A few summers ago, my friend Anthony and I got into a weekend routine.

We’d get out of the city on Saturdays for a beach day.

Walking back to the car, Anthony would pick a tupperware bin full of ripe blackberries directly from the bushes.

(A positive mid-summer externality of invasive vines all over Seattle.)

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Later that evening, he’d make a blackberry cobbler.

Or a crumble, or a cake.

He’d share it with me and ask for feedback.

With my sweet tooth, I thought they were all delicious and told him as much.

But he’d continue iterating week after week.

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Last year, Anthony moved abroad, but I was resolved to keep the summer pastime alive.

I went to the beach.

Picked the blackberries off the vine.

Brought them home.

And then…

Lacking a recipe and uninspired to go further,

I put the fresh, ripe blackberries in the freezer.

Never to be heard from again.

Not to be enjoyed by anyone, even myself.

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Those differentiated insights of yours are your blackberries.

Perhaps they’re still on the vine.

Or maybe you’ve gone ahead and picked them.

Now you have a choice to make:

• Develop something with them that’s helpful for someone else
• Or put them in the freezer

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And guess what…

Your client doesn’t benefit from something you’ve left on ice.

And neither do you.

Read more about the Consultant’s Expertise Loop (sans the blackberries) here.

💡

-Wes

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