I once worked with a consumer manufacturing company trying to enter a new region. They had hired me to help sharpen their go-to-market plan. The Head of Marketing welcomed me with a confident grin and said, “Mr Strategy, we already know what the market wants. Premium quality. People here are tired of being cheap.” I asked him, “How do you know?” He chuckled. “We’ve done this before. This is my bread and butter. It’s common sense.” Common sense? That is where the danger began. So I did what I always do before giving any advice, I asked for facilitation and…

I am a risk taker. Yes. I started my consulting firm in 2007. I left a big-paying job and went to swim in the deep end—on my own. You learn a lot in the private sector. How to land your first job. How to hire your first employee. How to meet compliance. How to pay taxes on invoices even before you are paid. How to chase payments. How to survive. It’s brutal. But you learn in two years what the “safe players” won’t learn in twenty. Five years ago, when I was called into a manufacturing firm that was bleeding…