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Showing posts with the label Revolutionary Change

Dirty Consultant: The Wrap-Up

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At Orchan, we’ve seen consulting at its best - and at its glossiest. Dirty Consultant is our no-nonsense series calling out the theatre, the buzzwords, and the shiny distractions that get in the way of real change. Because true consulting isn’t about polished decks or clever algorithms - it’s about rolling up sleeves, getting into the grit, and facing the messy human reality head-on. Six parts. One truth. Consulting has become too glossy. Too shiny. Too surface-level. Slides instead of substance. Algorithms instead of empathy. Platforms instead of people. That’s why we created the Dirty Consultant series - to call it out. And to remind leaders that real change isn’t clean. It isn’t easy. And it certainly isn’t click-to-download. Here’s the journey we took together: Part 1: She Was! The consultant who rolled up her sleeves, got messy, and truly understood context. (Link:  Are You a Dirty Consultant? She Was! (Part 1) Part 2: Death by PowerPoint Why endless slides d...

Dirty Consultant: Part 6 - Getting Dirty with Change

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At Orchan, we’ve seen consulting at its best - and at its glossiest. Dirty Consultant is our no-nonsense series calling out the theatre, the buzzwords, and the shiny distractions that get in the way of real change. Because true consulting isn’t about polished decks or clever algorithms - it’s about rolling up sleeves, getting into the grit, and facing the messy human reality head-on. Change looks glamorous on stage. Keynote speakers talk about it with perfect slides, smooth metaphors, and big promises. But behind the curtain? Change is chaos. It’s messy conversations. It’s sleepless nights. It’s mistakes, do-overs, and awkward silences in meeting rooms. It’s resistance from people who don’t want their world turned upside down. Real change isn’t clean. It’s dirty. It’s uncomfortable. And it demands more than lip service and buzzwords. But here’s the thing: dirty doesn’t mean impossible. Dirty means real. And real is where transformation happens. At Orchan, we don’t shy ...

Revisiting (Again) | Change or Evolve in 2025? Commentary by Farrell Tan

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Back in 2020, I wrote about the tension between “change” and “evolve.” At the time, the big “C” dominated everything, and we were all asking ourselves: does real progress come from forcing change, or from allowing ourselves to evolve? I shared a simple anecdote then: a teenager insisting his parents had changed him, while they countered that he had simply evolved i.e., picking what to adopt, what to ignore, and how to apply it in his life. It stuck with me because it’s true beyond families: people rarely change because someone else tells them to. They evolve because the environment nudges them, and because they choose to. Fast forward to 2025. Different buzzwords, different fires to put out... but the same question is playing out on a much bigger stage. Do we change, or do we evolve? Change is noisier than ever In Southeast Asia, the forces of change are everywhere: AI disruptions  -- Malaysian SMEs are racing to plug in tools, while Singapore is already regulating usage. T...

Revisiting | Change or Evolve?

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Revisiting | Change or Evolve? Commentary by Farrell Tan Change is everywhere. Whether in your career, relationships, health, or the wider economic climate, adjustment is inevitable. We’ve all seen it amplified recently with the big “C” turning lives, businesses, and entire industries upside down. I was reminded of this during a conversation Craig and I once had with Michelle Nunis while mapping out Orchan’s 2020 business plans (yes, pre-C). Our discussion circled around what change really means; and whether “evolve” is perhaps a more fitting word. Change feels abrupt, immediate; evolve suggests growth, progress, a natural flow forward. That thought sat on the backburner until a few days ago, when I overheard a debate between friends and their teenage son. He insisted his parents had changed him. They countered: they hadn’t changed him at all. What they had done was shine light on issues, offer perspectives, and suggest options. He chose what to adopt, what to ignore, and ...