I’m glad you think so...   I was beginning to wonder...

The point of my Meditation is that, in the marketplace that we many of us live and work in, there is one bit of terminology that is being freely tossed around in connection with three very(!) different sets of working conditions and expectations.   Only one of these meanings, IMHO, actually conforms to the true meaning of the term ... and I consider this to be a rather serious problem, with impact not only upon our own pursuit of “our business,” but upon our clients, as well.

The differences that I have (IMHO) drawn between these three categories are, to my way of thinking, simultaneously “profoundly important” and “virtually unrecognized.”   If you use a particular term in a particular way, but the person with whom you are negotiating could have one-of-three meanings for the term that you are using (two of which are “wrong”), then you have a communication problem and you might not know it.

Engagements can go a long way before either one of you fully realize that this disconnect exists.   You might have turned-down or set-aside other engagements in preference to the one that did not work.   You might have made commitments (based upon your understanding of terms) which your client (or one of his associates) misinterpreted.   You might also find yourself in competition with companies who use the same word to mean an altogether different thing.

In an effort to steer this toward a meaningful locus of discussion ... so that this thread might yet achieve a useful “lift-off” ... how’s this:

• If you are “a consultant,” by my chosen definition of the term, how do you express your product or services in the marketplace?   Do you encounter the ambiguity that I speak of, and if so, how do you counter it?   Do you think that it affects you?   If so, in what way?