. Why do we do this to ourselves? We can come up with plenty of reasons, but we still need to keep our lives in check before it is too late.
A good friend of mine just told me about one of his friends who passed away last weekend by slipping off an infinity pool and breaking his neck. He was 38 years old. Another close friend of mine decided to take a weeklong vacation to enjoy a break from his stressful work schedule only to have his vacation plans blow up on his first day. His accommodations fell through upon arrival. He had to scramble to find new accommodations while keeping his pregnant wife and 7-year old daughter happy on day 1 of a much anticipated weeklong vacation. Stressors can hit us from all angles. Kids act like kids when we want them to act like adults. Clients act like kids when we want them to act like adults. Even spouses act like kids when we want them to act like adults. Whatever the situation, they can pile up to the point where our blood pressure goes up to unhealthy levels, sleep deprivation sets in, our overall health gets neglected, and our quality of life suffers for an inordinate amount of time. This state of being can take years off of our lives if we don't do something about it.  Photo by Sora Shimazaki I met with a fellow consultant this week over Zoom who often operates as a fractional Chief Listening Officer for his clients. This is a C-Suite title I have never heard of, yet I love it!
His clients, primarily law firms, hire him to meet with their clients to gather feedback on how the firm is doing. He meets with them in person, asks a lot of questions, and listens. He doesn’t try to defend the firm nor give excuses for any issues the client raises. He simply listens and brings the feedback back to the firm. Clean, unfiltered feedback. The firm can then decide how they want to respond. If it is negative feedback, they can discuss with the client how they can proactively make it right. If it is positive feedback, they can praise their colleagues associated with the work and discuss how they can continue this track with all their clients.  As my wife and I are planning our 2-week trip to Spain this Fall, I regret not taking my high school Spanish teacher, Senior Gomez, more seriously when I was in his class. I often grew impatient and never bothered to practice what we learned. At the time, I didn’t appreciate how much learning a second language could help me today, especially Spanish in California.
For business professionals who are skilled at their craft, learning a “second language” such as business development could be immensely beneficial if they bothered to learn it and practice it. Yet like how I was in high school, if it didn’t produce immediate benefits, what was the point? In today’s competitive market, professional services firms are now realizing how important it is for all their client-facing professionals to be proficient at business development. They are allocating more of the annual budget to BD training and coaching. Some are hiring internal trainers and coaches while others bring in external trainers and coaches. Leadership sees the benefit, but do all the practitioners? Sadly, no. |
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