The six truths of consulting I shared at Con Con
(290-odd days in the making)
I’m writing this on a Thursday night at 7:45pm, after day one of Leanne Hughes’ Con Con.
There’ve been sundowner drinks, my brain is still going (and planning for tomorrow). And I don’t think I’ve fully processed what’s happening here yet….amazing crew, best chats, loving it!!
A quick backstory if you missed it… 294 days ago, I floated a random idea on this list and on LinkedIn: Would consultants want to get in a room together? I capped it at 50 people and made a deal. Sell 15 tickets in 24 hours and it happens. If we don’t hit that target? I’ll cancel it and refund all orders.
15 tickets sold in 20 minutes. The event sold out in eight days.
It’s felt like a long time coming. And then it just arrived.
So here we are. And there’s actually so much goodness to share, wait for the full wrap next week but in the meantime I thought I’d share some snippets from my opening address - “Leanne Hughes’ Six Truths of Consulting” as at 18 June 2026*
*subject to change
1. Value is value
We live in a capitalist society, and the truth I keep going back to whenever I feel stuck is Jim Rohn’s line - the only thing it’s about is creating value in the marketplace, and the marketplace is reality (watch this clip from 1:29:00).
What that means to me is that the great idea in your head is not reality. It’s just in your head. You must go to the marketplace to test it.
So I urged my fellow Con Conners to test their service offering ideas with real people.
At any point, one thing could be off and the whole offer doesn’t land. There are so many variables which makes it tough! Wrong timing, pitched to the wrong person, wrong positioning, wrong language. But what I love about this clip is the simple message is going to a basic 101 business lesson: It’s simply about creating value.
2. Your peers aren’t normal
I’m surrounded by type A, high-achieving people who write multiple books, go on multiple podcasts, travel to cool places, and speak in front of hundreds or thousands of people. For us, that’s the norm.
When your peer group looks like that, you think, “If I write a book, what’s the point? It won’t stand out.”
Then you go to a barbecue with mates and realise that having a podcast, or speaking on a big stage, is a genuinely big deal to most people. What we do is rare. We’re not normal compared to the general population. While the market might feel oversaturated, it isn’t.
3. “How I” is the new black (not “How to”…)
Before AI, “How-to articles” ruled the content game, everyone wanted the 5 or 7 steps to doing something, that stuff attracted attention.
However, I believe that ship has well and truly sailed. Anyone can ask an LLM to write a how-to article in 4 se onds.
What stands out? I believe it’s about documenting and sharing “How I specifically do x…” where you share your process, story, learning experiences. People connect to that more than just generic “How to” content.
So, spill the beans. Share - what is your actual process? What did you try? Where did things go wrong? How has it worked out for you?
Everything I write here in this newsletter is just documenting what I’m doing, what I’ve tried and tested (and thank you for being here on this journey!)
4. You need to be constructively delusional
I honestly think this is the most exciting time to be alive. There’s never been a better moment to create something from nothing.
Be constructively delusional (here’s the episode of This American Life where I learnt the phrase!)
If you’ve seen my book launch site (and thank you for the pre-orders, simply incredible, I’ll talk more about that next week), maybe you’re interested in knowing that I built the pre-order website myself over a weekend, with no tech skills.
In 2026, you can talk an idea out loud to AI and watch it build the thing for you.
At Con Con, I ran a breakout session on my ‘Wildcard Proposals’ and how I love to throw in a random, crazy option three for clients - something that’s a bit out there.
Sometimes I propose ideas as an Option 3 and have no idea how to I’ll deliver it/make it happen. But I’m constructively delusional enough to back myself that if they make that choice, we’ll make it happen, and create dramatically brilliant results.
5. Your clients are paying for more than rational objectives
This is how you stay AI-proof. We become commoditised when we all do the same thing. “I’ll help you build a strategy one-pager.” “I’ll get your leadership team aligned.” Those are rational objectives, and they’re easy to replicate.
The experiential objective is what sets you apart. What does working with you actually feel like? What’s the essence, the vibe?
If you work with me, I hope what you get is excitement, enthusiasm for life, and a belief that you can shoot higher than where you are now.
All of us at Con Con have different vibes… and that’s okay! Your vibe attracts the right tribe.
6. How you do things is the thing
I find this easier to explain using examples - but how you operate, all of your customer touchpoints reflect everything about your brand and your values.
For example, my next book is called Work Fame. It’s a book about being work famous. So I had to work with a famous publisher (Wiley). I couldn’t exactly self-publish a book on Work Fame, right? What message would that send?
How you do things is the thing.
Same with the pre-order page, where I’ve built the Wall of Work Fame. The book is about getting recognition, so of course I’m embedding that idea of recognition to reward pre-order sales.
And Con Con itself. I launched it as an experiment, which attracted people who are also up for an experiment. That created its own community of bold action takers who enjoy operating in ambiguity.
Let me share some tips from fellow Con Conners
I ran a short segment called ‘The Creation Station’ today which was really just about giving everyone some space to process what they’re learning at Con Con and give them the option to share some tips with you, here they are:
“When you’re doing well - notice what scaffolding, systems or rituals you have in place that are contributing to your current success. And then embed that as a system in your life to build on the momentum” - Cat Matson, Impact Catalyst. Join her latest on demand masterclass, How to Stop Rambling
“When you’re doing well - Find joy in the progress by noticing and capturing the glimmers, the gains and the gratitude. Even better, take a moment to celebrate someone else’s progress” - Andrea Levinson, Leadership Advisor. Work is good, work is great, work is fine - but is it? Name what’s actually draining your leadership energy and what would help.
“It’s a numbers game!” relating to business development - Meg Hooper, Consulting Psychologist, Carousel Consulting and Creative Director, Circus Ipswich, Where the extraordinary comes to play.
I do promise a more full wrap of everything next week. Incredible shares from people like Andrew Hollo, Julia van Graas, the LinkedIn great debate, Deb Pascoe and Steve Demedio".
Now off to get Day 2 ready…wish us luck! (and let me know if you liked any of my ‘truths’ by hitting the heart 💙 button).
🌴
Signing off,
Leanne “Still on a high” Hughes
p.s. Alan Weiss is joining me for a special Talk the Walk live-stream coming to you LIVE from #concon2026 (Thurs 6pm ET / Fri 18 June 8am AEST). No topic off limits, join us!
Constructively delusional - love it! I call it delusional optimism. Also love the “how I..” and the wild card option. Plus really love the reminder that our peers are extraordinary and that ordinary people don’t do what we do.