Flat Work
If your entire professional identity is organized around serving clients, you’ve collapsed yourself into a role. You’ve become the helpful expert. The reliable partner. The one who always delivers. But that’s a persona, not a person. And when you only show up as a persona, the work might look great on the outside, but something essential is missing.
Most people in client-facing work will tell you that clients come first. It sounds noble. It sounds like good business. But I think it’s quietly ruinous — not just for you, but for the clients themselves.
Two cutouts facing each other.
Here’s what happens when you lead with your professional avatar: you invite the client to do the same. Now it’s two cardboard cutouts facing each other. Everything is legible. Predictable. Flat. The consultant says consultant things. The client says client things. Everyone performs their role, and the project moves forward in the most expected way possible.