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Winning Through Your
"Guru Quotient"
By Carl Friesen
It was a make-or-break deal for a major office of an international engineering firm. This was the reconstruction of the country's busiest airport, and would be the country's biggest construction project.
Being involved in this size of engagement would show the firm's ability to tackle large, complex projects. Because the airport had to remain fully functional during the entire project, the firm would get a chance to showcase its skills at staging the work effectively.
The job would provide thousands of billable hours for the firm's people, and build their skills tremendously.
How did this engineering firm, working in partnership with another firm, win the engagement? Not through political connections or low-balling the price.
One of the main reasons lay with half a dozen employees. These were not members of management. Rather, they were acknowledged "experts" on airport design. These highly skilled professionals had demonstrated their skills solving thorny problems at other airports.
Their participation in the bid process, with their resumes in the proposal, gave the airport authority client the confidence that they would get the benefit of some of the best brains in the business.
Having just a few acknowledged gurus working for the firm helped win it this major engagement. This meant thousands of hours of billable work for the engineers doing the less-differentiated work of designing overpasses, underpasses and roads. What's more, this firm could charge out the time of these "experts" at three to four times the rate of its garden-variety designers.
These professionals command a high level of respect among the people whose opinions they value the most - their peers. They are in high demand, and travel widely to bring their expertise to bear. They earn a high level of income, choose the kind of work they want to do (and how much), and decide on the terms on which they want to work.
How does an ordinary professional, whether an accountant, actuary, architect, consultant, engineer or lawyer, attain this level?
Through building a guru quotient.
What makes a guru, anyway?
To see why this is important, let's first take a look at what a guru is
and does.
A guru is different from a "garden-variety" professional in several key ways. She or he has a higher level of expertise and knowledge, is more sought after, and can succeed at more challenging projects.
A guru is, of necessity, an individual. A firm can't be a guru, although it can contain them. The guru may train disciples to teach her or his methodology, but it all depends on the individual guru behind the methodology.
To be a guru, you must be well known - at least, within the range of people relevant to the issue. This can mean a widely-acknowledged individual such as Peter Drucker or Charles Handy, who might appear on a TV talk show.
But also, it can be someone acknowledged in a specific area, such as David Maister on professional firms, David Foot on demographics or David Ury on negotiations.
We also see gurus in very narrowly defined fields, such as Ellen Flynn-Heapes on professional firm strategy, Dan Poynter on self-publishing non-fiction books, or Suzanne Lowe on differentiation in professional firms. So, the level of fame can be great, even if it is only within a small niche.
Fame alone isn't enough. Britney Spears is famous. You need to be well-regarded for your expertise. Competence in your area of skill is essential. To get this, you need fame among the right kinds of people - those with influence, whose opinion carries weight.
There's a lot to be said for leading-edge thought that pushes the envelope, and many now-accepted truths were promoted by people who were originally thought to be living in some kind of alternative universe. However, the concept of peer review has a great deal of validity.
A guru isn't necessarily flashy, and in fact anyone with too much style is often suspected of having little behind all that style and show.
Some highly-promoted speakers and authors may have a lot of charisma and speaking ability (think Anthony Robbins), and what they impart may actually help people. I don't think of them as gurus, however.
They lack the intellectual credentials of a guru. It's not necessary to have a Ph.D. to be a guru, but at least an undergraduate degree seems to be becoming the minimum. It also helps to have professional qualifications in your discipline - particularly if you are in engineering, architecture, law or accounting. Without credentials, your fight for acceptance will always be an uphill one.
What does a guru do?
A guru, if working in a larger firm, is often important to building the
business. Let's first look at how a guru's business-development aspects
differ from others in a firm who bring in the work.
A guru's role is not that of a salesperson, who is a specialist hired by the firm to cold call, network and bird-dog business leads. These people are expected to bring in the client-service professional when the time is right. They often carry business cards that say Director of Business Development or Client Service Representative.
I prefer to think of them as "Suits," the term used in advertising agencies for staff who act as liaison between the client and the "creative" people.
A guru is also different from a rain-maker, who is an accountant, lawyer or other professional who can network, develop relationships and connections, and by an almost-magical process, attract work like a magnet. The rain-maker then generally off-loads the work onto others.
