What Consulting Taught Me

During my junior year of college, I worked part-time at a local banking call center. One day, a customer called in who also happened to be a managing partner at one of the largest global firms at the time. We chatted, while I processed her request, and after sharing that I was majoring in business and information systems, she encouraged me to consider a career in consulting.

I did not take a job in consulting immediately after college, but made the decision to work in various industries including Government, Financial Services, Technology and Energy before starting my consulting career in 2010. This path allowed me to gain the breadth and depth of knowledge and skills needed to be hired into the firm as an experienced hire. Because of this experience, I was able to build credibility quickly with both my employer and clients. This experience also gave me the ability to see things from the firm's and clients' perspectives and this served me well as I managed programs and relationships on both sides.

Although I’ve learned many life and business lessons over the past 10 years as a management consultant, listed below are the Top 10 Lessons That Consulting Taught Me.

1. How to Build Quality Authentic Relationships

   This point can likely be made for business in general, but is especially true in the consulting world. Your network is everything! The quality of the relationships you build can determine how much revenue you generate, how well (or not) your project goes and the ultimate success of your career and reputation in the industry. Also, when you are spending so much time with your colleagues on projects, collectively moving towards a common goal, you form genuine friendships that last far beyond the length of the project. Just like any other relationship, the relationships that you continue to nurture and invest in are the relationships that are sustained and the likelihood of you working with these individuals again in the future increases immensely.

2. How to Solve the RIGHT Problem

   Consulting by nature is partnering with clients to help them to solve their most pressing problems and to get them from where they are to where they desire to be. The catch here is that on the way from your client’s current to desired state, you’ll find many problems, not only the problem they are paying you to fix. Although superhero syndrome may kick in, it is important to remain focused on doing what the client hired you to do . If other issues arise during your project, you should address any changes to scope, contracts and the project direction accordingly. All changes should be a mutually documented decision between you and the client to ensure that a healthy win-win partnership continues.

3. How to Think Strategically

   “Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.” — Warren Buffett

   While you are solving the problems that the client hired you to fix, it is highly likely that as you dig deeper, you will uncover problems the client may encounter in the future if certain measures aren’t put into place. Strategic thinking is about being proactive, instead of reactive and about anticipating the likelihood of an event before it occurs. A great consultant has the ability to anticipate the client’s needs before they do and to see opportunities where others see either obstacles or nothing at all. This is why your client hired you, for your expertise and to keep them from running into the same roadblocks you’ve helped other client’s in similar situations to avoid. Effective strategy and solid execution is what make your clients’ vision a reality.

4. How to Sell without Being “Salesy”:

   Consulting.com defines a consultant as “someone who has some level of expertise that a particular group of people find valuable, and people within that group are willing to pay the consultant to access their expertise.“ I used to cringe at the thought of having to sell to my clients because I pictured selling through the lens of the used car salesman experience. No offense to car sales professionals, but what I learned very quickly is that selling as a consultant is simply the point where the value that you bring and your clients’ needs meet. Being able to communicate your value and keeping an active sales pipeline is critical to your success as an independent consultant or consulting executive.

5. How to Communicate Effectively

   I cannot stress how important it is be able to communicate effectively. Effective communication is not only about verbal communication. It is also about body language. It is listening more than you speak. It is asking the right people the right questions at the right time. It is written communication and in this digital age, it is a lot of visual communication as well. It is knowing your audience and communicating the information that is important to them so they can make informed sound decisions. Effective communication can make or break a project, deal or client relationship. Great communicators master both the science and art of communication over time and this is a skill that we can always improve upon.

6. How to Work with a Diverse Group of People

   When we hear diversity, we often think of race or gender, but diversity is so much broader. Diversity consists of the communities we grow up in and the cultural habits and traditions we practice. It is our various personalities, education levels and generational qualities. Consulting taught me how to work well with a diverse group of people across the globe who had different views on life itself. It opened my eyes beyond my personal experiences and allowed me to accept and appreciate people for the authenticity and uniqueness they bring to the table. It also allowed me to build great teams who were diverse in background, strengths, thoughts and ideas. It has been proven that diverse teams build more creative and innovative solutions and the really great consultants get this and help their clients to see the value in building diverse teams as well.

7. How to Be Agile and Resilient

   Being able to pivot quickly and often and building up the resilience not to break under pressure just might be the most critical quality to have as a consultant. There are so many moving parts on consulting projects. Being able to effectively manage and sometimes juggle daily tasks, team interactions, a company’s culture and the technology are all in a day’s work. Agility and resilience is something that can only be built over time but you can start by being mindful of how you approach change in general and issues that may arise. Seeing change as a learning experience can make those unforeseen circumstances a lot more manageable.

8. I Don't Have All of the Answers and That is Okay

   High performers and problems solvers often try to figure things out on their own, and sometimes at all costs, before they raise their hands to ask for help. The day that I realized that I didn’t have to have all of the answers to be seen as credible was life changing. The consulting environment is usually a team environment and the power of a good team is in people with different levels of expertise coming together to solve a common problem TOGETHER. It is much more important to know where to find the answers than to know all of the answers. No one knows all of the answers.

9. I am Ultimately in Charge of My Career

   One of the first things I was told when I started at my previous firm was that I owned my career. They were there to support me and to provide me with the resources that I needed, but my career journey was mine to own. We live in a world of constant change. Company goals change, life changes and days go by quickly. You cannot afford to wait until your annual review to discuss everything you’ve done over the past year. Career goals and expectations should be discussed between you and your management early and often. Take the initiative by having meaningful conversations with management and your clients to ensure that you are meeting expectations. If expectations are not being met, this gives you an opportunity to course correct while it is still feasible to do so.

10. The Best Investment I'll Ever Make is In Myself

    As a consultant, you’ll learn that you are your product. Your brand, expertise and how you show up is all a part of how your clients view you. As you deliver solutions for your client, it is very easy to get in “the zone” and to put way too many things ahead of your development and personal well being. You have to be intentional about making sure that you are setting aside the time and investing not only in personal and professional development, but also in taking care of your overall health. If you’re not healthy, you’re not able to show up as your best self for you or anyone else. You are and will always be your greatest asset. Remind yourself of this daily and go to bat for you as hard as you do for your clients and the people that you love.