"Wizard's First Rule"--"We believe something is true because we want it to be true or fear it to be true"

I was reminded again today of "the wizard's first rule"--mentioned in the Terry Goodkind book by the same title.  In essence, the rule is that "we believe something is true because we want it to be true or because we fear it to be true."

I have recently experienced the "wizard's first rule" first hand in two situations.

Around July of this year I purchased an iPod Touch and quickly saw the value of having an iPhone.  When I contacted AT&T, my wireless service provider, I was advised that due to my new contract (from earlier this year), I could only get an iPhone with a totally new contract, continuing to pay for my old contract.  The iPod Touch provides many of the same applications except for telephone service and a camera.  The iPhone would meet my needs better than my current LG phone and I did not see my way clear just to cancel my current contract and to start over.

I received a promotional e-mail from a marketing company who offered my an iPhone if I would try products of three of their sponsors.  Normally I would pass these offers up and, because I wanted an iPhone sooner rather than later, I decided to participate.  I worked with four (rather than the required three) of their sponsors and, of course, never received any iPhone.  The sponsors were independent businesses and some were of value and some were not.  One of the spin-offs from this promotion led to someone I don't know making an unauthorized charge on my credit card for just under four-hundred-dollars, securing two iPods from the Apple Store and shipping them to a state where I don't live.  I reported this fraud to my credit card company and they are looking into it.  I wanted the promotion to be true and, of course, it wasn't.

This year I am returning to my management consulting practice.  I have been a senior business consultant for many years and took time away from consulting after 9-11-2001 to teach in K-12 school systems, making a different for children.

As I return to the job market for management consultants this year it seems much more restrictive than it was in the past.  In November, 1998, I was recruited by a head hunter to be a management consultant for a European-owned consulting firm with US offices in Dallas, Texas.  I flew to Dallas for the interview and was hired with a start date of January 2, 1999.  I worked as a senior business consultant for the firm until October, 2000, when the firm I worked for was merged with a French consulting firm and most of the US workforce not actively on client projects was laid off.

I enjoyed my work with the firm and the compensation was fair.  I regard the experience as a positive one that I would enjoy repeating should the opportunity arise.

In today's economy things are different from the way they were in 1998.  Senior management consulting positions seem hard to come by in today's market and the salaries and bonuses offered in the past are also harder to find.  In reviewing job opportunities on Internet job boards, sometimes senior management consulting positions show up.

Most of the major worldwide consulting firms are based in the USA and there are still many small to mid-level consulting firms based in Europe and other countries that would like to penetrate the market in North America.  Very few of them are active in recruiting in the USA, though they may still do so.

I would like to experience the same opportunity I enjoyed in 1998, finding a European consulting firm starting to do business in the USA who would like for me to provide management consulting services either as an outside contractor or as an employee.  My challenge will be to find European consulting firms who are in a position to do this and to offer the salary and benefits at least similar to those I received in 1998.