Filter

Every engagement starts with a problem someone wants fixed. A team that isn't working. A project that won't land. Sometimes the survival of the business. It's rarely what they think it is.

Part of it is position. When you're in the thick of it, you can't see what's actually happening. I come in outside the politics of it — nothing to protect, no one to please.

Part of it is the filter. Every problem I'm handed comes through the person handing it over — how they see it, what they need it to be. Most people never notice their own filter. I help them see it, and how it's shaping the problem in front of them.

And part of it is nerve. Sometimes the problem isn't hidden at all. Everyone knows what it is. No one will say it. I put it on the table so plainly no one can pretend not to see it. Once it's there, there's nowhere left to hide.

From inside, none of it is visible. That's the job.