In this episode of the Impostor Syndrome Files, we talk about how using problem solving frameworks can help you ease self-doubt and make better decisions. My guest this week, Tommy Ogden, co-founder of Activera Consulting, shares his career journey, including the twists and turns along the way. Here we talk about the importance of trying new things to figure out what you want to do, failing quickly and moderating your expectations when you’re learning something new. Tommy also shares practical frameworks you can use to make more confident decisions and temper your impostor syndrome.
About My Guest
Tommy Ogden is the Co-Founder and Agility & Analytics Lead of Activera Consulting, a boutique management consulting firm based in Houston, Texas, focused on the future of energy. With expertise in strategy, execution, and change, Activera's collaborative teams approach complex challenges with a mindset of inquiry. They tailor and custom-build solutions with a dedicated focus on measurable impact for clients.
Possessing a diverse skill set across many industries and educational pursuits, Tommy has developed business acumen through 20 years of experience working in myriad capacities, including – investment advisor, financial analyst, business analyst, management/strategy consultant, and project/program manager. He has earned certifications as a Project Management Professional (PMP), Professional Scrum Master (PSM), and SAFe Practice Consultant (SPC). He is known for his ability to produce unique ideas for solving problems, offer an innovative perspective, and lead a team to accomplish results within assigned deadlines, having consistently provided actionable deliverables in the agility, analytics, and strategy arenas.
Tommy also holds two Masters degrees in business administration – an MBA and a Master of Global Management in International Business & Consulting – and has most recently worked for two Fortune 20 companies in both the technology and energy industries. He was driven to continue his business education by a desire to (co-)found and lead his own business as an entrepreneur.
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Connect with Tommy:
Website: www.activeraconsulting.com
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/TommyOgden
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Transcript
Kim Meninger
Welcome, Tommy, I am very excited for our conversation today. And I would love to start by inviting you to introduce yourself.
Tommy Ogden
Perfect. Kim, thank you so much for having me on. My name is Tommy Ogden. I'm currently a director and co-founder at Activera Consulting, where I lead our agility and analytics practice. And Activera’s just about a year old, a year, maybe two weeks ago as a recording of this episode. Prior to Activera, I was with Accenture for four years. And prior to Accenture, I was with a small boutique management consulting firm, very similar to active Berra for six years prior to that. And then I was in business school, and then I did a lot of odd jobs. And we can get into the history, as I'm sure we will in this discussion. But that's about me in a nutshell.
Kim Meninger
Yeah. And thank you, I really appreciate that. And I would love to get into some of that. I think career paths in and of themselves are always interesting, but they also come with a lot of trepidation. And you know, just, I think that they are exciting and daunting at the same time. So I'd love to hear a little bit about the path you've taken. And what were some of the considerations along the way, any fears or doubts that you experienced?
Tommy Ogden
Sure. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we're here to talk impostor syndrome. And it's certainly something I felt that at multiple junctions in my career. So I'll start back to where I would, I would say the initial impostor syndrome started from a business perspective. And that was with my choice of major in college. So a lot of times I'm in I'm in it advisory for oil and gas. So I get a lot of, you know, engineers get a lot of business majors. Well, I decided to major in Spanish in college. And I, you know, I did a study abroad program. And I focused on Spanish, but I took Portuguese and I took French and I really liked languages generally. But to be honest, I didn't have much of a conception of what my future career would be. I just knew that I liked languages, and I was following my passion. And so that put me in an interesting spot, once I graduated, which is what do you do with a Spanish major, right? I mean, I could maybe become a teacher, maybe I could go into the UN, or work for the State Department, maybe be a translator, perhaps. But to be honest, none of those career paths really struck me as something that I want to do long-term. And so I sort of put myself in a, in an odd spot right after graduation, because I decided to follow my passions. Now, it did end up working out in the end. But I would say that that was the sort of first pass that I had internally of, hey, maybe, maybe my degree isn't as valuable as an engineering degree or as a business degree. And again, I don't think it ended up that way. But that was sort of the way that I was feeling about it at the time.
