Tomfoolery

Thank God for experts who can offer their professional expertise. Thank God for graphs, pie charts and spreadsheets. Thank God for business, science and technology - all wrapped in one prospectus.

My friend, Thomas, knows to thank God because he's the expert giving professional development training to further the business of science and the science of business using the latest technology.

My other friend, Tom, doesn't think to thank God for what comes naturally to him. He doesn't think to thank God for innate gifts that others envy. Tom is foolish enough to be challenged by every new experience, every new piece of information and every new finding to ever claim expertise, professional or otherwise.

Tom is about what I'd call confessional consultation. He tells you that he learned his trade at his old man's elbow. He tells you that he might have to try another approach to the problem he's facing. He tells you that they don't make them the way they used to, but that he'll work on it till he gets it right or fixed. 

Indeed, Tom's foolery is too busy affecting himself - with head scratching, operating manual reviews and second opinions from others - to have much of an effect on his clients and customers. Someone should tell Tom that it's so much easier to inform people of what they need to think and do than to offer advice or options. Someone should tell Tom that it's so much better to upgrade than to replace. Someone should tell Tom that it's so much more profitable to charge for his time than for his work.

Conversely, Thomas is about professional consultation. He's ever ready to rephrase, refashion and refurbish your situation to make it less of a problem for him. He always has an agenda and sticks to his agenda, no matter what may need addressing. He confidently stands before you, but not with or behind you. He has the answer for the question you are not asking or even interested in considering. He likes to mix things up, and people in the process. He can leave you breathless, like after being punched in the gut.

This "Winter Gone Mild" will have me go to the Zoo before long. I will proceed to the monkey cage where I will witness tomfoolery in its most innocent, if not natural, setting. But the lesson will be the same: The higher the monkey climbs, the more he shows his tail.