Erasmus
As I was driving out to visit a brand new client last Thursday I was listening to Melvin Bragg's In Our Time programme on BBC Radio 4. The topic of the day was the northern Rennaiscance philosopher Erasmus of Rotterdam (1466-1536) and much was made of the itinerant nature of his early career: -
"(Erasmus) is all over Europe, city after city... He's always to be found around courts. He's a great one for collecting patronage..."
And: -
"A lot of the writing is to please people because they are paying for his career..."
Perhaps it was because that morning's meeting was with a roomful of total strangers that the description so resonated. Is there a better description of a consultant, or of any successful seller of financial services, than someone on and off airplanes, city after city, collecting the patronage of those who can pay for our careers? Like Erasmus I am paid by the modern princes of Europe to be clever. Nothing gives me greater confidence than knowing that the big boss wants the project to go ahead with my involvement.
But let's not stretch the comparison too far. Erasmus fought a vicious, losing war of words with Martin Luther over the soul of the Catholic church and the fate of Europe whereas I help drug companies sell their drugs better.
Still, about halfway through that meeting someone described me as a 'thought leader', which was a nice thing for him to say.
During the week a learned friend questioned the parallel with Erasmus and rightfully so. With barely suppressed bemusement he pointed out that there aren't a great many points of comparison between the career of one of the foundation thinkers of Western thought and that of a jobbing management consultant circa 2012.
What I was trying to explore was that for those who think for a living the importance of patronage hasn't changed much in 500 years. There's a stark difference in getting work out of an organisation where the big boss likes my way of thinking and one where he or she is indifferent. For any project to proceed the very least we external suppliers need is the absence of a veto. If the big boss dislikes what you do then any additional time and energy spent trying to change that is most likely a sunk cost.