A big part of the value that you bring to your clients table is helping them see the forest for the trees, or is it helping them see the trees for the forest?
You know the one I mean.
So when you’re so in the thick of something, or you know, it’s the world you have around you so you don’t know any different, you can’t really see what you need to change in order to make it better.
And two of the metaphors that I love that absolutely capture this beautifully is:
A fish doesn’t know it’s in water.
I don’t know the last time you had a conversation with a fish and you asked it “how the water was?”
It would probably say “what water?” that’s just it’s world, it doesn’t know any different.
Another one is:
You can’t read the label from inside the jar.
Also not sure last time you were sitting inside a jar trying to read the label, but the drift is that you can’t necessarily see what’s going on right in front of you if you’re not positioned right to do it.
And often it’s really difficult without someone’s outside perspective, or their objectivity or their input to really see what’s going on, and to therefore be able to make some changes.
So these are just a couple of metaphors that I find really helpful when you try to explain some of the value that you bring to your clients’ tables.
And even though they might never have been a fish in water or sitting inside a jar, they go, I get the drift and it just makes the work that you do that much more valuable.
Because after all, You are Valuable