Scribbles

That was one of sayings my good pal PGuy always told me when I felt down.  Last night’s flight into LaGuardia was awful.  I left our office in Orlando at 6pm and didn’t walk into the door until 1am.  Needless to say, sleeping five hours after a long week, only to venture out into the rainy morning was good cause for some frowning.

But when I got out of work today, the weather was absolutely spectacular, the perfect fall temperature in the 50′s and after-rain briskness.  Guess I got tired of sunny Florida.  And it’s Friday.  And I’m in the *city*.  I walked out of the office feeling just perfect and had to snap a few shots on my handy phone.

How to capture fresh air (yes in the city) on camera?

Snapped one of Washington Square during a gloomy lunch break

It’s all smiles now baby!

Sitting here at the client site for the 7th day, all of the data that I’ve been exposed to suddenly congregates into a cohesive form.  80 hours of total immersion for it all to make sense.  The light bulb is finally lit.

Just a quick recap about the project: our client’s margins (what they take home after paying for the costs of providing products and services) are unsatisfactory and need to be raised.  A previous team had come in for the first phase, helping with the brainstorm of ideas to achieve this.  I’m here for the second phasae, where we get things started, and put in place a process that will keep things going long after we leave.

Without any previous knowledge of the client’s industry or business model, it’s difficult making any sense of the lingo or how the proposed actions translate into more earnings.  Other than nod and take mental notes, I haven’t been offering any insightful advice.  But in the process of gathering all the information, asking stupid questions, and just not giving in to feeling like an idiot, everything sinks in all of a sudden.

For the past few days I’ve been walking between buildings, watching gekkos and cranes hang around the pond, draped by a blanket of Floridian humidity.  The purpose, other than nature gazing, is to convince 8 different groups to deliver something on top of their normal workload.  In the process of selling them more work, I’ve grown closer to what I’m tasked to accomplish.  Each visit revealed to me the humanity behind the spreadsheets, powerpoints, and grandiose goals.  Seeing their honest frustrations, joys, irritations, and flashes of friendliness has given me a clearer picture of “my client.”  It also reminded me of back in the day when I dealt with initiatives passed down, usually with a healty dose of skepticism and cynicism.  And by putting myself in their shoes, it made my work more palpable and gave me more motivation to do something for them.  You jaded consultants out there are probably thinking just give it more time before I just don’t care.  If I ever reach that point, I would likely lose all interest in the profession altogether.

Back in b-school OB (MBA-lingo for Organizational Behavior, think psychology and human interaction) profs always mentioned that previous students would return and tell them that it’s the single course they think about most in terms of importance for their work, because getting things done isn’t about having the right numbers or theory, but rather the ability to drive people to action.  Unfortunately you don’t become good at it in the classroom.

Got back to New York city late Thursday night from quite the long work week for me, tallying 60 hours in 4 days including travel time.  On Friday, after putting in another 10 hours in the office on Friday and was told these hours are rather relaxed.  I explained it to some people that working long hours for other people is something I'm unaccustomed to.  For example, while putting in equal effort studying at INSEAD or working at the family firm, I didn't have any problems.  But all that work was for myself, where I received all the fruits of my labor.  Here, it's fuzzier.  I deliver value to the clients and to the consulting firm, in exchange for a paycheck. 

But I don't think the payout is the difference, making me feel like I'm working longer and harder.  I think it's producing on other people's terms, within their constraints.

For instance, I have to use their choice of IT setup, including computer, allowable software (no Skype), etc.  When writing up PowerPoint presentations, I must follow guidelines.  The list goes on, but my point is, working under external (yet not necessarily essential) constraints, an underlying restriction of freedom lurks.  Of course I am more efficient using my ThinkPad.  Then again, who can argue that Skype doesn't negate those productivity gains?

I realize this comes across as a complaint, but reality is that I am enjoying being thrown into the fray, on the project immediately as opposed to sitting in a classroom 8 hours a day for training.  I prefer to plunge into the ice cold water and know the realities of daily work instead of being coddled.  As to the constraints, I'll learn soon enough how to get around them (or work within them.)  So yes, IT sucks, work hours are long, but I'm enjoying learning.  And after a year of no income, a paycheck helps, tremendously.

