1. The “Moneyball” Reason: That scene in the movie, around the table with Billy Beane and the talent scouts, represented the same old (erroneous) thinking. Had Beane not had the foresight to realize that baseball wasn’t a level playing field as far as the possibilities for “poor” clubs like the Oakland As were concerned, then they’d never had achieved that record-breaking run of wins. Or inspired the Red Sox to win the league! When the ground is continually shifting, no company (consultancy or anything else) can afford to get mired in so-called certainties.

Which brings me to:
2. The “Black Swan” Reason: As Nassim Nicholas Taleb points out in this excellent book, a measure of higher intelligence is focusing more on what you don’t know than what you do. Taleb calls this “negative empiricism.” Again, in times of high uncertainty (which, as much as we don’t want to admit it, these are) you can’t look at back at what’s always happened and expect the future to produce the same. “We can get closer to the truth by negative instances, not by verification,” posits Taleb. A book for everyone to read and ponder.

And finally, from academia (don’t groan!):
3. The Knowledge-Telling Reason. The work by Bereiter & Scardamalia on the two different models of how writers’ minds work has a bearing here. I often wondered why so many smart business people wrote really poor books. Not that there was anything wrong with their grammar or composition, just with the superficial level of thinking. It’s all down to exactly what you describe with your son: the knowledge-tellers stick with what they know and just regurgitate that. The knowledge-transformers, however, take an approach that’s qualitatively different, involving higher level goal setting and problem-solving.

Doubts are what true thought leaders have – continually. By focusing on what they don’t know and not becoming seduced by “certainty,” they discover fresh insights and perspectives, leaving everyone else to re-hash old ground.

The HRD is therefore “rushed” to the IT discussion rather than receiving insight and help with more mainstream HR issues.

The good news is that there are many niche HR firms, (including my own!) really interested in the total HR challenge.

Regarding the complaint about listening, I have heard this so many times that I could call it before I read it. This action directly impacts the ability to form trusted relationships and results in the inability to sell add-on projects. I recommend the book,”The Trusted Advisor” by Maister, Green and Galford as a good place to begin to learn about how to remedy the issue.

I’m reminded of that exchange from the movie Apollo 13 in which the NASA director says, “This could be the worst disaster NASA’s ever faced,” to which flight director Gene Kranz replies, “With all due respect, sir, I believe this is gonna be our finest hour.”

Thought leaders need to embody the “finest hour” perspective and have the courage to transform those endless possibilities into reality. Who else will?

Someone needs to take a risk, and from a consultant’s point of view that means low cost pilots, innovation and just plain selling.

Getting clients to focus on the top line may not be easy, but consultants are often in the best poisition to do so.