Category: Thought Leadership
Frameworks, pattern languages, and deep analysis from consulting practice.
A timeline of this series — oldest on the left, newest on the right.
-
Finding Your First Client — An Academic Paper Born from a Real Consulting Launch
I’m writing an academic paper about starting a consulting practice — while actually starting one. Here’s the paper, the story behind it, and an…
-
From Reflection to Jerisjärvi — Presenting at VikingPLoP 2026
What started as personal reflection on launching a consulting practice became an academic paper — and this week, a conference presentation in Jerisjärvi.
-
April, May, and a lot of forward motion
I’ve been quiet on here. Here’s what’s been happening and where things are going.
-
An Unexpected Journey: People Development at the Foot of the Himalayas
BilboConsult’s first international engagement took us to Bhutan — the result of an unexpected phone call on a Lapland road. Here is the story…
-
The Unexpected Journey — Why Good Companies Resist the Change They Need
Last December I posted an advent calendar on LinkedIn: twenty-four short reflections, each pairing a leadership principle with a moment from The Hobbit. Several…
-
The Tookish Side — The Unlikely Heroes Already on Your Payroll
Tolkien gives Bilbo two inheritances. From his father’s side, the Baggins: respectable, predictable, suspicious of anything that might make you late for dinner. From…
-
Riddles in the Dark — Walking Into the Meeting Everyone Said to Avoid
The most famous chapter in The Hobbit has no battle in it. Bilbo is lost in the dark, deep under a mountain, facing a…
-
Navigating Mirkwood — The Middle of Every Transformation Is a Dark Forest
Before the company enters Mirkwood, Gandalf gives one instruction and then — infuriatingly — leaves: “Don’t leave the path.” Inside the forest there is…
-
Barrel Riding — When the Rough Plan Is the Only One That Fits
Bilbo’s escape from the Elvenking’s halls is not elegant. He packs the dwarves into empty wine barrels and floats them down a cold underground…
-
Sting Glows Blue — The Early Warnings Your Dashboards Don’t Show
Bilbo’s sword Sting has one magical property: it glows blue when orcs are near. Not when they attack — when they approach. The whole…
-
The Burglar’s Role — Why Thorin Didn’t Hire a Fourteenth Dwarf
There is a detail in The Hobbit that is easy to read past. Thorin’s company doesn’t recruit Bilbo despite him not being a dwarf.…
-
The Arkenstone — The Treasure You Must Not Trade Away
Under the Lonely Mountain lies a hoard beyond counting — gold, gems, mithril. And in the middle of it, one stone unlike the rest:…
-
The Lonely Mountain — Go-Live Is Not the End of the Story
Here is a structural fact about The Hobbit that most readers forget: the company reaches the Lonely Mountain — the destination, the goal of…
-
There and Back Again — Bringing the Journey Home
Bilbo’s own title for his memoirs was “There and Back Again.” Not “How I Helped Kill a Dragon.” The destination gets second billing; the…