When I saw the McKinsey report on “developer productivity,” I shuddered. First, that makes no sense in a collaborative team. Second, there's no way to measure such a thing as developer productivity, despite what McKinsey says. (I'm not linking to the report, because the advice is so bad.)
Then I read Lorin Hochstein's brilliant assessment in On productivity metrics and management consultants. My peers and I were reacting to the ideas in the report. We hadn't understood the full implication of that report.
McKinsey wrote that report as a way of using their intellectual property (IP) to build political capital at the client. That capital allows clients to fund projects that will pay you.
That makes so much sense.
All of us consultants can do the same. And I argue, those of us who are successful consultants—that's the point of our IP. We help our clients pre-sell themselves on us, based on our IP. That builds political capital for change.
How to Build Your IP
You can build your IP, also known as your content for marketing, in many ways. I focus on writing and speaking.
Writing alternatives:
- Blog posts. This is one of my favorite ways to build IP because I get to practice both my writing and expressing my ideas.
- Email newsletters. Another of my favorites because I have permission from my subscribers to market to them.
- Articles on other people's sites.
- Books, but that's a much longer effort.
Speaking possibilities:
- Give public talks at conferences and meetups. Now that we have many options for virtual meetings, I can stay safe in my office and meet nice people all over the world.
- Podcasts. I tend to promote my books on podcasts. But you don't need a book to go on a podcast. If you have an idea you can't wait to discuss—that's a great topic for a podcast.
- Your videos on your video channel. I revitalized my YouTube channel this year. Do I have the “perfect” mix of videos there? I'm sure I do not. I'm experimenting.
- Your podcast, with or without guests. I'm experimenting with a personal podcast this year.
All of these options build your IP. Your IP helps people trust you. All that IP and trust builds your political capital.
How Political Capital and IP Work for Consultants
Political capital works in many ways.
Before the engagement, IP helps potential clients ask specifically for you. Not a consultant who can do X, Y, or Z. But you. That means you're not “competing” with anyone else for business. Your one job is then to make a compelling enough argument in your proposal that the client hires you. (I think of this as the “capital” part.)
During the engagement, other people will take you aside and say, “I've been trying to tell my management this thing for a long time. Can you please tell them, so we can change?” (That's the “political” part.)
Politics is not a dirty word. I prefer to call it influence or how we access power. But all organizations have some sort of power mechanism. And the more a consultant can understand and use that mechanism, the more likely the client can and will change.
Build Your IP
The more IP you build, the more likely people will find you. The more people who find you, the more likely you are to build relationships that lead to consulting.
The image in this post is from Successful Independent Consulting, and shows all the IP feedback loops I've seen in my business. I write something or speak somewhere. Someone refers to that content and asks for a discovery call, etc. But the first step is for me to create content. That content makes people more likely to engage with me and makes them more likely to trust me to do a good job with them.
McKinsey's clients are not my clients. I'm quite sure their clients would never even consider hiring me.
That's fine. My clients don't want to work with them either.
Build your IP to learn what you know. That helps your potential clients trust you. That trust allows you to build your political capital even before you start an engagement.
This is one of an intermittent series of consulting tips.