Kathy Rast
Thought Partner (business)
Specialist Generalist (business)
I work with business owners to build and work their way into a business as usual that (actually) works with them.
The purpose of this website is to build on what you already know in working with me, Kathy Rast. You can learn about where I fit in when working with a business owner as a specialist generalist and thought partner. And you can add to what you already know about the way I work with your words to support clearer thinking and even clearer doing in the day-to-day of business (aka your business as usual, aka your BAU). Enjoy.
P U R P O S E
W H A T I' M C A L L E D
Specialist Generalist (business)
A specialist generalist is someone whose profession is the perpetual pursuit of knowing and growing a lot about a little across a specific area for a specific purpose (e.g., business > owning a business > owning and operating as a solo business).
Think of that person who the skills, knowledge and experience to both support the thinking and the doing with you.
Being a specialist generalist in the area of business typically means being across the main business areas of executive functions, operations, finance, IT, sales and marketing, and customer service — essentially all the areas a business owner should needs to must is expected to know and have the skills to run your own business.
W H E N T O C A L L M E
Working as a specialist generalist in business means acquiring and maintaining a high level of knowledge, skills, and experience (aka a specialisation) in the area of business (aka a generalisation), specifically owning and operating a business.
Further, in my case, I have a specific set of skills, knowledge, and experience in working with solo business owners (including working with freelance and independent or contract revenue channels).
A business owner usually calls me when they’ve tried to do something they ‘should’ know how to do in their own business that hasn’t worked (or isn’t working) or when something may (or may not) be working and doesn't make sense or feel right yet for the business owner.
I get a call when a business owner wants to talk with someone who ‘gets it’ and already knows how to get it done or has a mad skills suite to support another business owner (actually) find a way to done.
W H A T M A K E S T H E D I F F E R E N C E
Thought Partner (business)
A thought partner is someone who has trained and well whose practiced in the thinking process, supporting the thinking experience, and who may or may not be a contributor to the actual thinking outcome.
Think of it much like a person who can both metaphorically (or actually) sit beside you as you look at the same problem (or possibility) while they’re able to be present at the back of the room monitoring and managing the thinking experience to an intended outcome.
With the right-fit thought partner, it can feel like having extra 🧠 capacity by both freeing up resourcing to just focus on the problem (possibility) as well as (actually) having another 🧠 who already gets it.
W H Y W E A L W A Y S S T A R T W I T H S O M E T H I N G S P E C I F I C
To the surprise of many, I rarely start out as a business owner's thought partner.
From earned experience, the best way to be productive in partnered thinking is while working on something specific in the business — especially something that’s connected to a revenue or cost channel in the business's delivery.
Think of designing, refining, or re-finding a customer experience, tidying up the business tech, or harmonising a webpage's words.
By focusing on a specific part of the business, it’s practical to step out of the task from time to time find and build your (actual) business operating model, your (actual) business values or vision, or your (really real) business complexity that’s causing blocks and blockades to your potential revenue or cost relief in your BAU.
T H E P R A C T I C A L . T H E P R O F E S S I O N A L . T H E P E R S O N .
Approach
My approach is one of structure, safety, and a sense of professional wonder.
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Each specialist has a bias. Usually it’s an area of knowledge, mine is an applied specific skill — language-in-use.
Simply said, you talk, I listen.
Then, working with what we have, we follow the same structure for agreeing a target outcome and get to work.
So often I work with highly capable business owners who only need that someone who can both look through the complexity while also making the co-create the connections — language-in-use simplifies this process.
The way I apply language-in-use principles here is less about copy, comms, and core messaging (if this is what you’re looking for, then you’re likely thinking of how I apply rhetoric, this is always part of any front-facing words).
My approach with language-in-use is subtle usually is noticed when we catch and get caught on a word to lean in, lean on and leverage something to be cleared up or cleared out to continue the BAU build to completion.
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One of my professional pieces of paper is in the psychology field. No, I’m not a psychologist, but I do regularly refer to models, frameworks, and research that supports building and navigating the business-owning experience.
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My working background is in professional government and private organisational roles where I acquired skills in advanced analysis, human behaviour, communications, and strategic thinking.
Here this feels like someone who’s been around long enough to get many things, to suffer no fools, and to get the work done.