(originally published April 28th, 2005)

One of the issues of independent consultants is that sometimes you have to quibble over small things in order to get the big things done. For instance, I know that my professional time is valuable; someone else may not agree because they may not fully understand some of the things I do. For a client last year, I charged what is considered as a regular rate for my services, with little hesitation. I ended up finding this particular client over $40 million dollars in new revenue; yet during the engagement, there was a brief quibble over paying for my meal expenses, which were very modest at the time. We eventually agreed on a daily rate, but I remember thinking how petty the issue was compared to what I had just generated for them.

For another client, something I recommended they do could have helped them to overcome a large receivables gap. However, it involved doing something that was relatively easy, but the person in charge felt that they were too important to do the deed. The big picture of being financially secure, and looking good in the eyes of administration was weighed against this person’s sense of prestige and importance; how could they be that myopic?

At a speaking engagement I gave on diversity, one of the audience members felt that too much talk about diversity initiatives wasn’t as important an issue as trying to provide the best services possible. What this person was having difficulties coming to grips with was that they were located in a predominantly minority area of their particular city, 63% of their clientele was minority, yet only 25% of their employees were, in addition to only 2% of their management staff; these were numbers she volunteered. They should have been dominating the market in their location, but a significant number of the people in the neighborhood were going elsewhere, probably because they felt this particular entity was taking them for granted. Being the best doesn’t do one any good if you can’t get people to come to you and use your services for other reasons.

Are you seeing the big picture when you go about your daily routine, or are you only focused on how everything impacts you personally? Just something else to think about as you go through your day.