The definition of celebrity is a famous person, VIP, very important person, personality, name, big name, famous name, household name, star, superstar, celebutante, leading light, giant, great, master, guru. In that case why do I only know 3 people from the 2017 series? One boxer, a footballer with an ironic surname and Boris Johnson’s father. I don’t know Mr Johnson either, but he helped produce Boris the buffoon so probably deserves to endure a degree of hardship.
I guess I have lived outside the Brexit zone too long and simply do not appreciate the celebrity importance of this collection of egos but some of these people are obscure. If they are stars or household names, then surely everyone will get a go at being handsomely paid to eat crocodile tongues on holiday down-under. My turn must come!
What’s more the show is being presented by the best UK double act since Morecambe and Wise……UK TV is becoming a veritable talent vacuum.
Dare I say it, but a similar dynamic is emerging in the world of supply chain consulting. With business media site like LinkedIn being unregulated you can add whatever you wish to your profile and work history. Unless someone notices a blatant fabrication and takes the time to suggest a text correction, this becomes the accepted reality where the term “expert” is overused. I even recall one LinkedIn member set his status as “Current Company: Unilever – Position: Owner”!
Another definition for you; expert - having or involving a great deal of knowledge or skill in a particular area. That level is not achieved easily or in a few years and being employed for many years in supply chain does not mean you can simply switch to become a credible consultant. From personal experience making that change after almost a lifetime in an FMCG multinational (no, I wasn’t the owner either) is not easy.
There are 2 important elements to being a successful consultant after working on the other side of the fence. Real and deep expert knowledge is a given but the task of imparting that to often cautious or even suspicious clients is the difficult part of the job. When you work in industry you have the authority of your work level or job title which make things happen. When consulting you have diddly-squat authority and making things happen and stay happened is a tough new skill to learn.
When you are in the market for consultancy expertise you must carry out some degree of due diligence. Check out and corroborate the claims of past success with particular focus on how expertise was deployed in the receiving organisations.
Don’t be taken in by the “expert” moniker and use something like the Talent Hub to find out who is availableand what they have actually achieved in the wonderful world of consulting.
It's a jungle out there!
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at freedigitalphotos.net