For many of you outside the MBA circle, you may ask, what exactly is it that I do, what is this consulting dealio?  In a nutshell, management consulting is tackling a client's problem, any problem.  It can be “We're selling TV's right now, should we also sell DVD players?”  Or the more dreaded “who should we fire?”  Right now I'm working on the issue of “we're selling this much of stuff, but the portion of it that is profit seems a little low, how can we get more?”

So why is the work so intense?  First of all, consultants are really really expensive, and depending on the firm, the price tag cannot be described by anything less than exorbitant.  In exchange for your first born, the consulting firm agrees to deliver results in a short period of time, on the order of a few months.  (The average for us is about 3 months.  My current project lasts 10 weeks, although I came in at week 3.)  The time compression along with high expectations result in the intesity of the work. 

Why do companies need expensive consultants?  After all, the company should know its stuff better than outsiders, no?  Companies sometimes don't have the internal resources to solves these issues, because they're busy with day to day operations.  Other times, they really don't have the expertise in certain areas to do the job.  (Yes, once in a blue moon consultants are experts in areas other than PowerPoint.)  Another insight from my colleague, is that companies can get bogged down by inertia, and the act of spending large amounts of money becomes an impetus to act.

And finally, the million dollar question:  Are you crazy consultants worth the money?  That, I can't answer until I have a few more projects under my belt.  But given that the business has been around for about 80 years, Adam Smith would likely say yes.

Home of Disneyworld!  That's where I'm at right now, well, not the theme park but the sprawling area known as the city of Orlando.

It's only been the third day on the new job for me, and I'm on assignment already.  So far so busy.  We come in early in the morning and get back to the hotel late at night.  Which is great, since I'm exhausted and excited to be absorbing new things all at once.  The good news is that Orlando has not offered any distractions from work, so being shelled up in the office all day lets us focus and build up energy and motivation for some quality R&R upon our return to New York late Thursday night.  I can see however the risk that by week 3, when coming to the client's office becomes the drudgery that makes me long for my cozy apartment in the big city, everything devovling to mere exhaustion.  We'll see, we'll see.

I've been meaning to give an extensive update on my new gig, especially a career change and big step out of b-school.  But I'm not quite sure how much to divulge on the World Wide Web yet.  Part of it is my own privacy and the other is legal (in terms of what I'm allowed to say about my employer and of course our clients).  But I welcome your suggestions and comments, you readers count.  For now, I can say that I've joined the ranks of many of my fellow INSEAD classmates into the world of consulting (not saying which firm yet).  Don't cringe.  Give me some more time to either justify or disprove your doubts.

Today's the day.  Since arriving early Tuesday morning here in NY, I've been shopping for furniture and household items.  Today, they all arrive, bed, mattress, bookshelves, desks, drawers, even a plastic shoe rack.  One huge logistical annoyance of living in a big building is having to pre-reserve the cargo elevator.  And when there are 50+ floors with 7-10 units per floor, finding an open slot takes some planning ahead.  Not like the wait made any difference, most places I bought stuff from wouldn't deliver same day anyways, despite promising to (Container Store).  Somehow I managed to get everything coming in today, the first day they could possibly deliver, and by happenstance, the first day I could reserve the elevator.  And all the stores give me four, even five hour windows for delivery, just perfect for planning your day.  (Didn't Kramer pull one on the cable guy?)  Of course none of them completely overlap with the three hour window reserved for the elevator.  Hopefully that won't be a problem.  The mattress came this morning around 9 (outside my window of 12-3pm) without a hitch.

So here I am, stranded home, eagerly awaiting my furniture.  I really need it too, a bed to sleep on, a desk to work on, and the bookshelves so I can unpack my boxes.  I still haven't ordered my TV yet… just too many issues involved right now, such as finding the right placement to fit with my flatmate's living room design, not to mention a good retail store where I can see the TV I have in mind.  Which is a shame, since during my downtime I've been watching DVDs on a laptop, and missed the World Championship Basketball game where US just dropped out of Gold-medal contention.

In summary, shopping and waiting for furniture is a pain in the ass.  The week shopping, sleeping on the couch, and dealing with unexpected East-West coast jet lag has been exhausting.  Good thing I can rant about it here.