270 | The Territory and the Hierarchy - Navigating the Landscape

The Territory and the Hierarchy: How to Navigate the Landscape The Art of Consulting podcast · Host: Andy Fry · Runtime: about 23 minutes

Episode Summary Andy Fry takes two ideas from Steven Pressfield's The War of Art, the hierarchy and the territory, and applies them to building a consulting career. The hierarchy is the ranked structure you work inside: family, school, employer, firm, client. The territory is the area of expertise you own outright. Andy argues that few professionals can succeed on just one. The best consultants build real expertise and also learn to work well within the hierarchies around them.

Short Description  What's the difference between climbing the ladder and owning your craft? Andy Fry looks at Steven Pressfield's ideas of the hierarchy and the territory, why you need both to build a lasting career, and how to tell which one you need to work on. Examples include a three-legged coyote, a veteran oil-change tech, and a brilliant but difficult developer.

Chapters p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> 00:00 – Welcome to The Art of Consulting

p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> 00:27 – Steven Pressfield's The War of Art and where these ideas come from

p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> 01:30 – What a hierarchy is: family, high school, and the workplace

p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> 03:57 – What a territory is: owning an area you're truly good at

p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> 04:45 – The three-legged coyote who owned the neighborhood

p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> 05:22 – Andy's territory: Oracle Projects / Oracle PPM

p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> 06:13 – Working in strict hierarchies: Big Four firms and the military

p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> 07:38 – The risk of relying only on the hierarchy

p]:pt-0 [&>p]:mb-2 [&>p]:my-0"> 08:05 – The veteran oil-change tech: a real-world territory