Strong at complex tasks, weak at small details: can I still succeed in consulting?

Question

I spent 3 years in consulting in the Nordics. It was not a great experience since I was told I was “too academic,” made silly formatting mistakes, and my communication was weak. I recently moved to a boutique in Dubai. The work is very interesting and the team is capable, but the pace is insane with 5 projects in 2 months and often 2 to 3 at the same time. The Excel work is also much heavier than before. Now the feedback has flipped and I am “not academic enough,” and the issues are more about structure and small details. Communication, which used to be a major criticism in the Nordics, is not even remotely a point of conversation here.

My manager is tough but fair. He went from saying he was not sure I would pass probation to telling me I will not get promoted as fast as I would like. At the same time, he said I would be a good manager, even “better than me.” That is flattering but also frustrating because I do well with the hard stuff but trip over the small things.

I have ADHD, and this has been the same theme my whole life. No matter what I do, it keeps showing up. I can deliver on complex things, but the little details frustrate me and others. And the older I get, the less patient people seem to be with it.

My question:

I really love consulting, but this keeps holding me back. How should I think about my career going forward?

Answer 1

Hi there,

Thank you for sharing this with us, I appreciate the honesty!

Everyone has weak spots and different managers pick up on different things. Ask around to see if there is a recurring theme or if this is just one person's perspective / case specific. Also, be honest with yourself, I'm sure you know exactly what challenges you have.

It seems like you've come a long way from your 3 years in consulting in the Nordics, you had different challenges there and you've overcome them. Now, you have to work on new ones. Your career is a constant learning path and it's okay!! Don't beat yourself up on it.

Those that last longer within a career in consulting are usually not the smartest or the perfectionists, they are the most committed ones.

Hope this was helpful! Feel free to reach out if needed :)

Giulia

Answer 2

I'm really sorry to hear this. Your account comes across as honest. I appreciate that.

I think it comes down to whether or not you can do something about it. As far as I know, you can't fix ADHD just like that, otherwise you would've done it already. So it comes down to learning how to live with it, and developing techniques to make the most of your abilities. I think you can be in consulting, you might just struggle more than others.

I would flip the question and rather ask if you WANT to be in consulting. Wouldn't it rather make sense for you to reflect on what is that you enjoy and are great at and then try to double down on that instead (rather than forcing your way into something you're not sure you're enjoying and you're not getting great feedback from)?

Feel free to also drop me a line privately. Happy to bounce off other ideas if helpful.

Best,
Cristian

Answer 3

hello!
You're not alone - i can tell you that. The thing with consulting is that something will always be under the spotlight for us to work on.

Having said that, I can appreciate it is frustrating that the elements flipped.
If you love the world of consulting, perseverance is rewarded. Try to add buffer time (if at all possible) to do quick checks on your work, set up chats with your manager and show how you're diligently tackling his feedback. This always goes a long way!

Answer 4

Hi there,

If you really love consulting, I’d say don’t give up on it as it’s rare to find a career you actually enjoy. Try not to get too swayed by one person’s feedback. Ask a few people you’ve worked with for their perspective so you can see what the common themes are, and focus on improving those. At the end of the day, consulting is all about constant feedback and growth, so you’re not alone in this. Keep going as it sounds like you’ve got a lot of strengths too.

Answer 5

Hi,

Second what Cristian said and it really boils down to whether you want to be in consulting or not.

I'll offer an additional perspective / different angle:

I know quite a few consultants that did extremely well as a consultant, and then suffered as a manager
I can name quite a few managers and principals that were great, but did not survive being an equity partner
I can also name a few equity partners that honestly were not great consultants but only started to excel once they were an equity partner
I know many great consultants that never made it to equity partner because they chose to quit before hand

So what am I trying to let you takeaway from those anecdotes above?

First, i think is to have that long term view and to clarify what does succeed mean. Do you need to become a partner?
Second, if you take the long term view, then it's important to realize that you also don't need to the best at something, but good enough to barely make it to the next hurdle

Having the "I just need to not get kicked out" versus "i dont need to be promoted the fastest" is a major change in terms of practicality and also potentially mental and psychological stress.

Sounds to me that you might excel longer in the senior roles, so may not be a bad thing to try and just barely cross the bar now :)

Answer 6

You can. Just need someone to take care of the small details. :)

Everyone has a weak spot, it's really about how you find a way to deal with it.

Answer 7

hi!

I would say that you can succeed in consulting despite struggling with small details. Your strength is complex problem-solving and leadership potential, which matter most. Focus on leveraging your strengths, use systems or teammates to manage minor errors, and seek roles or projects that emphasize high-level impact over tedious detail work. ADHD doesn’t hold you back if you strategize around it.

Alessa