Kim Meninger
Yeah. And I think that's a really common experience. Because, I mean, I can just share from my own personal experience, I studied psychology, always with the intention of becoming a psychologist. But when I found myself in high tech, surrounded by all these business majors and engineering majors, and I thought, Who am I to be you with all of these people? Right, and, and so I think that that that issue that you're describing is one that I think is really important, and also really unfortunate how many people go into college thinking, I have to do the practical thing, or I have to be responsible, as opposed to thinking, what can what will I enjoy doing? What interests me and then figure out how to translate that into the world? Because I think that the business world and the world more broadly, benefits from the diversity of expertise that people have, but, but when it's our own experience, it's so easy to compare ourselves to others and think, Well, they did it right. And I did it wrong.
Tommy Ogden
Right? Yeah, absolutely. And you hear that nowadays, I've heard it consistently that we value diversity of thought, diversity of background diversity of education, right? Because those different perspectives that you have on a problem, if you can get a team together that has a disparate view, then you end up coming to a better solution as a whole. And so I think I think the culture has shifted a little bit to where that diversity is more valued than maybe when at least when I graduated college, but it is, it is important and difficult to keep that in the back of your mind, right when, when it applies to you. But I think, you know, recognizing and realizing your value is something you should always you know, continue to strive for. But that was not my case. When I graduated college. I didn't know what I wanted to do. So I essentially took a series of odd jobs, right? I kind of started off in a in a financial path. I got my Series 65 license to become an investment advisor representative which allowed me to sell mutual funds. I worked for company for a year to trying to do that. I even went back to a continuing education program to get my certified financial planner license. And that was a year-long program. And I quit after six months because I just realized that wasn't for me either, right? I was just I was probing and prodding in different directions to try to understand what, what I wanted to do. And so after that, it was it was a series of part-time jobs before I finally landed in a financial analyst position at a, it was called Goodman, manufacturing, I think that the brand still exists, but it was it was bought out by a Japanese company. But they did heating, they created heating and air conditioning, they were a manufacturer, right? So. So I worked in their financial department for three years. And at that point, I met my wife. And it really sort of forced me to evaluate my longer-term plans, as opposed to, you know, this and that, and the other thing and the part-time stuff. And at that point, I just realized, Hey, I think I'm going to have to go back and get some additional education, if I do want to continue in the business world, right? Maybe I need a little bit more training in that regard. And so I did, I did end up going back to business school.
Kim Meninger
I did the same thing I found after being in the workplace, I think I was in my high-tech career for about five years, when I finally decided, You know what, I think a business school would be good to just fill in some of the blanks because I had never taken a business course of any kind while I was in college. [Neither did I. Yeah, yeah.] And so I think it is helpful. And as I think about your career path, there, I can imagine and I don't want to put words in your mouth. But I can imagine, in the moment, it feeling frustrating at certain points, like you're, you're halfway into this Certified Financial Planner course and huge drop out of it, but, but I also feel like that's how we come to find out what we want. And we beat ourselves up when we don't find it perfectly, or we don't, you know, we once again, compare ourselves to others, but you just don't know what you don't know. And I was talking to some friends earlier today, and who have graduating seniors who are still trying to figure out what they want to do, like, how would you know, I mean, we have these very generic profiles of what jobs look like out in the world. But unless you have test driven, some of them, you're not going to know whether they're for you or not.
Tommy Ogden
Absolutely. And we were talking about that, that culture, cultural shift, perhaps into more of a recognition of diversity. While I also think that there's more cultural acceptance towards failure, like failure, this whole concept of like iterating, and failing fast and learning and then moving forward, and that it's actually a good thing to fail, because of the things that you were just describing as, like, you've taken it for a test drive, or a you've proven out that, hey, that doesn't work. And that's valuable information to have, especially if it's something that you're going to commit to for a career. I mean, this, this, this makes a difference in your life, right? So you don't want to just be one of those punch in punch out kind of folks who hate their lives, right? It's better to fail and spend six months figuring out that's not for you, and then moving forward. But you're right, it can feel a bit demoralizing internally. So it's, it's hard, but also good to keep that in mind for sure.
Kim Meninger
Yeah, you know, I think a lot of it comes down in my mind to what your definition of success is. Because I couldn't agree with you more. I unfortunately, talk to a lot of people who have stayed in the same career for 30 years because they didn't want to fail or quit. And have, you know, now at this point, feel like I wish I could go back in time and make different decisions. And so it really all comes back to how you think about your relationship to work. And there's always room for change.
