Are you doing value-subtraction?

Last week someone hijacked my weekly nugget of wisdom. They turned the concept I wrote about into a full length blog post on their site. Unfortunately they hid my nugget inside a boulder of padding and promotion. They did what I call value-subtraction.

Padding is just one example of value-subtraction. It’s insidious in consulting. Workshop content gets padded out. Meetings that could take 20 minutes are set for an hour. Whole engagements are extended to fit fee estimates.

Non of these adds value for the client.

Excess workshop content reduces participants time to think - value-subtraction. 40 minutes of a client's time lost in a meeting - value subtraction. Extending the time to close an engagement - value subtraction.

Look back over work you’ve recently done. How much value-subtraction can you spot? Be honest. (Reminder: It's not just padding that subtracts value.)

And, if you're interested to know more about eliminating value-subtraction, please let me know.

[By the way. I don’t have a problem with longer essay style articles, where they add value. Stuart Browne writes some terrific ones over on LinkedIn, which are clever, amusing, and insightful. He is a master of metaphor.]