Welcome to The Fulcrum, where I think out loud about work, community, and what it actually looks like to care about the world without losing yourself in the process. The balance is dynamic, and I'm figuring it out in real time. Glad you're here for it.
A man is worked upon by what he works on. He may carve out his circumstances, but his circumstances will carve him out as well.”
Table of Contents
What’s on my mind: 5 skills I gained in consulting that I am now using as a founder
1. Charge codes taught me to categorize my time
In consulting, we had charge codes: charging client time, internal business development, learning, coaching, etc. I had to log my time via charge codes every single day. I used to color-code my calendar in consulting according to charge code, and I do this with my current projects.
This skill alone has helped me in organizing my time for working on Happin and working on this newsletter, or just general networking, as well as creating guardrails for my attention and reducing too much topic switching. Why charge-code-style categorization works: batching similar work reduces the tax of constant context-switching between Happin, WPB, and networking.
Research backing this: The concept of "attention residue", Sophie Leroy's peer-reviewed 2009 study, found that switching tasks, especially when the prior task is left incomplete, leaves part of your attention still engaged with it, which reduces the cognitive capacity available for the new task.
2. Asking myself: Is this executive-level work?
I am thinking like a senior manager at a large consulting firm, where I'm constantly thinking, is the work I am doing right now executive-level work, or should it be outsourced...should I be doing the content creation? Should I be doing the QA testing? Should I be doing the email drafts?
Research backing this: McKinsey found that senior executives spend 72% of their week on meetings and administrative work, leaving less than 30% for strategy and vision. On the founder side specifically, a 2024 Sifted survey found 53% of startup founders had experienced burnout in the past year, with nearly half saying it directly impaired their ability to lead and make decisions.
3. The client-quality standard doesn't lower just because you're solo
Going from entrepreneurship to corporate and back to entrepreneurship has me asking myself, “Is this the type of quality that I would share with a client?” Admittedly, I do not take as much time formatting and wordsmithing presentations at the level I did in consulting, because my attention is going to the details of the app development. I have color-coded tasks, including the type of detail I am reviewing on the app development, specifically.
Many screens bring me joy
4. Attention to detail is a muscle you train, not a trait
I always said, “Oh, attention to detail is not my forte.” Well, in consulting, I had no choice but to make it my forte… so much so that one of my projects was being the project manager and reviewing people's work, catching the smallest details in policy, presentations, and calculations. As a result, this lived experience has taught me, no matter how uncomfortable it was in the beginning, to build this skill.
I am not necessarily reviewing others’ work at the level I used to, but I am now using this to review what I produce with AI. Is it perfect? No, but recently I did ask Claude to do an assessment of how it would score my power-usage, and how I could improve my systems. Great results so far 😀
5. No meetings about meetings
I have to work faster and have more iterations. I need the feedback right away because I don't have people to schedule reviews with.
I find myself in a lot of calls, but they are not meetings about meetings. Because of the systems I have put in place for myself, such as a daily briefing in the morning, times to go on mini walks to break my day, I go back to owning more of my time and capacity for attention to detail. Unlike in large organizations with many internal stakeholders, I do not have to go through many rounds of review because I'm a one-person team.
Bonus. What I found online as transferable skills from consultant to founder that stood out to me:
Projects that never "end". Adel Haddoud, ex-McKinsey consultant turned startup founder, spoke at an INSEAD alumni event about how consulting projects run three to four months, corporate roles run years, and in a startup, there's no such thing as "done"…
The one skill everyone points to. A McKinsey Associate Partner who now coaches consultants transitioning out put it this way: of everything consulting teaches, the ability to learn quickly is the skill that mattered most once she was on her own.
"Getting stuff done" is the real backbone. Tamara Rajah, who moved from consulting into a startup, named organizing tasks so nothing falls through the cracks as the habit that carried over hardest.
Unsentimental judgment. Kyle Abrahams, an ex-consultant turned founder, pointed to the discipline of looking hard at data and reaching a conclusion, even an unpopular one, as one of the most transferable habits consulting builds.
Tabs, Texts, and Takes
Are you in Los Angeles? I’ll be running a free workshop at Cruzita’s Deli and Cafe this month to help attendees discover how to navigate work-purpose balance! I am looking to run the workshop in California and remotely. Reply to this message if you’d like to learn more.
A great piece in case you just want to think introspectively. “Reflections on the Savior Complex.”
Shop worker cooperatives! From services to consumer goods, you may be surprised that a worker cooperative is around the corner!
This accelerator is for you if you’re building an investment initiative designed to help workers become owners. Due 7/19
I want to hear from you and feature you in the “Local Altruist” edition. Great if you have a resource to share, want to share your capabilities, or want to share your experience balancing altruism and financial well-being.
Rex (Recommendations)
“The false separation of politics and injustice from ordinary life—and the idea that activism is a kind of lifestyle accessory—is demobilizing to our movements, hides the root causes of injustice, and keeps us passive and complicit.”
Dean Spade, Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis
This is a quick read and worth digesting every page. This book by Dean Spade is a practical guide to community-based organizing, while also distinguishing mutual aid from charity. The book provides a framework for creating groups, making decisions, handling conflict, and preventing burnout, emphasizing that mutual aid is a political strategy for long-term social transformation beyond the temporary fix.
Want to hear more about Dean Spade? They will be giving a virtual talk this Thursday as a guest with the Sustainable Economies Law Center!
Quotes & Qs
Are you winning or are you getting better? This question is inspired by my dear friend Yaya, founder of Exceed Soccer.
That's what I've got for this issue. If any of this landed, hit reply! I read every single one.
Kateri