My career has been shaped by an episode of “The Paper Chase” that I watched when I was nine years old. In “Scavenger” (Season 1 Episode 22), the students of Professor Kingsfield had three days to answer 75 difficult questions. They were all finding it an impossible task and expected to fail the course. Then John Hart realized that the class could pass the exam by collaborating; the professor had been very explicit that there were no rules against sharing answers.That episode stayed with me, and 20 years later in business school I worked to foster a spirit of collaboration. Example: for an open-book strategy exam, I organized a group of volunteers to summarize all the readings, and then we shared that compilation with the whole class. (See attached.)Today, I continue to encourage collaboration as the leader of Umbrex, the first global community connecting top-tier independent management consultants with one another. Umbrex creates opportunities for our members to build relationships, share lessons learned, and work together. Umbrex includes more than 1,500 independent consultants, 85% of whom are alums of McKinsey, Bain, BCG, or Booz.Our business model: Umbrex helps our clients find the independent consultant with the right skills for their project needs.Other notes:+ I’m the host of the popular podcast “Unleashed – How to Thrive as an Independent Professional,” (over 500 episodes)+ I also host The 92 Report, a weekly podcast with the goal of interviewing every member of the Harvard-Radcliffe Class of 1992. (This will take 30 years.)+ Prior to consulting, I served as a nuclear-trained submarine officer in the U.S. Navy, where I was awarded three Navy Achievement Medals.+ I walked 800 km across Spain on the Camino de Santiago+ While we live in New York City, my wife and I own a 200-acre farm in central Pennsylvania where we keep bees, tend an orchard, and raise hogs, poultry, and grass-finished cattle.