Developing Expertise as an Independent Consultant

This brilliant blog post from fellow consultant Tom Critchlow describes how an independent consultant can keep his/her practice fresh and interesting, while developing a unique expertise:

https://tomcritchlow.com/2024/01/10/compound-narrative/?utm_source=tomcritchlow&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=a-pop-up-newsletter-for-winter-of-word-craft

In fact, I think it's even useful for people inside corporations because, these days, things change quickly and organizations are flatter and provide less training.  Thus, even employees have to take control of their own career development.  

It's about focusing around an open-ended research question that greatly interests you.  By then exploring the question through your work, and writing about it, you develop an expertise, and keep yourself from getting bored.  Instead of feeling like your career progression is horizontal, you try to extract lessons from each engagement to try and advance your answers and understanding of your topic.  This helps you have an identity and makes you feel that you are advancing in your career, even if there is no formalized career ladder.

© 2024 Praveen Puri