I did not tell Daniel I had updated the profile, not because I was hiding it but because it did not seem like news. It was routine maintenance of a professional listing I had maintained for two years.
The training coordinator at Northbridge Services, I later learned, searched the Alliance directory in May for speakers with a specific combination of experience: operations process improvement, midsize service companies, practical rather than theoretical approach. My profile came up. She looked at my references, looked at the workshop descriptions, sent a preliminary inquiry to Julia. Julia passed it to me.
That is the whole chain. There was no conspiracy. There was a database and a search and a match. The world is smaller than it seems, and databases are very good at their jobs.
## Reading the Email Again
I forwarded the email to myself and then I went for a walk. I do some of my best thinking on walks, which is something I have in common with approximately every consultant who has ever lived, and which Daniel has always found slightly amusing.
On the walk I thought through the geometry of the situation.
Northbridge Services had forty-two employees attending the training day. Daniel was an account manager; he would be at the training day. His training coordinator had hired me through a professional directory. The booking was legitimate, the work was in my wheelhouse, and the rate was my standard rate, which was fair.
What were my options?
Option one: decline the booking. Tell Julia something had come up. This protected the peace. It also meant turning down legitimate paid work because my husband had told his family a lie, and once I framed it that way I could see pretty quickly that this was not something I was willing to do.