These "others" do the intellectual heavy lifting, while the rain-maker's heavy lifting generally involves hoisting yet another miniature egg-roll-on-a-toothpick at a cocktail reception.
A guru's business development value also does not lie in the realm of the high-profile business developer. My former firm, KPMG, hired one such for its forensic accounting and investigative services practice in Canada. Norman Inkster had recently retired as Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the organization in Canada that comes closest to having the role of the FBI. His time was largely spent networking and giving presentations to conferences. Does he count as a guru? Not in the sense I'm defining it here, which is someone with a substantial body of leading-edge work and original methodology.
Washington consulting firms, including what critics often call "Beltway Bandits" (although they can also be found inhabiting refurbished offices in Georgetown or on Dupont Circle) have also been known to recruit high-profile retired politicos for the same purpose - business generation. They aren't necessarily gurus either. However, they do have a good Rolodex.
So how does a guru bring in business?
She or he combines elements of all three previous styles. A guru may be like a salesperson in being the front person, offloading some work when appropriate onto lower-billed individuals. A guru also has aspects of the rain-maker, in having the ability to attract business simply by being there. Also, like the high-profile business-getter, the guru is a marquee item.
These elements are necessary but not sufficient. A guru has another essential aspect in being a resident expert, an in-house sage, someone who has the intellectual stature to stand tall like a tree in the middle of a field. It's someone who attracts respect, clients and billable hours simply by virtue of what she or he does and is.
How is a guru different?
Expen$ive - but worth it
Another aspect to being a guru is financial. If you work in a for-profit environment, and have been doing the work for some time and have a good position in the business community, income is a good analog for competence. If you earn lots, you're worth it - and if you don't, you aren't. Sure, in every field there are unacknowledged geniuses, but generally, if you are truly brilliant you will be rewarded accordingly. It's economic Darwinism at its best.
A good body of work
A guru needs a substantial body of work. Call it a track record, a CV, a resume, a Statement of Qualifications, whatever. This work needs to be:
Lengthy. This demonstrates your staying power and commitment to the industry. There are Wunderkind stars, Boy (or Girl) Wonders, but these need to stick around to be thought of as real gurus. In contrast to much of the youth-obsessed world, this is one area where gray hair and glasses are an asset.
High-profile projects. There must be a substantial number of recognizable names among your list of clients and projects.
Constantly improving. Someone serving a life sentence behind bars may be a world-class authority on making mailbags and license plates. By contrast, to be a guru you need to be continually getting better, demonstrating new capabilities and new ideas.
Challenging work. Thorny problems, which would have defeated lesser "experts," must be met and dealt with effectively.
Unique solutions. You need strong imagination skills to come up with new ideas.
A branded methodology.
By "branded" I mean something that is unique to that individual,
in the way that gurus Al Ries and Jack Trout branded the concepts "positioning"
and "bottom-up marketing." It's
not enough to just have this body of work and be a Great Unknown. You
need to blow your horn; don't wait for others to discover you.
How does a
guru stand out?
A guru stands out according to actions that make that body of work and
the expertise public.
Books
In a world of interactive CDs, the Web and multimedia, publishing a Book is still the distinguishing mark of a guru. Why is this?
Partly, it's because of an age-old respect for published authors that has stood from before the development of the printing press. "Having a book" still has that mystical charm. Also, having enough knowledge to fill a book seems to indicate that one has something substantial to offer. It demands either a lot of original thought or a lot of research (or both) to fill 150 or so pages, or more.
While at a professional
speakers' association meeting recently, I met a member who was just a
little bitter about the success of another of the association's members.
He felt this man was no better as a speaker, but he "had a Book"
and so was able to get substantially higher speaking fees and better gigs.
His book made him visible as a guru and raised his credibility.
Magazine articles
Many consultants and other professionals write articles for magazines to demonstrate their knowledge, but the writings of a guru are different.
Type of article: Instead of writing how-to articles, gurus tend to write articles that describe a trend - how it originated, where it is now and how it will develop. They also write opinion articles that showcase their high-level understanding of the issues.
Pushing the envelope: These articles discuss new ideas, methodologies and concepts, beloved of publications such as the Harvard Business Review and the Sloan Management Review.
