Career Talk Part 2

A very good friend saw it fit to invest in my potential - which to me at the time was stupendously high (though in hindsight, all I got was a quick wit, the willingness to read and research, and some teaching experience. Under his mentoring, I entered the world of training and development. My first run produced surprisingly negative results: my debut was to function as a coach of a team of senior executives of the Lopez group of companies - including the chairman himself. I thought the day went swimmingly - but the reaction they gave in their feedback was that I came on too strong (the details escape me now, but clearly the feedback wasn't complimentary).

Unfazed by that result, my mentor and friends closed ranks in support of me - which proved to be the difference maker in my persistence in pursuit of excellence in the field.

This became a pattern in my training delivery - the first impression I give leaves something to be desired. And my mentor took it all in stride, never wavering in his faith in my potential. In the leanest times he actually subsidized my expenses so as I can grow with less constraints than there really were.

While all of this was happening, I had evaluated my teaching and academic experience and concluded that I was no longer interested in studying and teaching literature. I had intentions of both studying and teaching, but I wanted to study business and management. I began to envision a course on the philosophy of management. I had always enjoyed the pleasure of thought and now I was beginning to see where I could actually make a contribution.

The plan was, enjoy great success as a professional consultant - and with that experience somehow earn a Ph.D honoris causa, then be qualified to teach the course. Until that happens, I would concentrate on building my business.

A watershed contribution by this man was to introduce me and sponsor me in registering to the Landmark Forum (and later, the Advanced Course). The foundational program of Landmark Education's Curriculum for Living, my participation in the course really led to the transformation of my self and my life. It was here that I took a stand for building a career in training and development (this was May, 2002). I was for the most part a 25-year old freelance consultant with infintessimal credentials. Any business I create was for the most part came through the intervention of my mentor, who subsumed his own commercial interests for the purposes of my own success and development.

I participated in Landmark Education's Assisting Program, and I must say that a lot of the practices and discipline that makes training events I got out of assisting in the delivery of the Landmark Forum. It was truly inspiring working with senior managers, presidents, and people who owned their own business give up their self-importance and serve others freely. It is as if (and in fact) the people who assist are out to get something for themselves out of the experience of serving others in the work of Landmark Education.

To date I actively participate in the Assisting Program for the different events within Landmark Education throughout the year.

As a freelance training and organization development consultant, I was able to work with many different companies (as an associate of different training and consulting outfits. I began to see the different issues and constraints that beset organizations large and small. I also began to get alarmed at how little influence the overwhelming majority of consulting interventions being delivered by the different providers I worked with actually have.

Not through any fault of the consultants, only that the conventions of the consulting business - pricing, the nature of the programs that companies actually purchase only allow for minimal if any deep and long-term impact on the organization.

I really couldn't see how I could be one of the high-level, deep-impact consultants I read about in management books. As much as I resisted the idea and the suggestions towards this end, the best thing for my consulting career was to actually become a member of an organization and work myself up to management. Business was nowhere near booming, as I began to learn that in the process of budget-trimming, the first budget to be cut is the training budget - which was the first and best foot-in-the-door for people like me, and our most consistent product.

(Still to come... POLITICS!)