Unleashed - How to Thrive as an Independent Professional

Asking questions with the mind of a child can yield new insights. Here's a short episode on what a friend learned when his daughter asked a doorman why the soles of his shoes are so thick.

You wouldn't hire a plumber who isn't comfortable using a wrench, or a lumberjack who can't handle a chainsaw. A professional needs to master the tools of the trade. For independent consultants, a fundamental tool is Excel. For most, it isn't necessary to program in Visual Basic or write macros, but it is essential to master all the basic tools, including, for example, pivot tables, vlookups, if functions, date functions. In this short episode, I share some suggestions on how to sharpen your Excel skills if they are rusty, and some particular Excel tools to prioritize learning.

Per Sjofors runs a firm called Sales for Profit – they have developed survey tools to measure a customer's willingness to pay, and the help their clients determine what marketing method is most effective in their market which advertising targets the company should focus on which product features drive the highest willingness to buy and the optimum price of a given product or service In this episode, Per gives an overview of his firm's methodology and how they work with clients. One thing Per told me that surprised me is that he is getting a substantial number of leads from Quora. He's been answering questions on Quora, establishing himself as an expert there, and it is actually leading to business. You can learn more about Per's firm at https://www.sales4profit.com/

Are you thinking about transitioning to independent consulting? This episode provides eight steps you can take now to set yourself up for success when you officially launch your own practice.

Interviewing experts can be one of the most powerful sources of insight when learning about a company or a market. This short episode has 11 tips that I've developed to help get the deepest insights from these interactions.

Many of us stick with the 2-3 influence techniques that we are most comfortable with. Mastering the full range of 10 ethical influence techniques is a superpower. In this short episode I briefly describe each technique. My introduction to this range of techniques came during Initial Leadership Workshop at McKinsey, and I draw directly on a slim booklet that McKinsey provided called Interpersonal and Interactive Skills. That book isn't published publicly, but the author is Terry Bacon and he covers this material in detail in his book "Elements of Influence: The Art of Getting Others to Follow Your Lead."

Scheduling meetings over email is time consuming - I've spent more time scheduling a call than actually having the call. Last fall I found a solution: Calendly. In this short episode I share the basics of the tool. Check out the tool at: https://calendly.com/

Yogi Berra said: "If you don't know where you're going, you might not get there." I like to step back and reflect about once a year and write down all my goals. In this short episode I describe how I approach this exercise, suggest a few variations, and the benefits I've seen. Would love to hear your thoughts, and any questions you'd like answered on the show.

Chad Oakley is the CEO of Charles Aris, an executive search firm based in North Carolina. One of the firm's practice areas is Strategy & Corporate Development – and they've completed nearly 600 searches in that space. Charles Aris publishes an annual strategy consulting compensation study which is available free on their website. So Chad is one of the most knowledgeable people in the U.S. about the market demand for alums of McKinsey, Bain, BCG, and other top consulting firms. In this episode, Chad shares a perspective on how a stint of independent consulting on your resume can affect your job prospects if you plan to return to a full time role at some point. We also discuss, among other topics, resumes, LinkedIn profiles, and how to reach out to executive recruiters. You can learn more about Charles Aris by visiting the website, https://charlesaris.com/, and if you are open to new opportunities, you can send them your resume.

Our guest today is Umbrex member Kevin Nedd. Kevin is a McKinsey alum and independent consultant who focuses on running Project Management Offices, or PMOs. In our discussion, Kevin provides his perspective on when a company should set up a PMO, including examples of PMOs that Kevin has led the day to day work of running a PMO the tool kit used by a PMO, including templates and processes effective progress reviews PMO maturity levels We also discuss Kevin's service as a township committeeman and why he walks an hour every morning. You can reach out to Kevin directly at kevin.nedd@pragmaticusllc.com