Tommy Ogden
Always room and you should be a lifelong learner. Right? And, and let me tell you, just me going back to business school, just to continue on the path here that did not stop my imposter syndrome. If anything, it actually made it worse to a certain degree. So let me describe that a little bit for you. I went back to business school, I ended up doing a dual degree program. So I'm from Houston, Texas, originally. So I went to the University of Houston, full-time program for a year and a half, right? Because I was a total career switcher, right? I mean, some, some people are engineers, and they go back to get their business degree. And then they just kind of continue on and become, you know, management of engineers, right? But they kind of stay in that path with me. I knew I didn't want to do the financial analyst stuff anymore. And so I was coming in just hey, I'm open to learning what my new thing is. So I did that for a year and a half. But the second degree was actually at Thunderbird, which is it's an international business school, and I got a master's in global may management. And in order to graduate from that you actually have to pass a language test. And so here comes my Spanish right sort of roaring back from, you know, from behind my past, but it actually worked out and I went to Arizona for a year to do that second master degree, I ended up getting to go to back to South America for a business trip as part of that. And it really sort of allowed me to merge my new current passion, which is consulting and business with my older passion of Spanish and sort of bring those two worlds together. And I think people ask me for advice a lot of times about, especially business students because I typically go back and I do mentorship and other things with the schools. And my suggestion to them is try to do that, right? You, you majored in something and undergraduate, right, something that you likely had a passion about? Why wouldn't you try to bridge that gap with the new things that you're learning, and ensure that you're bringing both of those to bear so that you can be even more niche than somebody else? Because you've got both of those backgrounds, right? And so that's trying to take a look at your, your background and how you can incorporate, you know, multiple passions of yours into a single stream, I think is good advice.
Kim Meninger
I could not agree more. I think that is such a great. I mean, I love that it worked for you. But you're connecting the dots in hindsight rather than connecting and proactively, right? But, but I think that's also a differentiator. And I always joke that we all want to feel special, but we don't want to feel different. And so the I think, for a lot of people, there's almost this secretiveness that we keep about those things that we studied in, in college that don't necessarily apply to where we are now, as opposed to embracing that as hey, this actually makes me unique. And this, the I bring a different perspective, as you were saying with when it comes to diversity of thought, like you, you probably didn't know yet. Let's say you didn't know, when you were studying Spanish, what? You were going to end up it's going to come full circle at some point. Right. But how wonderful that it did, and that you didn't have to just leave that behind you.
Tommy Ogden
Right? Absolutely. And I think I think you're right about the hindsight comment, right? It's challenging to do it in the in the moment and say, you know, I'm doing this because I enjoy it. And I like it, and I'm following my passion, know, how is this going to benefit me in the future you don't ever know. Right? And you it's sometimes it's impossible to do it to make those connection points until you're, you know, looking in hindsight, but I think that there's some validity to following those passions. Because if you aren't passionate about something, then you're not going to be as good at it. As somebody else who is passionate, I would say, cuz you're not going to put in the extra hours, you're not going to put in the time. And the effort. And, you know, that makes a difference. I was talking to my wife the other day, and I can't remember where the quote came from, or where I heard it. But it was, it was like the top 1% of every profession is successful. Like you could the most successful top 1% of pool cleaners. They probably make more money than I do. Right? Because they're cleaning the pools of the stars are, you know, they're doing, they're doing cool. Like waterfalls and creating, you know, like, like the pools of the future or something, because they're super passionate about it. Right. [Yeah.] And so I think there's something to be said for that. And if you have a passion about that, and you can move forward in your career, with that drive. And with that fire because you are so passionate about it, you're going to be better off regardless of what that path is.
Kim Meninger
Yes, you're absolutely right. And I think about that a lot too, is that sometimes high achievers are very motivated to find that the one right way to do something, right. Like we want the definitive textbook for how to do something as opposed to think, Hey, maybe I can do it my own way. Right?
