Working in Consulting with Rick Austin and John Tanner

If you’ve ever considered moving into consulting, then this podcast is for you. In this interview, Rick Austin, John Tanner and Dave Prior talk about what it’s like working as a traveling consultant for LeadingAgile. They discuss how it changes the focus of your work, what it takes to be good at it, how it impacts your personal life and some of the things you have to do to maintain your sanity when you spend most of your life on the road.

SHOW NOTES

• 1:13 Podcast Begins – Overview of Topic
• 2:35 What consulting did to Rick’s world when he started at LeadingAgile
• 3:08 How John got started with consulting and then got back into it
• 3:31 How being a traveling consultant impacts your personal and professional life
• 4:52 Shaping your life around how you work
• 5:23 Being intentional about your life when you are back home
• 6:10 How long each of us can spend on the road before having to take a break
• 7:11 Building relationships and maintaining objectivity on site
• 9:29 The importance of gaining permission to consult and coach
• 11:34 How do you entice people to invite you to coach once you get onsite
• 13:30 Learning how to get people to want you to be there
• 14:40 Why you should not immediately try to solve the problem
• 15;51 Developing better communication skills
• 17:42 How Dave coped with being introverted when building connections
• 18:27 When you meet people you just can’t connect with no matter how hard you try
• 19:46 Taking responsibility for the communication issues you face (It’s on the sender/communicator)
• 22:26 Things you should know about consulting before they start
• 23:57 Taking ownership of the room and holding your space
• 26:36 Engaging with authority
• 27:10 Developing mastery of the subject  and never being caught off guard
• 29:09 Being humble and maintaining confidence
• 30:10 The value of hard knocks
• 30:49 Finding the right people to partner with
• 31:18 Why you need to find a mentor to help you when you are learning how to work this way
• 32:29 What makes consulting difficult and the importance of maintaining personal connections outside of work
• 33:21 When you leave the house time stops for you, but not for the other people in your life
• 33:47 Creating clear space between work and nonwork
• 34:59 Finding the right company to consult for
• 35:26 How LeadingAgile makes it easy for us to work as consultants
• 36:18 Finding the things you need to do to recharge when you get burnt out from work
• 38:38 Getting in touch with John and Rick

LINKS FROM THE PODCAST

Helping: How to Offer, Give, and Receive Help 

CONTACTING JOHN

• Email: john.tanner@leadingagile.com
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/tannerjs
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tannerjs
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tannerjs/

CONTACTING RICK

• Email: rick@leadingagile.com
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/rickaustin
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rickdaustin/