Post-dated: August 28, 2008, 15:42 EST
I vividly remember practicing for those daunting case interviews during the fall of my senior year in college, trying to hone my skills. When all my interviews were done, I’d come out of the fray with a job, but I still felt a competitive pressure when I started. The differences between me and experienced analysts, only a year into the role, were stark. The learning curve climbed steeply in front of me.
Fast forward four months, and I’m sharing a 2 a.m. cab ride home with a colleague, Anton. As can happen at 2 a.m., our conversation turned away from consulting. Anton, commonly recognized by my colleagues as a “Rockstar” (high performer) discussed his interest in social venture capital, and I felt a tension somewhere inside me relax a little.
At the end of that project Anton gave me some advice. He told me to let my true self out a little more on the job; that people would remember me for being real. That piece of advice was a turning point for me. I realized that being good at my job didn’t mean I had to be my job. It was alright to just be me. Since then I’ve tried to be open about my desire to leverage my consulting skills to do something besides consult. Sometimes I still balk – there’s a right and a wrong time and place for everything – but more and more I’m finding Anton’s advice ringing true.
"Dare to be true. Nothing can need a lie: a fault which needs it most, grows two thereby."
- George Herbert
August 30, 2008
Speaking English
Post-dated: August 28, 2008, 15:20 EST
Today was the last day of my project, a 7-weeker helping an international hotel group make the business case for a major systems transformation. Usually on the Thursday drive from the client to the airport my case manager Raj and I would talk case work and client politics, or theorize about social dynamics and international relations. But the last day is different. Driving out of the parking garage that last time, we both exhaled a little longer and drove in pensive silence for a bit.
Raj was first to bring up my impending fellowship: “you’re really going to learn a lot from this experience, Taylor,” he told me matter-of-factly. “I’m even a bit envious of you.”
We got to talking about India, where he’d grown up. When we landed on the topic of multilingualism he recounted a line one of his teachers had often used: “You can’t speak English until you think in English”. That one line, more than anything, had enabled his successful transition to life in the States. I’ll try to take that lesson with me to India.
Today was the last day of my project, a 7-weeker helping an international hotel group make the business case for a major systems transformation. Usually on the Thursday drive from the client to the airport my case manager Raj and I would talk case work and client politics, or theorize about social dynamics and international relations. But the last day is different. Driving out of the parking garage that last time, we both exhaled a little longer and drove in pensive silence for a bit.
Raj was first to bring up my impending fellowship: “you’re really going to learn a lot from this experience, Taylor,” he told me matter-of-factly. “I’m even a bit envious of you.”
We got to talking about India, where he’d grown up. When we landed on the topic of multilingualism he recounted a line one of his teachers had often used: “You can’t speak English until you think in English”. That one line, more than anything, had enabled his successful transition to life in the States. I’ll try to take that lesson with me to India.
Naming a blog
Post-dated: August 28, 2008, 13:44 EST
Have you ever named a blog?
This ostensibly easy task of writing six words took me over a week. My first instinct was that naming a blog was like naming a child; that I’d have to find a name with the right ring to it, and a deeper meaning. After all, a blog’s name, like a child’s, is forever the instrument of the first impression it makes.
So I dug into my archives of special words and quotes. I played with the word eudaimonia, a word combining the notions of happiness and virtue. I asked friends for advice. One proposed ubuntu, a term in a South African dialect whose meaning pertains to the interconnectedness of all people. I’m grateful for having learned this word, but could I really give a blog the burden of such a powerful name? I continued in this vein, experimenting with titles about deeper meaning and purpose and values.
I realized that I was trying to capture the essence of my soul in the title of my blog. That sort of thing can be tough to capture in a few words. I’ve now accepted that if there’s to be any distilling of my essence, it will have to happen over the course of many words, many blog entries, many days.
I’m pleased to say that after trying on many blog titles, I’ve found one that fits. If to have or are struggling with the process of naming a blog, I empathize, and wish you luck.
Have you ever named a blog?
This ostensibly easy task of writing six words took me over a week. My first instinct was that naming a blog was like naming a child; that I’d have to find a name with the right ring to it, and a deeper meaning. After all, a blog’s name, like a child’s, is forever the instrument of the first impression it makes.
So I dug into my archives of special words and quotes. I played with the word eudaimonia, a word combining the notions of happiness and virtue. I asked friends for advice. One proposed ubuntu, a term in a South African dialect whose meaning pertains to the interconnectedness of all people. I’m grateful for having learned this word, but could I really give a blog the burden of such a powerful name? I continued in this vein, experimenting with titles about deeper meaning and purpose and values.
