Before we get started, I want to say one thing — this isn’t a “woe-is-me-I-want-you-to-feel-bad-for-me” kind of story.

It’s one of those thoughts that pops into your head and doesn’t go away, so you decide to write it down and share it, hoping it might resonate with someone else.

If…

I was speechless.

I was in awe.

I was 100% sure we were going to be escorted out of the office.

A few consultants and I were in yet another tiny, windowless room at a client site and seconds earlier, my teammate had just told our client that he didn’t…

When I first started corporate consulting, I thought I had one specific trait that was going to be more helpful than the rest:

I like asking questions.

We’re not talking about just any ‘ol questions here — I like asking the tough kind that usually make people stop and actually…

I’ve been a corporate consultant for over three years now.

When I first started, I wasn’t really sure what to expect. Sure, I had worked with smaller clients in the past, but once I signed on the (digital) dotted line, I jumped straight into the “big leagues,” working with companies…

“What’s the ROI?”

This question has inevitably popped up during just about every project I’ve worked on over the past decade.

Only this time, it was coming from a corporate client who was asking it in relation to Human-Centered Design.¹ …

When I think back to my glory days of college, I can’t help but to admit I did a lot of stupid stuff.¹

Despite many late-night drunk X-acto knife debacles², I somehow managed to also make one of the smartest decisions in my young adult life:

I completed a minor…

During my stint as a “brand support consultant” back in 2012, I quickly learned a valuable lesson behind how larger companies prioritize their work:

They don’t.

OK, so maybe they do, but often times, they claim to have five to ten different priorities.

For those of us who know the…

There I was, sitting in yet another drab, colorless conference room at a long, wooden table surrounded by people who visibly hated their jobs.¹

Maybe it was the fact that this meeting was thrown together first thing on a Monday morning or that no one had a chance to grab…