In Camus’ classic, L’Etranger (The Stranger), the hero Meursault encounters Salamano coming down the stairs with a dog, and remarks that the dog and his neighbour Salamano have come to look alike.

So much for the metaphor; when a consultant and an organization work together on change, not only does the consultant enable change for the client, the consultant himself undergoes a process of change. This is by and large a very positive phenomenon by which mutual adaptation occurs-augmenting trust.

Here are a few ways that clients have changed me over the years. One client taught me never to discuss ‘too much pressure’ because in this profession, if you cannot take heat, you cannot work in a kitchen. Once I learnt to work around that, my work was successful.

Another client taught me that install-plan-re-install-plan again-and fix was the only business cycle possible. Until I learnt this, I was almost fired. Once I learnt it, I stayed with that client for 15, driving huge change.

And finally, a client taught me that there is no such thing as a merger, just an acquisition. This lesson served me very well and over my long career, I have consulted 14 major acquisitions; and not one merger.

There are other changes as well. The consultant learn the client’s vocabulary (challenging=impossible), slang and informal mores. If language influences behaviour as Jacques Lacan claims, certainly the client’s “patois” (dialect) permeates the consultants’ perception of reality.

If a consultant is not changed by an organization, the danger is that too much background noise will develop, hindering the ability to foster the type of relationship that enables change. So, do not fight it. Leverage your client driven transformation to drive change. That is what the profession is all about-and it works in both directions.