co-dependent clients

or is it postpartum depression?

if you're an experienced, and good, consultant, you've often deal with the aftermath of an engagement. you know the drill:

1. client starts talking to you about how, "nice it is around here. nice place to raise a family.". furtively trying to gauge your reaction.

2. the client start asking about your family and how if they were you they'd want to get "off the road".

3. client flat out asks you to apply for the new job that your consulting engagement created.

you, of course, slowly back away and try to ease out of the conversation. you've run into this before. you know it's just client co-dependency rearing its ugly head. they have come to trust you and they don't want you to stop telling them what to do. you're tempted. maybe you do want to get "off the road". maybe the client is in a nice town.

but then you remember. you're a consultant. you're a sprinter not a marathoner. you fly in and solve their problems and give them guidance. you then ride off into the sunset. who was that stranger? that man just saved the town. et cetera, et cetera. you don't get into operations. you're not in it to keep the "plumbing running". you've designed and implemented. you're done.

and yet. . .

you remember. you remember the late nights and hard work. you remember the feeling of joy that comes when, some days, problems get knocked down as regularly as dominoes and your team and the client seem to be hitting on all cylinders. you want to keep that feeling of being in "the zone".

but in the end, you know it in your bones that you have to leave. there is always another problem for a different client. you love being that stranger that rides into town and gets rid of the desperadoes. so you climb on your horse (plane) and ride (fly) off into the sunset.