The 'key word' in your language that is a bit off is 'leadership'.
Yes, usually in a hierarchy, 'leaders' get paid more.
But consultants and contractors are not hired for 'leadership' roles, so I'm a bit confused by that.
I started a new project and our DB guy was young, we were unsure of ourselves, so we hired some Oracle expert to help with that and they were expensive. So 1 or 2 days consulting on our project.
It could have been $1K an hour for all I know, it doesn't matter.
For short bits of key insight, high rates are not uncommon.
Corporate Lawyers will charge $1K/hour - but even then that's going to go to their interns, associates, overhead as well - it's a 'business' not just a person.
Also note that those rates tend to grow exponentially pas a certain point: someone who specializes in international law for mining and gas, who is needed 'right now' because of a flare up between SNC Lavalin and the Peruvian government, can bill $10K/hour etc..
There actually isn't that much of a difference between 'consulting' and 'contracting' but the later usually implies 'work' as opposed to 'expertise'.
If you are providing very specific knowledge that the company really needs to move forward, and the terms are fairly clear that they need it, then you can start billing much higher than contract rates. The bigger the influence (i.e. if it's affecting a giant, $100M contract), then the bigger the rate.
But for 'general leadership' ... that's a much harder thing to put into dollars.
I think some are using leadership to mean the led/lead a project in a tactical sense. My understanding of the term leadership (or leaders as most others are using) is thought/strategic leaders.
Yes, usually in a hierarchy, 'leaders' get paid more.
But consultants and contractors are not hired for 'leadership' roles, so I'm a bit confused by that.
I started a new project and our DB guy was young, we were unsure of ourselves, so we hired some Oracle expert to help with that and they were expensive. So 1 or 2 days consulting on our project.
It could have been $1K an hour for all I know, it doesn't matter.
For short bits of key insight, high rates are not uncommon.
Corporate Lawyers will charge $1K/hour - but even then that's going to go to their interns, associates, overhead as well - it's a 'business' not just a person.
Also note that those rates tend to grow exponentially pas a certain point: someone who specializes in international law for mining and gas, who is needed 'right now' because of a flare up between SNC Lavalin and the Peruvian government, can bill $10K/hour etc..
There actually isn't that much of a difference between 'consulting' and 'contracting' but the later usually implies 'work' as opposed to 'expertise'.
If you are providing very specific knowledge that the company really needs to move forward, and the terms are fairly clear that they need it, then you can start billing much higher than contract rates. The bigger the influence (i.e. if it's affecting a giant, $100M contract), then the bigger the rate.
But for 'general leadership' ... that's a much harder thing to put into dollars.