Can They See You Now?
Why Familiar Places Struggle to Recognize Familiar Talent
By Mitchell Schuckman, PCC | Founder, The Schuckman Group
Stepping into a New Chapter
Lately I have been speaking with many recent retirees, including former partners like me, who are stepping into consulting or coaching after long careers. I am also spending time with fledgling entrepreneurs I have been networking with and sometimes coaching as they build their first book of business. And I am staying close to my Hudson Institute colleagues, a group I completed an intensive executive coaching program with this year, many of whom are starting practices of their own.
Most of us begin searching for clients in the same places. We reach out to the firms we previously worked at. These are the places we built our careers. The places we had success and delivered value. We also call the clients who used to ring our phones daily. We check in with the colleagues who promised to stay in touch. Then we are surprised by how quietly the world responds at first. Curiosity replaces frustration. How do people who once relied on us so deeply struggle to see us clearly now?
The Expectation, the Reality, and Why it Happens
It feels logical to start with the familiar. They know our work, our integrity, and the results we delivered. That history should be our strongest currency. In practice, it rarely works that cleanly.
Large organizations update their mental picture slowly. Inside, we are anchored to the last role we held, not the value we now bring. The procurement lanes prefer defined vendors, not alumni. Leaders are under pressure to project control, so asking a former peer for help can feel exposed. Familiarity creates comfort, but it can also create a kind of blindness. People assume they already know what we offer, so they stop seeing us clearly.
Still, there are exceptions worth noting. Some firms and colleagues make the leap early, engaging highly capable former employees who are now consulting or coaching on their own. They see the opportunity to access specialized, credentialed talent at a fraction of the cost of a full-time hire. No salary. No bonus. No benefits. Just a defined project, a clear outcome, and measurable value. It is a practical, forward-looking model that strengthens existing teams and delivers impact quickly.
It happens less often than it should. More often, the burden falls to the new entrepreneur to build visibility one engagement at a time, earning back the attention and trust of former employers and colleagues through success elsewhere. And that is how it should be. Momentum must be proven, not assumed.
A Story About Traction
A retired CHRO I know started her coaching practice with every good sign. She knew her former company inside and out. The leaders respected her. Early calls were warm. A few people even asked for a proposal. Then nothing moved. The words were right. The action was not there. She felt puzzled, then annoyed.
Instead of pushing harder on the same door, she turned her attention to a smaller opportunity with a mid-market client where a friend worked. She had no prior relationship with anyone on that leadership team. It began with a small coaching engagement for two high-potential senior managers. When that went well, she was asked to coach a member of the executive team, then to design a short leadership program, and eventually to help a senior vice president navigate a difficult transition. One strong project led naturally to the next, and results showed up fast.
The senior vice president she coached referred her to peers at two other companies. Within six months she had three anchor clients, two speaking invitations, and a steady flow of work. A year later her former employer called. Same leaders. Same culture. Very different conversation. They had watched her build something that stood on its own. The request this time was simple: Could you bring some of that here, tailored to us?
That arc is common. Momentum changes perception, and it changes confidence too. By the time the old door opened, she no longer needed it to. Which made the work better for everyone.
What Actually Works
Here is the pattern I see most often, in my own practice and in the journeys I am close to.
Lead with what is new in your thinking, not what used to be on your résumé. If you are blending coaching with pursuit discipline, say so plainly. If you are integrating behavioral science with client development, show it with a clear framework and a simple story. If you are applying AI in new, practical ways, make the value obvious.
Start where you are invited, not where you feel owed. Build a few small wins with clients who see you fresh. Package those wins into short case studies you can share. Visibility beats volume.
Show up like a peer. Offer perspective that helps others move now. No pitch required. In my post Selling Is Relating, I wrote about presence as the real differentiator. The idea still holds. People remember how you make them feel more than what you tell them. Theodore Roosevelt once said, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” The same applies to connection. When you make others feel seen, capable, and encouraged, the relationship deepens.
Keep your follow-through simple and steady. Short notes. A useful article. A quick call to help them think. Many leaders are managing more pressure than they will ever say out loud. Steady presence is a relief.
For my Hudson colleagues and other new coaches, one more point. Pricing and packaging shape how people see you. Project-based work creates clarity. It is easier to start, easier to scale, and easier for the buyer to explain internally. It is no surprise that several of my first engagements were structured this way. Clients receive senior capability on a defined scope and a fixed fee, and we move fast. Everyone can feel the value.
The Doors May Even Open
The doors that do not open right away often do, just not because you wait by them. They open when you build where the energy is. I see it with entrepreneurs, Hudson peers, and former partners like me. Re-engagement comes later, after you gain traction, after the market validates what you do now, after your old firm sees you clearly because others chose you first.
So if the door you expected has not opened, keep moving. Publish something short and useful. Lead a focused session that solves a real problem. Help a team win a pursuit and share what you learned. When people finally look up, you will already be in motion, and that confidence is what draws them back.
And if the old doors never open, that is fine too. Because new ones will. The act of building momentum creates its own opportunities. The right people, the right clients, and the right work find you once you are already moving.
Maybe the goal is not to be recognized as who you were. Maybe it is to build something so clear and so valuable that when people finally see you again, they realize you never really left the work. You just returned with a wider lens.
That is the chapter I am in. It is the chapter many of you are in. And it is available to any organization willing to look again at the people who helped build it. When that happens, everyone wins.