Tommy Ogden
Yeah, you're absolutely right. Yeah, are awesome. Okay. So let's continue on with the timeline here. What we're, I went to the business school. Alright. This is actually where I would say my imposter syndrome crept in the most out of my entire career. I said, there's multiple inflection points. So the first one was sort of graduation and what am I going to do right with my Spanish major? Well, this one was a little different. So I'm about to graduate from business school. I got a job as a consultant, right? That was when I said I was a career switcher. Well, I went all in on consulting. So I hadn't I didn't know about the Accenture's of the world and the McKinsey's and the veins and the, you know, all the different consulting groups that you could potentially join until I went to business school. But as soon as I found out that that was a career path, and that you could, you know, go in and work with teams of people to try to solve interesting problems. And, you know, that was that was it for me and so I, I've focused everything in my business career on consulting certificates and doing consulting jobs out in the community and figuring all that out. But that also led to sort of my greatest fear, which is, upon graduation, I'm getting hired by this consulting firm. I'm gonna roll on to a client site on a Monday morning, right for a new engagement, and they're gonna come to me with a problem. And I'm just, I'm just gonna like deer in headlights it right. And I can't, I'm paralyzed because I've got all this knowledge, supposedly, from business school, but have I really applied it effectively? Or can I apply it into the real world? And is that, is that even something that I can do? And you know, that, that kind of imposter syndrome of hey, now I'm a, I'm a freshly minted MBA student, right? And now I supposedly can provide all this value. Well, that's not how I felt internally about it. I was I was stricken with fear that I wouldn't be able to provide that value that is associated with this newfound degree. And so I can I, you know, I think other people could likely relate to that feeling.
Kim Meninger
Absolutely. So can I ask you a question about that, too, because nobody was born a seasoned consultant, right? Everybody had their first engagement at some point. So how did your management team support you on that? Like, did you feel pressured to go into that? Knowing everything and being perfectly prepared? or was there some acknowledgement that this was still a learning experience for you? Right?
Tommy Ogden
Yeah, no, that's a good, that's a good point. And it's, I think that's the, the disparate nature of reality versus kind of your own internal monologue? Yes, because No, I wasn't just thrown into the deep end, right? On day one. I mean, there was a lot of support, you know, they typically won't put new consultants on to an engagement by themselves, right? There's a manager or senior manager who's sort of managing the client relationship, and you're working with them on a team to try to, you know, solve a specific problem doing research or slide work, or whatever it may be. So no, no, I mean, people aren't just gonna throw you in into the shark-infested waters and watch you drown, they will provide that support. And, you know, I've been lucky in that I've had, I've had sort of the full spectrum of experience across consulting. Now that I'm later in my career, I started with a boutique firm. And then I went to literally the largest consulting firm in the world, when I think the last number I saw was 743,000 people at Accenture. And then now I've started my own company, or co-founded it with a group of folks. And so I've seen from the entrepreneurial side to the huge bureaucracy of big corporation, and then, you know, a smaller, like, 100-person firm, let's say, and then each one of those cases, it's what you describe, right? I mean, they don't, they don't expect you to come in as a as a newly graduated, you know, individual or a newly minted MBA student and, and just immediately, you know, throw you off by yourself and give you no support. There's a lot of training, and there's a lot of onboarding and a lot of help, but you don't know that coming into it, necessarily. And you're sort of worried about it. Yeah, so that was, that was, that was an interesting time.
Kim Meninger
I can imagine. And I am glad that you shared that. Because I do think it's important to challenge our inner monologue. And when we find ourselves putting that kind of pressure on ourselves to say, Where's this pressure actually coming from? Right, as opposed to just believing what the voice is telling us because we are the only ones who expect ourselves to be perfect on day one. And I think when you're new to something, you have this perfect window of opportunity to just acknowledge that you're new, and I call it playing the new card, right to be able to say, hey, well, since this is my first experience, what should I know? How should I ask you a question, right? And you just own it, as opposed to pretending that you already know things and then get, you know, get to a point where you feel like now I really can't ask that guy anymore.
