Intro
Experience is often described as something you accumulate.
Years, roles, engagements, clients, the weight of what you have seen.
But after several decades in consulting, I have learned that experience is valuable only when it remains active. It must move, adapt, and participate in the present. Legacy is not what you carry behind you; it is the foundation you stand on as you take the next step.

This article is not about the past for its own sake.
It is about what the past teaches us about the work still ahead.

1. Experience sharpens judgment, not confidence

Consulting teaches you quickly that expertise is not certainty. Experience does not eliminate doubt; it helps you recognise which doubts matter. It allows you to see the difference between noise and a real shift, between a temporary obstacle and a structural issue, between what needs a decision and what simply needs time.

With experience, you stop trying to predict everything. You focus on understanding what is essential. That clarity becomes one of the most useful forms of leadership.

2. Legacy is built through how you work, not what you deliver

Looking back, the projects themselves matter less than the way we approached them: how we listened, how we showed up in moments of pressure, how we supported leadership when the path was not straightforward.

Our legacy at CDS was not created by one methodology or one success story. It was built through years of consistent behaviour, the discipline of preparation, the steadiness in uncertainty and the commitment to delivering on the promises we made.

Legacy is not a record. It is a reputation formed through the accumulation of achievements.

3. The future requires the same mindset that built the past

The environment has changed. AI is reshaping how decisions are informed. Organisations are moving faster. Leaders operate under greater scrutiny and complexity.

Yet the fundamentals of consulting excellence have not changed: clarity, integrity, disciplined thinking and the ability to translate complexity into direction and guide the client through implementation too. These principles carried us through the first thirty years, and they are the same principles that will guide the work ahead.

Experience becomes useful when it evolves, not when it defends itself.

4. The next chapter belongs to how we adapt our strengths

If there is one lesson the future reinforces; it is that experience must remain open. 

The way we engage, the tools we use, and the expectations of our clients will continue to shift. What must remain constant is our way of thinking and our commitment to the substance of the work and our integrity along the way..

Our strength at CDS has always been our ability to connect deeply with clients, understand their context, care for them, and navigate complexity with them. As the landscape changes, this strength becomes even more relevant, not because the world is becoming simpler but because it is becoming more complex.

Conclusion

Experience in practice is not a conclusion. It is a continuation, a way of carrying forward what we have learned while remaining present to what is changing. It allows us to honour our legacy without being anchored by it and to shape the future with the same discipline that built the past.

As we close this series, the message is clear: our experience matters because it guides how we adapt, how we partner and how we continue delivering work defined by clarity, alignment and impact.

This is the legacy we carry, and it is the future we are building.