Why copilot?

It's been nearly two decades since I've been using the terms 'copilot' and 'copiloting' instead of 'consultant,' 'coach,' 'advisor,' or whatever.

In the context of innovation, business strategies, and project deployment, it is mainly because no one can tell you what you should do. In fact, no one knows "what to do" precisely in a situation of significant market change. No reliable person could pretend to do so, and the expertise you can have as someone who pretends to know what you're doing in innovation is to know that there is no method.

They are tools, principles, key concepts, and much more, but no copy-and-paste plan that will reliably unfold in five clean-cut steps.

And there's compounded experience too.

And in the end, too, the project owner or the executive committee you work with will need to have found their autonomy. We might be needed to help you cross a chasm, but not for the full journey, when the ground is now solid and the terrain recognizable again.

So when I'm saying we're copiloting, you might think I'm referring to being the second in command, seated next to an airplane pilot. I'm not.

I'm referring to this:

A copilot that, with a small, rugged but powerful boat, will meet you before entering or exiting tricky waters. Someone who knows how your decades-old freighter or ultra-modern cruise ship handles and will get the job done, and who will navigate the chokehold with you on his side, and give you back command as fast and efficiently as possible.