Sometime ago I was sitting in a car crouched over a laptop being driven to an airport. The negotiation had however already started because the other side had deemed this critical. I was struggling with a phone connection that kept dropping off the conference call. As a result the rest of my team were managing the call and I was contributing as best as I could.
Fortunately, in an area with a clear signal I suddenly realised that one of my colleagues was refusing to do something our customer had just told us that the competitor in the bid had agreed to do. And in fact it was in our interest to take up the customer’s offer. I was able to promptly intervene and rescue the situation and turn it to our advantage.
This is what we train and practice and learn for as professionals – to recognise “the critical moments” when all our experience and knowledge can be brought to bear in recognising and resolving an issue. There are many straightforward situations which can be dealt with routinely but these are pivotal to the conclusion and eventual success of any deal.
The chess grandmaster Boris Spassky said My forte was the middlegame. I had a good feeling for the critical moments of the play. This undoubtedly compensated for my lack of opening preparation and, possibly, not altogether perfect play in the endgame. In my games things often did not reach the endgame!
This also means not expending too much wasted energy on the “dotting i’s” and crossing t’s” issues, whilst recognising these need to be done. Winston Churchill once commented You will never get to the end of the journey if you stop to shy a stone at every dog that barks.
As increasing automation and artificial intelligence processes potentially take on even the most profound tasks carried out by the professions, it will become increasingly important to recognise core abilities and skill sets such as this which can and should still be carried out by people - because for the foreseeable future we will simply be the best and most effective at doing them.
Fortunately, in an area with a clear signal I suddenly realised that one of my colleagues was refusing to do something our customer had just told us that the competitor in the bid had agreed to do. And in fact it was in our interest to take up the customer’s offer. I was able to promptly intervene and rescue the situation and turn it to our advantage.
This is what we train and practice and learn for as professionals – to recognise “the critical moments” when all our experience and knowledge can be brought to bear in recognising and resolving an issue. There are many straightforward situations which can be dealt with routinely but these are pivotal to the conclusion and eventual success of any deal.
The chess grandmaster Boris Spassky said My forte was the middlegame. I had a good feeling for the critical moments of the play. This undoubtedly compensated for my lack of opening preparation and, possibly, not altogether perfect play in the endgame. In my games things often did not reach the endgame!
This also means not expending too much wasted energy on the “dotting i’s” and crossing t’s” issues, whilst recognising these need to be done. Winston Churchill once commented You will never get to the end of the journey if you stop to shy a stone at every dog that barks.
As increasing automation and artificial intelligence processes potentially take on even the most profound tasks carried out by the professions, it will become increasingly important to recognise core abilities and skill sets such as this which can and should still be carried out by people - because for the foreseeable future we will simply be the best and most effective at doing them.
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