Odd socks

I was wearing odd socks the other day.

Are you someone who would wear odd socks?

And someone, in the gym of all places, pointed it out. “Are you aware your socks don’t match?”

Why yes, I am. I have been dressing myself since the early 80s and I am yet to be surprised by the outcome.

“Is this a designer trend?” he persisted. “Or you just couldn’t be bothered to do laundry?”

Oh, so hilarious.

Neither, my nosey friend.

But now it was my turn to ask: “Would you wear mis-matched socks if they were a designer trend?”

I asked. Doing that thing of answering a question with a better question.

“Oh, you know… the wife and the kids have been getting me all these colourful socks for Christmas for a while now and I never thought I’d wear those… so you know… Maybe.”

He chuckled.

He walked off.

And now you are getting a piece about socks as an allegory for how our industry engages with consultants and advisors. Aren’t you lucky?

So. Here goes nothing: Are you someone who would wear odd socks?

I am, obviously.

They were the same make and style, so they felt the same on my feet. Matching them for colour across the approximately 30 pairs of these socks I own doesn’t feel important. Their function is not linked to their colour. I am perfectly happy going for a run with one purple sock and one pink, provided they are clean and feel the same on my feet. That’s it, really. As socks go, the brief is simple.

Are you someone who would wear odd socks?

Most people are not.

And that’s fine. Absolutely fine.

Whatever works for you.

Some of us would wear odd socks. Some of us wouldn’t.

And some people would never ever wear odd socks… unless they were designer.

In high school, I had a friend who wore non-paired Converse. One black, one white. Same shoe, different colour. He was quirky like that. As you would expect, I loved it.

Yet I never did as he did, because my mum would bar the exit to our home if I dared go out with odd shoes (and the odd socks only really started happening when I lived alone. I was unstoppable then).

One of our classmates mocked said odd-shoe friend mercilessly for being weird.

And guess who I saw wearing slightly mismatched Gucci trainers the other day?

“But they are a pair!” she exclaimed when I pointed it out. “It’s completely different,” she claims.

So let me ask again.

Are you someone who would wear odd socks? Are you someone who would match a red Converse with a purple one and own it and walk down the street with not an iota of self-consciousness because you chose this, and you chose it because you like it?

Are you someone who could wear a blazer with the sleeves rolled up over a t-shirt without feeling like a cheap version of Miami Vice? Are you, or are you not?

Because if you are, great.

And if you are not, great.

But if you are only if it comes with a designer label, then beware of consulting firms. That’s all I’m going to say.

Because consulting services come, ironically, in exactly three shapes and sizes:

1. Supporting the thing you absolutely were going to do anyway.

I wear odd socks. I don’t knit them myself. I still buy socks. But I buy a lot of same-make socks. They have consistent quality. They feel the same inside my shoes. Pairing them is optional.

Call that your strategy.

A software partner, a consulting partner or an advisor comes in to help you accelerate and execute with focus, speed and efficiency. They come in to do the things you don’t know how to do (knit socks) or don’t want to learn how to do (build a core banking system). They come in to help you get to where you were going anyway.

If you have a strategy, that is.

2. Supporting you in working out what you will do.

Are you an odd-sock person? Maybe you are and maybe you are not.

If you are not, sorting your socks is important. If you are, it is not.

How do you know?

How do you know if you are ready to move to the cloud? How do you know if what your business needs most of all is a data strategy? Or a core hollowing out? Or something else altogether? And once you’ve picked your direction of travel, how do you know what pace is best for you? Out of all the options to do the thing you have now worked out you want to do, which one is the best one for you?

Partners, consultants, advisors and software partners are here for you again.

In a slightly different capacity, with a slightly different brief. A little longer, as engagements go. A little more involved, for sure. But clear, again.

They help you work out the strategy. What you want. They help you figure out if you are an odd-sock kind of person and help you set yourself up accordingly.

You are a key ingredient in this process.

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what socks anyone else is wearing. Only you can determine what is right for you. So don’t leave the room.

3. Telling you what to do because you can’t bring yourself to make any decisions.

You are definitely not an odd-sock person. Unless the odd socks are designer with a clear logo and associated price tag. Then you are absolutely an odd-sock person, but not for any of your other socks. Only the ones that were handed to you as a pair that doesn’t match. Which is very different to socks that don’t match, you understand.

If that is you, then join the ranks of the over-charged.

Be it designer socks, distressed jeans or consulting reports, the reality is that the world is not so much made for you as a buyer as it is moulded to your buying habits.

And if it sounds silly to wear mismatched socks just because they were expensive when you wouldn’t wear them that way out of your own drawer, maybe you should reflect along similar lines when it comes to your digital strategy. Maybe, just maybe, start with working out whether you are an odd-sock person and go from there. And by all means, get help to work it out. No need to go it alone. But work it out first.

Because if you go out there projecting vibes of “I will wear any ol’ thing provided it’s expensive and an influencer on TikTok went viral wearing it,” then you will find yourself being pitched to exactly that way.

And yes, that applies to both socks and digital strategies.

So, before you engage, think.

What is your ambition? What are your constraints?

Are you too shy to be an odd-sock person? Too cash-strapped to be a pioneer in AI? Within the boundaries set by your constraints and ambitions, what are your options?

Get help working out where you stand. What is available and palatable to you and how to get there.

But join in with the ‘working it out’ part. Don’t delegate that bit. Get help. Bring in the advisors and consultants who have seen it all before. But stay in the room with them. Because if you don’t, they will prescribe the same designer socks everyone else got once they leave the room. And it will be your fault, not theirs.

Now excuse me while I go in search of my aqua Chuck Taylor high-top to go with the maroon one I am already wearing.

#LedaWrites

Leda Glyptis is FinTech Futures’ resident thought provocateur – she leads, writes on, lives and breathes transformation and digital disruption.

She is a recovering banker, lapsed academic and long-term resident of the banking ecosystem. She is chief client officer at 10x Future Technologies.

Leda is also a published author – her first book, Bankers Like Us: Dispatches from an Industry in Transition, is available to order here.

All opinions are her own. You can’t have them – but you are welcome to debate and comment!

Follow Leda on Twitter @LedaGlyptis and LinkedIn.