The Once <amp></amp> Future Consultant

Asked what he'll do when he comes back to the United States this summer, Ulrich hesitates. He's anxious about his return. He fears he has been away too long -- that his message won't be clear. But his close one-on-one work in Montreal has actually brought some ideas further into focus, especially those about using individual change to support institutional change. "If I want a mind-set or a culture at the organizational level, what does that mean for a person?" he asks. "If I want accountability for the organization, how do I help people build accountability and take responsibility for themselves? If I want the organization to learn, how do I help people learn? If I want efficiency, how do I build in personal time management?"

Ulrich's first teaching assignment would be only a couple of months away, and his first professional speaking engagement in three years was to be in front of 10,000 people. How will he prepare for the roles he's reassuming (beyond reading up on Sarbanes-Oxley)? "I'll spend a lot of time listening," he says. He plans to reach out to 10 business leaders he respects -- folks such as Kerr and Anthony J. Rucci, EVP at Cardinal Health Inc. "I'll ask them: What are the questions you don't have an answer to right now?" he says. Kerr, for his part, isn't concerned. "Dave is quick and inventive," he says. "He'll be a leader again soon."

But on the eve of his departure from Montreal, Ulrich's emails reveal ambivalence about returning to the cutthroat world of nondisclosure agreements and quarterly reports. "As I return to the 'real' world, I wonder sometimes which world is more real," he writes. "The world I live in now -- focused on building a caring community -- or the world I left (and return to) of building a competitive community. Hopefully, we can find ways to build a competitive community through caring, but that may be a bit idealistic." He's probably right. But it won't stop him from trying.

Lucas Conley is a Fast Company staff writer.