Knowing what we know:

“So the call came in late on Thursday afternoon and right away I wished I hadn’t answered the phone, so my first move was to tap into my network to find some relevant info and leads to other people or databases.

Abstract

“So the call came in late on Thursday afternoon and right away I wished I hadn’t answered the phone. We had received a last-second opportunity to bid on a sizable piece of work that the Partner on the other end of the line really wanted to pursue. I had no clue how to even begin looking for relevant methodologies or case examples, so my first move was to tap into my network to find some relevant info and leads to other people or databases. And I relied pretty heavily on this group over the next couple of days. Seth was great for pointing me to other people and relevant information, Paul provided ideas on the technical content of the project while Jeff really helped in showing me how to frame the client’s issues in ways that we could sell. He also helped navigate and get buy-in from the client given his knowledge of their operations and politics. . . I mean the whole game is just being the person that can get the client what they need with [the firm’s] resources behind you. This almost always seems to mean knowing who knows what and figuring out a way to bring them to bear on your client’s issue.” —Anonymous Interviewee