Tommy Ogden
Yeah. That's very true. And I think that helps you not only coming into, if we're talking about consulting into a consulting firm, but even at a client site, right? They don't expect you to know everything either. Right? In fact, it's suggested that once you land on, on a client engagement, that you do a heavy portion of active listening and, and question asking upfront to ensure that you've got the right context, right, you know, who the right stakeholders are that you're going to need to engage and communicate to effectively so you don't want to just jump in and say I know the answer, right. I've got all the I've got all the solutions because it's, it's going to be different regardless of the, or it's going to be different because the client side is different. Right? So I think I think that's important.
Kim Meninger
Yeah, that's a good point. Yeah. Don't you don't want to kind of say no at all, you're not gonna build trust that.
Tommy Ogden
That gives consultants a bad rap anyway. Yeah, so, so one of the things that came to my mind when I was at business school, and I was, I was struggling or jostling with this idea of, hey, I'm about to get thrown into the deep end. An idea came to me, which is it's sort of like a subscription box. Have you heard of that, that business model where there's like, I think there's one called butcher box, for example, that you ascribe to. And then every month, you get new meat, like different cuts of meat, and they have subscription boxes for everything, right? There's, there's like a potpourri box, or there's a tee box, right? And they come with new, different tees every, every month. And so when I was in business school actually have this idea because I was struggling with this concept of not, not having tools, at the ready to solve these client problems, that it'd be really cool if there was a, like a business school box, right, where you've got this monthly subscription that comes in with new tool sets, or new frameworks, or new case studies, or new ways of applying innovative sort of cutting edge techniques to solving problems. So that you've got this, this tool belt that you can go into the working world with and it would be targeted towards business students now. Sounds like a good idea. I thought it was at the time, but I didn't have the capital or the wherewithal to do something like that. But that concept, or that idea has never left me, right? I still think that something like that is valuable. And I'm not about to start it myself. So feel free to take the idea and run if you think it's viable. But, but the aspect of having a toolset, right, or some sort of inventory of knowledge from which you can pull internally to help you solve different problems, I think can, can help you overcome some of that impostor syndrome as well. Because you're, you're then not reinventing the wheel, right? You're not starting from scratch every single time, you've got some logical way of structuring an approach to a problem. And just getting, getting that understanding and moving in that direction. can really help over overcome some of those internal inadequacies or issues that you're feeling. Right. And so over the course of my now 13-14 year-long consulting career, I've used those frameworks in order to, to help get, get over that hump, right? Especially initially, when I'm when I'm first looking at a problem. And I can, I'm happy to share with you like some of the frameworks that I use, if it would, if it would help.
Kim Meninger
Yeah, can you give us an example? I think I would love to hear one.
Tommy Ogden
Sure. So there's a couple of different ones. And a lot of times, you know, in business school, you'll learn SWOT right, I think everyone's heard of a SWOT analysis. It stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, right? And you can come in and you can look at all those four different variables and come to some conclusion, let's say, but the problem with a, a single framework like that is you can't apply it to every single situation. Right? It wouldn't make sense. Like, I'm just going to swap this and I'm going to do a SWOT analysis on that. And over here, it doesn't make sense. And what I think people aren't aware of is there are myriad frameworks out there for all sorts of different types of problems. And some of them sound much more daunting, then, then perhaps they are, there's one in particular that I really like that, the technical name is a transformation map. But what I like to call it is the from here to there framework. So anytime you are at a place a current state, and you want to get to a future state, right, and you've got this gap in between that current state and the future state and you don't know how to get to that future state, you can use a transformation map to identify the time-period. So how long do you want it to get from current state to future state? You can identify the different themes on how to get there. So do I need to enhance my process? Is that a theme? Do I need to change some people's minds? Maybe that's a theme. Do I need to build an application maybe that's a theme to get from here to there. It could be any number of things based on your, your current situation. And then for every time-period, and for every theme, you can fill in the matrix of where those two things intersect to say, Okay, well if we need to build this application, you We need to hire a developer, we need to get some infrastructure in place, we need to instantiate an iterative development path, or X, Y or Z thing. And it really allows you to say, Okay, here's where we are, here's where we want to be. And here are the things that we need to do to get there across these different themes. And