Mastery is the ability to perform the perfect outcome repeatedly. Mastery requires solid practical experience on top of the necessary skills (craftsmanship) as well as in-depth knowledge of all chains in the process which leads to the final outcome. Mastery is Perfection, though not necessarily unique.

Art is the ability to perform with a touch of unique magic in a never-seen-before way which will stand the passage of time leaving the audience completely blank though with the will to perform even better. Art inspires. However, most of us recognize that not all who are titled as artists possess Mastery.

Obviously, technical advisory requires Mastery and accordingly perfection. But in order to inspire Mastery is hardly enough since most clients are solid masters in their own right. Accordingly, those technical advisors who opt for only one of the two will fail their task, even though Mastery alone appears to be the prime and often sole criteria of selection.

Technical advisory is the ability among Masters to inspire, which sometimes requires a light touch of magic, but where the magic is transparent inducing other masters to learn and adapt through appraisal of the basic logic within. Technical advisory is the art of inspiration.

But even then differences in working habits, in procedures, in culture, and in overall economic behaviour might well be an issue. And to that end no preloaded bag will fit the task. It simply takes quite other competences. In that, mentoring has little to do with lecturing and writing guidelines; more often listening and open dialogue is the only way forward.

In other words ethics and values matter. And the cornerstones in the approach must be Transparency, Overall logic, Dialogue and Timing.

Dialogue is an essential tool. Understanding the working habits, the norms and the traditions within the client organisation another. But even more so understanding the culture, the local environment and economic behaviour are crucial for the outcome of technical assistance to Human Resource Development. And yet understanding covers far more than reading a traveller’s guide or a World Bank Report.

Technical advisory is not just Mastery among masters. It is also the ability to be present in every sense in order to exploit the local potentials within. That requires the ability to adapt, to see, sense and listen. It is the will to learn.

If my task is to make a difference though not necessarily always in technical terms, the ability to inspire becomes essential.

If my task is to establish proposals for measures to impact on the local, regional, and national economic environment I try deliberately to describe the intuitive logic in the proposals rather than using academic expressions which no decision maker or caretaker are able to comprehend.

And if my task is to evaluate ongoing procedures I try to study reasons as much as the quantitative outcomes.

But first and foremost I sense my prime mission is to establish answers to the fundamental question of “Why?”, including “why do we do it this way?” and “what is the basic purpose in a broader perspective?”. In that respect transparency becomes vital in terms of techniques, in terms of purposes, and in terms of outcomes (and in how to measure them).

If I am magical it must be because the world has become square, too rational, and too straightforward in our senseless and to me meaningless struggle to become identical. And that, excuse me, is boring and even lesser progressive.

If we all did the same we would never have created the wonders of the world. With or without magic.