I realized that I was trying to capture the essence of my soul in the title of my blog. That sort of thing can be tough to capture in a few words. I’ve now accepted that if there’s to be any distilling of my essence, it will have to happen over the course of many words, many blog entries, many days.
I’m pleased to say that after trying on many blog titles, I’ve found one that fits. If to have or are struggling with the process of naming a blog, I empathize, and wish you luck.
The knot
Post-dated: August 26, 2008, 11:40 EST
Today is Tuesday, August 26, which is technically six days before my NPF is scheduled to begin. The confluence of several factors is creating something of a knot in my stomach.
Pre-emptive nostalgia. The past 15 months have been, without question, the best time of my life – stable, happy, rewarding, fun, and full of growth – and leaving for India is a definitive pivot. Sure, I’m only leaving for 5 months, but I can feel the seismic plates shifting beneath me already. I tell myself that the time is right, though, that I’m ready to leap.
Anticipation. I’m excited! Helping launch Teach for India – leveraging the “consulting toolkit” I’ve theoretically assembled – is at the intersection of so many of my career interests. The underpinning is that my future vision of myself is as a social entrepreneur using education (building infrastructure, creating policy, disseminating best practices) as a vehicle for change. More on this in later posts.
I love traveling and exploring new places. I’ve never spent significant time in a developing nation, though, and the longest I’ve lived abroad was the semester I spent in Paris during college. I’m ready for the next degree of cultural immersion.
Uncertainty. I’m not prepared to leave, and I don’t mean mentally. I need to get vaccinated, but I’m not sure which vaccines I need, where I’ll get them, or most importantly, when. That’s the challenge of traveling on casework up until the last day.
I haven’t booked my flight to India yet. I’m waiting to transfer all the rewards points I’ve accumulated from every source into my British Air account. I’m not holding my breath, but I am counting on the transfer happening faster than the “up to 6 weeks” indicated in the fine print.
I don’t even know yet when I will roll off of the project I’m on! (“Roll off” is a term used by consultants for “finish a client project.”) It may be this week – or it may be 6 weeks from now.
I don’t have a job title or description with Teach for India, or a place to stay in Pune (the city I’ll be living in), or even a book about India. What I do know is that the TFI team’s enthusiasm and vision have inspired enough confidence in me that I don’t mind. It doesn’t hurt that two of my future colleagues, Shaheen and Surjeet, will meet me in Mumbai when I arrive on September 10.
I’m comfortable with uncertainty, which is good, because there’s plenty of it to wallow in at the moment.
Today is Tuesday, August 26, which is technically six days before my NPF is scheduled to begin. The confluence of several factors is creating something of a knot in my stomach.
Pre-emptive nostalgia. The past 15 months have been, without question, the best time of my life – stable, happy, rewarding, fun, and full of growth – and leaving for India is a definitive pivot. Sure, I’m only leaving for 5 months, but I can feel the seismic plates shifting beneath me already. I tell myself that the time is right, though, that I’m ready to leap.
Anticipation. I’m excited! Helping launch Teach for India – leveraging the “consulting toolkit” I’ve theoretically assembled – is at the intersection of so many of my career interests. The underpinning is that my future vision of myself is as a social entrepreneur using education (building infrastructure, creating policy, disseminating best practices) as a vehicle for change. More on this in later posts.
I love traveling and exploring new places. I’ve never spent significant time in a developing nation, though, and the longest I’ve lived abroad was the semester I spent in Paris during college. I’m ready for the next degree of cultural immersion.
Uncertainty. I’m not prepared to leave, and I don’t mean mentally. I need to get vaccinated, but I’m not sure which vaccines I need, where I’ll get them, or most importantly, when. That’s the challenge of traveling on casework up until the last day.
I haven’t booked my flight to India yet. I’m waiting to transfer all the rewards points I’ve accumulated from every source into my British Air account. I’m not holding my breath, but I am counting on the transfer happening faster than the “up to 6 weeks” indicated in the fine print.
I don’t even know yet when I will roll off of the project I’m on! (“Roll off” is a term used by consultants for “finish a client project.”) It may be this week – or it may be 6 weeks from now.
I don’t have a job title or description with Teach for India, or a place to stay in Pune (the city I’ll be living in), or even a book about India. What I do know is that the TFI team’s enthusiasm and vision have inspired enough confidence in me that I don’t mind. It doesn’t hurt that two of my future colleagues, Shaheen and Surjeet, will meet me in Mumbai when I arrive on September 10.
I’m comfortable with uncertainty, which is good, because there’s plenty of it to wallow in at the moment.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)