it's really just a one-page sort of logically structured approach to solving the problem of how do you get from here to there. And so when I got into the business world, and I started rolling onto all these different client engagements to solve these problems, I didn't know where to start on all of these. So I would go back to the support structure at those consulting firms. And I would say, Hey, have you ever encountered this problem before? And a lot of times, they would say, Yes, and I would. Next question is, okay, well, how did you solve it, and nine times out of 10, they would show me a slide, or they would show me a, you know, a Word document, or they'd show me an Excel workbook, or they'd show me something that was a structured way that they went about approaching that problem. And a lot of times, it was a framework that they were using. They just, they customized it, they made it fit for purpose, and tailored to that client problem. But the overarching goal is the same. You're trying to get from here to there. Right? I'll give you one more example before I'm quiet. Is it's called the prioritization framework, right? Other people call it the impact feasibility matrix, right? Again, it sounds very daunting, if you say it like that. I just call it the prioritization framework. So if you've got a bunch of different things that you could potentially do, right, that you're trying to decide between like, which, which direction should we go? Should we go over here? Should we go over there? Should we go up there down here? Well, you can walk those on a feasibility impact matrix, it's basically a two by two. So think about it, like an xy axis like a graph. Okay, on the x-axis, you have impact to the organization, right? Is it a low impact to the organization? Or is it a high impact to the organization, assuming you can get it done? And then on the y-axis, you have the feasibility? So is it, is it very highly feasible up here, like we can do it fairly easily? Or is there low feasibility, because it's really hard to do to change, it's like a really big thing, okay. And so if you take these 7,8 ,9, 10, different directions that you go, and you plot it on that map, you can say, well, this thing is going to be really highly impactful. And it's really highly feasible, it's easy to do. So that would likely go up in this upper right-hand corner, right, as opposed to this other thing, which is, you know, kind of down here, or this other thing that's over here. And after you have a conversation with a team, and you plot those different things, you've effectively prioritized, what you want to do based on logical parameters, right of impact and feasibility. And so again, like, like the transformation map, like the impact feasibility matrix, or the from here to there framework and the prioritization framework, there are these frameworks that exist for all sorts of different problems that people encounter on a day-to-day basis in the business world. And if you can build up your personal inventory of those frameworks, then you can automatically have a way to logically structure an approach to a problem that helps you get over that impostor syndrome that you may be feeling internally.
Kim Meninger
That is brilliant. I love it. Because I love the specific frameworks that you shared. I think they're incredibly practical. And I'm sure everyone listening can benefit from them in some way. But I love the general concept of these frameworks as well for the reason that you describe because I think so often we get caught up in the newness and the emotion, the pressure, the fear, the, the, the need to be perfect, or to prove ourselves in some way that we can't access the left logical part of our brain in those moments, whereas we have frameworks that we've probably used throughout our lives who had tackle problems, we're just not able to access them in that moment. And so to be able to go back with a more logical lens, like you're describing to say, okay, when was the last time I encountered a problem that I didn't know where to start? Right? What did I do then? What were the questions that I asked and to even be able to put together your own versions of what you're describing based on the work that you do?
Tommy Ogden
Absolutely. Yeah. And so I've, I've, I've sort of had this retrospective moment in my career, looking back and doing that and saying, My gosh, if I hadn't had these frameworks, I don't feel as though I'd be as successful in my career because, one, I'm able to differentiate myself from my peers. I'm because I'm coming to it not when I'm standing on the shoulders of giants is the, is the phrase they say, right? I didn't come up with SWOT analysis. Since I didn't come up with an impact visibility matrix, these brilliant business minds did in the past, right? But your ability to access those, and then apply them to a specific problem and understanding which ones can apply where has helped with that, that differentiation. And it's helped with my clients, because a lot of times, all they're really looking for is a logical approach, right? If you're just, you know, pulling something out of a hat and saying, Oh, I think we should go that direction, it people are much less likely to get on board with something like that. Whereas if you walk them through the structure, right, people appreciate that structure. And they appreciate the logic that goes into it, and you know how to facilitate through that. And then if you can bring people along with you in that structure, then your buy-in is going to be much higher, think about if you spend two hours in a workshop, plotting those different things on the prioritization framework. At the end of it, you haven't