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The Dangers of Following the Money Trail in the Corporate Marketplace
The existential dilemma of an innovation consultant with a big mortgage, family to feed, and cash flow challenges
For the life of me, I cannot remember the name of the financial services company that left me an urgent voice mail message asking that I call them back immediately about my availability to lead their annual leadership retreat on a island off the coast of Florida.
All I can recall was how generic sounding their name was — something like National Investment Services… or Consolidated Financial Brokers…. or The American Banking Alliance — kind of like the corporate equivalent of John Doe.
Somehow, they had heard of me and, with their big company pow wow coming up, were looking for someone with a track record to help them “become more innovative.”
Never having heard of them before, I googled their name and, 1.73 seconds later, found myself on their website, slickly designed, I imagined, by someone with a special fondness for stock photos of earnest looking models impersonating business people — models who must have just moved to L.A. to pursue acting careers, but found themselves, at 24 or 35, working part-time as waiters and jumping at the chance to pick up some easy…
