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

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. 

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

Those three points—MECE structuring, mental agility, and the Pyramid Principle—are the absolute bedrock. If you master those, you've already jumped 80% of your peers.

For me, the single tool I wish I grasped earlier wasn't a framework for problem-solving; it was a framework for managing the adoption gap. We spend all our time learning how to create the technically best answer. What they don't teach you until you screw it up is that a perfect answer that sits on the shelf is a zero. The critical pivot comes when you stop viewing the client as an information source and start viewing them as an active variable in the solution itself.

This means applying a Hypothesis-Driven Approach not just to the data, but to the client relationship. Who are the critical decision-makers? What are their hidden incentives? What internal political capital do they need to spend to enact your recommendation? Understanding this deeply allows you to proactively tailor the deliverable and, more importantly, sequence the meetings and data releases to build necessary buy-in before the Final Presentation.

The insight here is that consulting isn't selling a slide deck; it's selling behavioral change. The difference between a high-potential Associate and a strong EM is realizing that your job isn't done when the slides are signed off—it's done when the solution is integrated and generating value, which requires masterful, empathetic politics.

All the best!

Hi there,

For me personally, it's learning the nuances in how you frame things, which can influence how the message may be accepted.

Hey there,

those three points hit the nail on the head. For me, understanding MECE and issue trees early would have saved so much time when structuring ambiguous problems. Top-down communication is a game changer too, once you get comfortable leading with the answer, everything else just flows. Quick mental math is underrated but makes discussions so much smoother and builds credibility instantly. Definitely things worth practicing before starting full-time.

Best, Alessa :)

Understanding that relationships, change management and communications are ultimately more important than analysis.