Consulting in 2D: Innovation vs Conversation
Something I read recently by David Maister about the four different kinds of consultant keeps coming back to me, similarly to how I play with the rules to a boardgame in the moments when my mind is unoccupied. Maister uses healthcare as an analogy. Consider four roles: pharmacist, nurse, brain surgeon, psychotherapist. Each dwells in his own quadrant of a 2D space where the dimensions are innovation and how willing they are to talk to you. The pharmacist performs a well-defined task for you with very little input from you. You merely tell him which drug you need and he provides it. Even if you couldn't perform the work yourself, you expect it to be performed in a well-defined way. He provides solutions to solved problems. Between handing over the…