Ben Gilbert: evaluation

Transcript context

…I did learn a lot about supply chain logistics when I was working there. I worked for the Panama Canal for a little while. I lived in Spain and I worked for Vueling Airlines. We did a bunch of other projects with airlines, some projects with Boeing actually, thinking about everything from parts distribution, to the right maintenance repair and overhaul systems for an airline, to how do you optimize in airports. There are a lot of different logistics problems that we are working on in terms of skills. The thing that was the most impactful for me in consulting, something that bugged me for a long time in my life, to be honest, I remember even in high school and junior high, I did a lot of different things. I was always the kid that did seven different activities. Sports, student government, tried this hobby, tried that hobby, wanted to learn this thing, and I never really went deep. I remember thinking at one point, jealous of the person that found that one thing that they really love and they're super deep in it, I was wondering, maybe I could just pick something. I never was able to just settle on one thing. Consulting really fit me. I did 26 projects probably over 4 years or so but I kept wondering when am I going to figure out that thing that I really love. I bounced and I did lots of different things. Marketing, product management, engineering-related work. It wasn't until I started a company that I realized the thing that I was actually really good at and that I had trained myself to do over and over was to very rapidly understand new spaces, and be able to start things and kick things off very quickly, like get something off the ground. That was a skill I gained from consulting initially. Dan, did you find that you were great at that but not as operational as you would like? The knock on people that’s starting consulting or spend too much time in consulting is always like, “Oh, yeah. They're the smartest person in the room, they can definitely tell you how to solve your problem, but when it comes to doing it, it doesn't work. Was that your experience? It's a really good question. When I first started, I don't think I recognized that actually was the case in consulting. I thought that I understood things and then I realized I was just doing the strategy portions.…

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