When would I be a good consultant?

Today, I was posed with this fairly simple looking question by one of the campus recruits from the 2010 batch. I replied (what I thought was a simple reply) - "You are not ready yet!!"

But after 2.5 hours of the session and some more thinking, may be I was wrong. I had a different question in my mind by the end of it - Should we be imposing our thoughts on a generation that has always learnt to create their own destiny and paths? I remember my elders constantly telling me that my destiny is in my hands and I am the only one who needs to work on it. After hearing the same thing again and again in my life, it became a part of my thought process. My generation took some time to digest it as we saw an economy opening up, opportunities coming our way. I was 23 when a more liberal finance minister (Dr. Manmohan Singh) decided to open the Indian economy and thus changing the way India and Indians would be looked as, in the decades to follow. At that age, I did understand the difference - my brother (2 years younger) could get a decent job after he graduated (unthinkable for a non-engineer when I graduated).

But the new generation has not and would probably not be able to relate to this as they were too young in 1991 to understand it. The aspirations are different, the lifestyle is different and more importantly they are far more impatient to deliver the goods than we were at their age. They are not scared to stand in front of their CEO and question the strategy of the company - they don't understand the word 'protocol' (rightfully so). If we want the best from them, we have got to respond with a far more nimble and adaptive culture, give them opportunities where they could prove their worth and finally become more modular in our approach towards their career plans so that they are able to get what they want and the way they want it.

Now, how do we respond to this changing environment? I may not have all the answers at this point of time but here are a few suggestions:
1) Let each individual actually create at least 50% of their goals and objectives that they would like to be measured upon and as an organisation we should create a culture of adaptiveness to support them.
2) Share with each employee the business objectives and ask them to write their contribution in front of each of those objectives. 'What' is more important than 'How' - let them figure out the 'How' question even if it means that they come up with a 1000 different ways of achieving it as it would evolve based on each other's learning.
3) LISTEN more - I think preaching is the easiest thing to do, practicing slightly more difficult but listening is the toughest while it is the most important thing. I truly believe that effectively listening to the problem can give the right solution almost instantaneously - most of the times.
4) Mentors, supervisors and leaders should only guide. One of my close friends once told me during a discussion, "Organisational leaders should be the guiding force and not the dictating force if they really want the organisation to succeed but more often than not, they end up being the latter".
5) Belief is more precious than experience - seniors in the organisation carry extensive experience but the young guns have more belief in themselves and are better prepared for failure with their higher risk appetite. We should give them a chance - they may fall and dent their self-confidence but when they regain that confidence, it will be stronger than before.

Finally, having heard many people talk today as if they have been trapped in a bottle, I just have one suggestion for all of them - do not wait for 'Aladdin' to come and unplug the bottle, use your strength to open it on your own. Your strength is your belief, your knowledge and your dreams. They day you manage to unplug yourself - I'll come to you and acknowledge that you are ready!!