prioritized anything. As a consultant, you've facilitated a discussion at the client, where they've prioritize the things, the things that they were struggling with. So you've helped them solve their problem. But they came to the end goal. And so when you say, Okay, well, let's go do this, this is the highest priority thing, they're automatically bought in, because they came up with it, you just facilitated the discussion. And so it really is a powerful tool or set of tools, right? That, that I think everybody should have in your toolkit, and it could be widely applicable, right? You don't just have to be a business student, you don't just have to be in consulting, you can use frameworks for anything. And I mean, people encounter problems every day, in their daily lives, right? And I'm sure you've already got a framework that that you use, that you I don't know, like, I'm just I'm just talking about, I signed up for a Tough Mudder. You know, that is like a, like an obstacle course race in the mud, and the mud. So it's an October, it's coming up in Dallas. And I'm, I've signed up for that one. And so I printed off this framework on the internet that I found, which was it's called, like, 100-day goal, right? And it's got different component pieces of it, where you, you kind of identify what your goals are. And then you break them into 425 Day chunks for the for the 100 days, so that you're focusing on different things. And you kind of keep it fresh, and then it has these checkboxes for where you meet your goals or not. That's a framework. That's a framework. I didn't come up with it. But it's a, it's a logical way of structuring my approach to getting to this, this Tough Mudder and my, my personal goals with it, right? And so we use frameworks like that in our daily lives, even just our own personal lives. And so I think if people can understand the value of something like that, it can really help, help them get over that internal monologue of negativity, and saying, like, I'm going to use this genius idea that somebody else came up with, right, but I'm going to tailor it to my current situation. And that can help you get over your own. You know, like, I have to come with all the perfect answers. [Yeah, right.] That kind of thing.
Kim Meninger
Exactly. And that feeling of uncertainty of I don't know how to do this. I don't know where to start. Right? You, you can, you can rely on the expertise of like you said that. Just be on the shoulders of giants, expertise of those who come before you and feel confident that you're going down a proven path, right? Absolutely. Yeah, I love this so much, Tommy, this is incredibly helpful. I'm all about taking anxiety and transforming that into more productive energy. And I think this is just a really great way of doing that you're tapping into problem solving skills that you don't even realize you have. And you don't realize us all the time. So I just think this is an incredibly useful approach. It's for so many. Awesome, and thank you so much for sharing your journey with us too. I really appreciate the opportunity to hear how you made those decisions. And you know, where the imposter syndrome inevitably creeps in.
Tommy Ogden
And it never goes away. Let me tell you, I've been in consulting now for like I said, a number of years, and I still go on to client sites where I don't know I don't have all the answers, right? And I'm thinking, can I provide value? Right, I do now have good experience and deep experience in a number of different areas. But I don't know everything about all, all topics and sometimes you get pulled into solve problems where you haven't encountered that before. And, and I really think helping, helping approach those problems with these frameworks is really helped me kind of get over those, those internal challenges again, so hopefully your audience can, can use that moving forward and look for frameworks that could help them in their in their data. He challenges. Absolutely.
Kim Meninger
And for anybody who listening, listening, who wants to learn more about you and your consulting business and just kind of continue to follow your work, where can they find you?
Tommy Ogden
Sure. So we have active rare consulting.com. That would be for my company. For me, personally, I'm on LinkedIn. It's linkedin.com/Tommy Ogden, right? So I'm fairly easy to easy to find. And, and to be honest, for your listeners, I have curated a number of these different frameworks into different themes. We have like traditional business frameworks, we have innovation frameworks, we have agile frameworks for like iterative development. And we're working on a number of others. And so if somebody reaches out, you know, via LinkedIn, or, you know, it's T Ogden T, O, G, D, E, N at Activera Consulting.com, if you email me and sort of mentioned the show, I'd be happy to send over those frameworks, if they would be in PowerPoint slides. And not only does it come with a blank template, right, that you can start using tomorrow on your client sites. But it also comes with an example of what a filled-out template would look like for actual business problems that we've solved at our consulting firm. So I'd be happy to engage with your audience in a multitude of ways.
Kim Meninger
Oh, that is fantastic. Thank you so much. And I just wrote down your email address so I can put it into the show notes as well for anybody who wants to check that out. And thank you again, Tommy, this has just been so helpful.
Tommy Ogden
Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much, Kim, for having me. That's a very important topic and I know one that everyone feels even if they don't admit it, so it's, it's good to get it out in the open.