In every consulting engagement I can remember, I became part of the client's team. Useful, trusted, often treated like a senior internal hire. I produced real results. Then the engagement ended and I moved on.

The wins were attributed to the client. Which is fair — they paid for them. But here's what I've been thinking about lately: there's business development capital buried in every project I've worked on, and I've been leaving it on the table in every one.

A framework I developed for that engagement. A process I designed that I could have named. A pattern I noticed across programs that's still in a notebook somewhere. Case studies I could have published but didn't, because the work felt like theirs.

I'm starting a new engagement this month — a cross-border startup program, built from scratch, three countries, multiple stakeholder types. And I'm doing it differently.

This time I'm going into it as a business working with the client, not an extension of it. The wins will be theirs; the learning stays mine. That distinction needs to be visible from day one, not something I figure out at the end.

Here's what I'd suggest: before your next engagement, write down three things that will be yours — not the client's — when it's done. A framework. A case study you can publish. A process you can name. If you can't name them at the start, you'll have a hard time claiming them at the end.

The client paid for the work. That doesn't mean the learning was theirs.

Talk soon,

Yaniv

I'll be writing about this one as it develops. It's the most complex thing I've taken on in a while.