A long time ago, my employer once passed along to me some wise sage advice:

"Owen," he said, "your job is not to do your job; your job is to make me look good."

I'm sure the shock on my altruistic face caused him to explain further: "If I look good, you get to keep your job. If I look bad, I don't care how well you do your job."

I've related that story to a number of people over the years. Some nod their heads vigorously in approval; some go into a rampage and express their hope that I quit that job on the spot (HR people are usually in this boat - but they're typically a bit out of touch anyway).

I fall into the former category. As a consultant, it's arguably even more important to make your client and employer look good than as an employee. One's continued paycheck depends on it. Sure, we advise where we can on direction and try to help the client avoid mistakes, but in the end, we still need to do it the way they want it done.  Sometimes, we need to work miracles, if we want to be successful. Even more often, that means swallowing our pride (I thank the Air Force for teaching me to swallow my pride in liberal amounts).

I've had the privilege of being offered a position at every client I've worked at. I've yet to accept a position, but the interest alone has been enough to ratify my view that we're here to make our boss, client, or employer look good.