Operating in a start-up and entrepreneurial environment that is innovative, fast-paced, and requires multitasking brings about the realization that a demonstrable gap exists between what leadership expects of consultants and how they, in reality, work, referred to as the expectation-reality gap (ERG). Whether you have an idea, are ready to initiate, or are building your consulting organization, you will benefit from the content of this book. Once your leadership and consultants grasp the themes, writes Jacobs, they will respond with urgency to become key players and gain significant momentum for your start-up, and consulting business. Jacobs masterfully applied the input-process-output (IPO) model and descriptive attributes to demonstrate and analyze the ERG, and guide readers to gain insight into why the expectation-reality gap occurs, and what inadequacies might exist in terms of culture, capability, and leadership. Jacobs provides for each theme, a checklist of questions to ascertain whether your organization employs practices to avoid or narrow the ERG. Realizing the ERG themes exist and understanding the context is a powerful instrument. For hiring teams during the recruitment process; client-engagement leaders when engaging consultants in business development activities; project leaders in assigning and mentoring team members; executive management in starting, leading, and managing consulting organizations; and for individual consultants understanding what leaders expect. My Expectations Nearly Killed My Dream is the checklist methodology every entrepreneur needs to build a non-conventional business, an influential culture, and talent that can sustain an environment characterized by client value, speed, and adaptability.
About the Author: Andries J Jacobs is the founder and president of PDO Solutions Ltd, a management consulting firm, empowering leaders, making quantum leaps with their business through digital and transformation initiatives. At the age of 33, he earned the sought-after role of Director of Business Process Support at Kynoch Fertilizer, where he transformed the vision and culture of the organization radically by using information technology and information management systems to become process-driven and tech@core. During a 14-year career at Hatch Engineering, he acted as Project Systems Manager, Project Delivery Services Lead, SAP Practice Lead, Project Management System Product Manager, SAP Implementation Manager, and Management Consultant. He directed and orchestrated the start-ups of three companies in the project-delivery consulting, web-based software development, and hospitality industries.