For the last 30 years I have worked as a consultant, sold consulting services, and managed consulting practices. An expert in Content Management and Enterprise Resource Planning technology solutions, I specialize in defining technology based business strategies that improve how people work while creating organizational value.
My industry experience includes Life Sciences, Engineering & Construction, Accounting, Financial Services, Manufacturing, Energy, and Government. My functional background is in technology consulting, management consulting, consulting practice management, and service selling.
Prior to starting my career in consulting, I was a professional dancer and performed in both the US and Europe. My dance skills have provided me with a unique set of capabilities which have been instrumental to my consulting success. Take a look at my blog and here are some summarized examples:
Dancer | Consultant |
Dancers have a “skin sense”, an awareness of their environment, fellow movers, and their audience. | Consultants must be able quickly grasp the spoken and unspoken needs of the various cohorts they are trying to help. |
Because dancers know their own bodies so well, they are better able to judge the space between themselves, people, and objects as they move. | Understanding how people and objects flow through systems is essential to a consultant’s understanding of process. |
Adaptability is a dancer’s trademark. Flexibility is essential to the dancer. The dancer must constantly adapt to new, endless, movement possibilities. | The consultant must be prepared to absorb and understand a constant stream of new ideas, concepts, and viewpoints. |
Dancers are quick studies. With a never-ending stream of new choreography to learn and assimilate, dancers must be agile and nimble in observing, mimicking, practicing, and reproducing movement. | With each new client comes the possibility of a new industry, business model, technology, method, or procedure which must be quickly understood. |
Envisioning is integral to dancers. Dancers must understand the big picture in order to make sense of the individual parts; then they are able to focus on what happens in between the steps. | To create a vision of what is possible is the essence of consulting. This must happen if transformation is to take place. |
Dancers are entrepreneurs. Dancers work on technique, find the best teachers, show themselves to advantage, and constantly look for movement innovation. | To excel in consulting, one must effectively self-manage, continually learn and develop, and build a client’s confidence in one’s ability by knowing how to honestly sell oneself. |
Dancers are part of the team. Individual excellence is insufficient. It is the excellence of the troupe that completes the performance. | As we all know, teamwork is at the heart of almost all business endeavors. |