In prestigious
publications: instead of writing for the local business magazine,
gurus are published in publications that are either highly respected (such
as HBR) or widely circulated. One distinguishing mark of a guru is being
asked to write for the publication, instead of having to present an idea
to the editor.
Speeches and seminars
Regular experts give workshops, industry luncheon presentations and "concurrent presentations" at conferences; gurus give keynotes. Gurus' pictures are on the cover of the conference program and their bios are longer than those of other presenters.
They are often the lure intended to attract attendees. This means that to be a guru, you need stature in the industry, something innovative or inspiring to say, and to be at least a passable public speaker.
One can know a great
deal about very little, and have a breathtakingly narrow range of expertise,
and still be a guru. Therefore, an expert in a particularly arcane area
of forensic engineering may be at the pinnacle of success, enjoying the
congratulations of his or her peers, after "keynoting" a conference
with just 50 attendees.
Media interviews
Journalists are always on the lookout for credible sources to interview for their articles and to put in front of a microphone or camera. Having been a reporter and editor myself, I can confirm that they have certain criteria for "sources." This includes many of the factors that make a guru.
If an ordinary "expert"
is quoted briefly in smaller newspaper stories, the guru is once again
in an entirely separate class. A guru is quoted towards the top of the
newspaper story, on the front page rather than tucked away inside. Appearances
on TV news shows are usually reserved for gurus, particularly on network
programs.
Community events
In this case, "community" does not mean the geographical area of one's home. Rather, it is a group of people in the same industry, profession, sphere of interest or other work-related aspect. It may be global in scope and is a true community, even though its members may rarely meet each other in person, perhaps just at a once-a-year conference.
A guru is given a place of honor in such a community.
She or he serves on the editorial boards of publications of record and sits on industry and government task forces.
A guru should be
a major player in relevant industry or professional organizations. It
may involve sitting on certification committees, being part of panel discussions
and other high-profile activities.
Why become a guru?
Understanding what a guru is and does will give you a pretty good idea of whether you want to become one.
Interesting work. Far from the one-foot-in-front-of-the-other world of the garden-variety professional, you will be able to choose work that is really interesting to you.
Instead of designing a freeway overpass, for example, the guru engineer gets to decide where to locate the overpass, or whether an overpass is the best solution to the overall traffic situation. Rather than drawing up divorce documents and wills, a lawyer who is a guru provides an opinion on complex issues related to family law.
Choice of work. Because of the star power and marquee value a guru has, you can choose which assignments to take, when, and for how long. You also have the rare privilege of "firing" a client if you want (anyone can do this, but the consequences may be more severe).
More money. Generally, an acknowledged guru is able to bill out at multiples of the rate charged for a garden-variety professional. This means that you can either earn more per year, or spend more time on other worthy pursuits. Depending on your circumstances, this might include attending your child's T-ball game, perfecting that golf swing, or climbing the highest peaks on all seven continents.
More stature and fame. Your name is recognized by people in your community, and in a positive way. What's not to like?
Popularity.
People laugh at your jokes even if they're awful, pick up the check at
lunch, and buy drinks.
Becoming a guru
There are four main aspects to how a garden-variety "expert" ascends to gurudom.
Ambition: The first aspect is the drive, the ambition, the spark, that pulls an actor out of the ranks of "extras" into above-the-title fame, or helps a singer advance from performing in cocktail lounges to booking stadiums.
To be a guru, you must really, really want it. It takes time, effort and determination. Without that drive, even a brilliant individual is fated to a life of coach airfares and food court lunches.
Substance: We've discussed the importance of a body of work, peer recognition, a unique methodology and high-profile projects. You can't become a guru without them. You may be able to fool some of the people some of the time, but not enough people enough of the time. Anything else is like a "university degree" from a diploma mill.
You will need to package this body of work effectively. This might include a condensation of projects in your CV; a binder that includes clippings, photographs and letters of appreciation, and a Web site that describes your work.
Profile: A would-be guru cannot break out of the pack without recognition that comes from articles, speeches, books and community activity.
A niche: Find a niche that is not now occupied by a guru, that inspires you, and for which there is a real need. Then go and build your future.