Why Our Work is Like Good Journalism

 

 

Being in professional services in the spaces we're in is a really interesting confluence of perspectives that make for challenging but rewarding work. On the one hand, we have a client, and our goal is to do something for that client, in the same way a lawyer or accountant represents a side. On the other hand, our work is usually in the public space, necessitating that even as we are writing for the client and their audience, we're also often writing for public consumption and consideration. 

To do this with honesty and integrity therefore requires getting your facts straight, which in turn requires being diligent in how you collect the facts: being diverse in your sources, checking your sources, and properly interpreting what those sources are saying and why. Oh, and you have to do your work in a way that will be understandable and interesting to lay audiences like the general public or elected officials.

You could reread that paragraph and think I was talking about good journalism, and that's no coincidence. I have a lot of respect for good journalists because they do what I strive to do as a consultant: collect evidence in a neutral and broad way, make sense of it even in the midst of great hue and cry, and tell a story so compelling that people can't help but be informed and energized by it.

For a variety of reasons, good journalism is in short supply, and I do not want to use this space today to conjecture about why that is. Alas, good consulting is also in short supply, not in the least because it is hard to do. I work hard and push my co-workers to do the same because our clients and these issues are worth it. When we stick the landing, it makes me immensely proud. Here's to more of this, in my space and in the news too.