What’s one consulting tool / skill that materially improved your effectiveness on the job you wish you knew earlier?

Question

What’s one consulting tool, framework, or mental model that genuinely improved your effectiveness on the job once you understood it properly?

For me, it was three things:

Structuring: using issue trees and thinking in a truly MECE way. I’m still working on this, but it fundamentally changed how I approach ambiguous problems.
Quick mental math: even today, I spend a few hours each week sharpening it. Being fast and comfortable with numbers makes day-to-day analysis and discussions much smoother.
Top-down communication: especially in how I speak, not just in presentations. Learning to lead with the answer before diving into detail made a big difference in how my messages land.

Answer 1

In the Associate/Consultant days, the biggest unlock for me was ensuring I built explicit time into my work plan to step away from the analysis and come back for a final review with fresh eyes. Often newer consultants will agree to a deadline with their manager that is very ambitious and solely takes into account the minimum time needed to produce a first version of the deliverable. This can lead to getting lost in the weeds/ tunnel vision on the details without keeping in mind the bigger picture client need which is the ultimate goal.

As a manager (PL and beyond), the best feedback I ever received was to treat senior partners the same as clients. As a PL and early Principal, I had a few cases where clients ended up happy but internal stakeholders weren't because I did not make enough of an effort to solicit their input in the problem solving process. Every partner has their own style and preference of how hands-on they want to be; just like clients, there is no one-size-fits-all approach. As such, the mindset shift of equivocating stakeholder management between both clients and senior internal audiences was a big "aha," something that I carried with me for the remainder of my BCG tenure and still today, dealing with a variety of different parties as a founder, investor, and advisor.

Answer 2

Is this question aimed at those who are consultants already?

If yes, and if I reflect on my own consulting experience, the biggest change was genuinely being open to feedback and knowing how to work on it. So basically, understanding how mentorship works.

I wrote a guide on this you might find useful:

• • Expert Guide: How to Become A Distinctive Consultant

Best,
Cristian