I did not plan that. I did not choose the mechanism. But I was in the room, and I was good at the work, and the room held both of those facts, and they could not be walked back.
There is something in that I find useful to remember: you do not always control the mechanism by which the truth arrives. Sometimes it arrives through a database and a referral and a training coordinator who did her job correctly. What you control is being prepared when it does, and being good enough at your work that the arrival is unambiguous.
I was prepared. The work was good. The arrival was unambiguous.
That is what I have. It is quite a lot.
## Where the Practice Goes Next
I want to end on the work rather than on the marriage, because the work is mine independent of everything else and because it is the thing I am most excited about going forward.
The Cleveland firm inquiry is still active. I had the scoping call and they are larger than my typical client but not outside my competence; the specific problem they have identified is a client service bottleneck in their consulting division that is, at its root, a classic handoff problem. I have seen versions of it in every industry. The scale is different but the framework applies. I am going to take the engagement.
The Alliance article draft is at nine pages, one over the target after cutting. I have one more revision pass to do and then it goes to the editor. Julia has already told me the editorial team is interested in developing it into a conference session anchor, meaning the spring talk and the article will be connected, which is the kind of platform development I have been building toward for two years.