May the Force Be With You

just sent this to a really good good friend and colleague from the recruiting biz....by the time I got to the end I felt it was "blog-worthy" so I'm sharing again. What was originally shared with the friend was a paper written by one of my students reflecting on the consulting project she had participated in as a field project last semester.

Without boring you with the exact words from the paper - here is what I had to say to my friend as I shared it.....

Wanted to share this with you as it captures what’s in my mind and my heart as far as making a change in what I do every day. It’s not about making a living – it’s about following what you’re passionate about – whether it’s in work, in volunteer activity, your family, your hobbies…..I want to live the rest of my life doing what makes me feel genuine and authentic…I want to be the best Cynde I can be every single day and I know that if a session with a group of my students can lift me up from one of the worst days of my entire year (the “rather prep for 6 colonoscopies day”) then this is the direction in which I must move, now!

I want to do something different with each of my days. I want to be able to be me every day though. I want to be serious, funny, creative, insightful, and real. Biting my tongue is not something I enjoy. I sent this email to my practice lead at work, and to my (manager) who is also a dear friend) I’m going to be working with them to figure out what to do with myself either inside of or outside of my current company. The way I see it I’m giving this company every opportunity to get the very best I can give. If there is nothing else they want from me then I’m ok with going.

I really want to talk to you about this stuff – to the extent that I could potentially do some consulting of one sort or another on my own I’d like your viewpoint on the market and the best way to target it, if it makes sense to do so at all. Things are going to be different from this point forward – we are finding our power and our power will become a force to be reckoned with. (She just started her own business!) As much as it may have been all along I am talking “MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU”. It’s time for the cream to rise to the top baby – the sky is the limit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Are you with me?

The gist of what I forwarded to her was the following:

The last assignment for my class to write a reflection paper about the field project they worked on --where they had to find a client with an issue and actually go through the steps in the consulting process – culminating in them presenting their findings and recommendations to the client (and to me).
Attached is the email I sent to one of my top students – I feel that she expressed very well all she learned and her understanding of the consulting profession, pros and cons, as well. To me, this is better than any sort of direct instructor evaluation results or feedback or anything else. Knowing that she caught the essence of what consultants do and knew the importance of all of the steps in the process is absolutely priceless.

What's in YOUR wallet?