Years ago, I was invited by a federal agency, which will go nameless here, to contribute to a presentation being made to the senior team at the Peace Corps. I spoke for about an hour. When I finished, then Peace Corps Director Gaddi Vasquez said he wanted to work with me. That was a big deal. The Peace Corps was exactly the kind of organization I wanted to work with, and it was early in my consulting career. What followed became some of the most meaningful work of my career.
But there was a problem I encountered along the way. The other federal agency asked for a 10% referral fee since Vasquez had been exposed to me through their offering. Not so unusual in my business, so I paid it. But then they told me they expected 10% of every subsequent contract I received from the Peace Corps, and 10% of every other federal government contract I received. What?! That was not in our agreement, and I said no.
The situation was escalated and a senior official told me, essentially, “You will never work in the federal government again.” I wasn’t feeling particularly brave. I was an independent consultant. I needed work. But there are moments in business when the question isn’t how badly you want the opportunity, it’s what you’re willing to give up to get it. Standing up to that first agency had consequences. Some potential clients stopped contacting me and stopped returning my calls. I even had a contract in motion where the agency abruptly broke off communication with me.
Fortunately, their threat was not carried out in its entirety. I went on to work not only with the Peace Corps, but FEMA, Smithsonian, CIA, USGS, NASA, DHS, and others. I may have lost some work along the way, but I left that interaction with my integrity in tact. Sometimes the most important business decision is deciding where you draw the line.
