Consulting is broad

Management consulting is a disparate field with more than 700K+ Americans describing themselves as consultants. Yes, that’s possible – even though there are probably a good number of project managers, contractors, subject matter experts, and trainers in that mix. My consulting career followed an hourglass career path:  generalist – specialist – generalist.

Many potential combinations: Think of the # of combinations between functions (finance, strategy, operations, accounting, marketing, sales etc. . .) and industries (oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, education, government, hospitality, financial services). The combinations are endless.

Some commonalities: The good news is that junior consultants at any firm/function/industry need some of the same things. No matter what kind of “chef de cuisine” you plan to become, you better have basic knife skills.

#1 Get valuable skills

Junior consultants should be smart, self-aware, and coachable. Geek out on excel models and build PowerPoints that need only limited editing. Build rapport quickly with clients and rock client interviews. Research like a fox, get inside the mind of your project manager, and don’t reinvent the wheel. At first, you don’t have lots of positional (or expertise) power. . .so develop effective relationships.

Padawan.

#2 Be flexible

Speaking with a managing director recently, he said, “It’s a different place from when we were senior consultants in 2006.” Another commented to me, “A lot of our work is performance based, clients expect more.” The world is changing. As Fabiola Gianotti, director-general of CERN, explained in this talk at Davos:  People should get the skills to be able to change their skills. . . BOOM.

“For me, a good education . . . is an education that gives young people the skills to address the world market, address the challenges of life. These tools are general tools: critical thinking, understanding the importance of the scientific method, evidence-based assessment (being able to distinguish between real news and fake news). . . People should get the skills to be able to change their skills.” – Fabiola Gianotti

Recent example? The pandemic forced clients and consultants to work differently. Was it awkward and inconvenient? Sure. Was it still effective? Absolutely. Consulting attracts people – yeah, you – who like to learn, challenge yourself, solve new problems, and make clients successful.

#3 Develop your craft

There is a lot to learn (yeah), but it can come slowly (boo) through lots of practice (boo) and continuous feedback from managers and clients (boo). The bold fact is that client service is as difficult as it is fun.

We need to balance the needs of the a) client, b) consulting firm, c) team, and frankly, d) yourself.  There are ebbs/flows during our life careers; need to pick and choose what’s important, when.

Also, clients and projects differ. They are idiosyncratic (big GMAT word); when you’ve seen 1 client, well, you’ve seen 1 client. You need to see lots of examples before you can reasonably have a “general theory of client service.” It is not textbook learning.

#4 Be humble and do good work

Recently read Kitchen Confidential (affiliate link) by Anthony Bourdain, writer, chef, iconoclast. In his descriptions of the line cook, this has so many analogs to junior consultants.

“What most people don’t get about professional level cooking is that it is not at all about the best recipe the most innovative presentation, the most creative marriage of ingredients flavors and textures, that presumably, was all arranged long before you sat down to dinner. Line cooking the real business of preparing the food you eat, is more about consistency about mindless unvarying repetition, the same series of tasks performed over and over and over again, in exactly the same way. The last thing a chef once in a line cook is an innovator – somebody with ideas of his own who was going to mess around with the chef recipes. Chefs require blind, near fanatical loyalty, strong backs and an automaton-like consistency of execution under battlefield conditions.”

Okay, this might be a seem hyperbolic, but not really. Let’s make sure that you are doing the basics well. As a line cook – are you keeping the kitchen clean and sanitary? As a line cook, are you washing the vegetables thoroughly? As a line cook, are you learning from your last set of mistakes?

As a senior manager, I prefer “consistency” over “creativity” from junior consultants.

Don’t take this as being too dismissive. If you get 2-3 good projects under your belt, you will quickly be given more responsibility and stretch roles. Trust me, enjoy these early days of limited responsibility and sufficient oxygen. Take this time to get good at what you do (however tactical and specific) and pickup speed. You will have NO life/work balance if you are slow.

#5 Think “hourglass”

Learned this from a partner at the green Dot. Think of your consulting career like an hourglass; it is very broad and stable at the bottom, narrows in the middle, and then broadens again at the top.

As a junior consultant / analyst, your reputation for being consistent, coachable, and smart is priceless. Project-based, professional-services work is a free labor market. You “roll-on/off” projects. You will develop a brand quickly. Either people will fight for you to be on their project, or “meh”.

#6 Analyst = Learn aggressively, say yes

There is a lot to learn. I’ve written 500+ blog posts on consulting-related content, and I’m probably 10% of the way there. What you learn applies across all kinds of projects:

• (Project duration) short due-diligence vs. long-term implementation
• (Project size) large transformations with dozens of works streams vs. 3 person case teams
• (Project function) finance vs. supply chain vs. human capital vs. IT vs. operations vs. strategy

Yes, this can feel disorienting. You are often the least experienced person on the project, in a new industry, at a new client, on a new function. Follow your team lead. Follow the process. Think of yourself like Tarzan, swinging from one vine to another.

#7 Senior manager = specialize, say no

As a senior manager, you’ve done the work. You are an excellent minder; you can manage teams. Clients like you. You have the beginnings of a tribe. Now it’s time to for positioning. . .namely, what are YOU uniquely good at? Time to say “no” to things that don’t fit.

#7a When to start specializing?

No clean-cut answer, but a few questions to clarify:

• Is this an area I’d like to be famous for?
• Do I have a support network – partners, clients, junior consultants?
• Do I have a sustainable competitive advantage? Can I sell work?

If yes, why not?  Fast-track your career.

#8 Partner = solve client problems, say yes

As a partner, you are going broad again. You are in business development and you take care of clients. Full stop. They have a problem, and while you – yourself – might not be the right person, you can put them in touch with the right people. You can sell (A LOT OF DIFFERENT) services. 

You solve client problems. Sometimes, this requires creativity and mixing/matching capabilities with other vendors and customers. Sometimes, this means you provide advice, without implementation. Sometimes, this means you do things for free.

Are there exceptions?

Of course. What I outlined above is for those going into a generalist consulting path, being recruited from campus into the Big 4 or Big 3 firms. There are just as many specialist paths to follow. . .digital marketing, accounting forensics, environmental compliance etc. . .

For example, I know quite a few people who go into healthcare consulting. So, here we have newly minted undergraduates focused on hospital, life science or healthcare-specific fields. Winning. They have a chance to specialize and get famous for something faster. . .Caveat: they will need to learn the basic consulting fundamentals too. No cutting corners.

Consulting hourglass? Agree, disagree? Why?