Why I Hire Consultants
By Andy Birol

Recently I traveled to the Bahamas to meet with a group of my peers and our consultant. While many rolled their eyes at the perceived junket (yes, the Atlantis Resort was fabulous), our Thomas Mulready of Cool Cleveland remarked, “That’s interesting, Andy, tell me why do you have a consultant?” Here goes.

Since starting my business in 1997, I have been repeatedly surprised that what I thought would be easy was hard and what was hard, easy. And, when easy challenges suddenly became hard and hard become easy I was convinced I needed outside objectivity. So how have my consultants helped my success?

• My biases, blind spots, and weaknesses are identified.
• My standards and definition of excellence are continually raised.
• 80% of what I am told I already know, but I am driven to do 10% more of what I know I should.
• Because I pay for it, I value it and take it seriously.
• Because success creates complacency, the outside objectivity drives me forward.

Whether you are reading this as an individual, a department, a company, a city, or a region, without some external, unbiased and detached input, you may not be seeing the whole picture. Because I subject myself to external review, I feel I am less likely to back slide, miss market signals, or get blindsided by my confidence. Looking back on the role of consulting on my business I find it has helped me to:

• Stay secure in my insecurity.
• Avoid becoming self-delusional.
• And, ultimately avoid tolerating what I shouldn’t or becoming what I tolerate.

In a region and at a time where we in Northeast Ohio are not keeping up with progress or success elsewhere in the country, I urge everyone to seek outside objectivity to ensure they are growing on the right track. Recently I have seen too many examples where objectivity has fallen victim to self-talk, biased perspectives, and self-delusion. For example:

• Recently I was invited by a Christian group to their World View event to hear representatives of the world’s great religions explain their faiths. Unfortunately all the speakers had previously converted to Christianity and thus did not provide a representative, objective, or “world view.”
• In traveling through Tennessee on vacation, I remain surprised at how much of this State’s current consciousness is still driven by a war that ended 140 years ago.
• And on a recent trip to San Francisco, where 12% voted for Bush, how few people really appreciate how out of step they are with the rest of the country.

In the final analysis, whether we are struggling to survive, just gaining confidence, working hard to increase our success, or pursuing significance through helping others, we all need an outside voice. Otherwise, our perceptions of where and how we interact with our environments will likely daunt, delude, and distract us from growth. The more I use coaches and consultants, I more I am sobered as, without them, all I can do is I drink my own Kool-Aid.
from Cool Cleveland contributor Andy Birol

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