Take it from an introvert: you do NOT have to be an extrovert to be a good consultant. There are plenty of non-scientific but data-centric studies (https://qz.com/748741/companies-headed-by-introverts-performed-better-in-a-study-of-thousands-of-ceos/) that reveal that introverted personalities make better leaders. Most of the CEOs you will meet as a consultant are likely going to be introverts. Sundar Pichai, Satya Nadella, etc are all introverts who, IMO, would tend to get along better with introverts -- take this with a grain of salt that "introvert" in my world typically means "inward focused" rather than the typical "car-salesman" stereotype.
Your job as a consultant is to achieve two things: you need to be liked, and you need to be respected. If you fail in being liked, CEO will take your analysis/recommendation and will find ways to disagree. If you fail in being respected, you just relegate yourself to a good bar buddy but with no consultative value. A good combination of inward looking extroverts (what is being called as "extraverts" these days) is what does the trick. At the end of the day, the role of a consultant is cerebral first, visceral second, but it is the visceral that makes for a great consultant so you need to a bit of an emotional chamaleon.
-Hemant
Take it from an introvert: you do NOT have to be an extrovert to be a good consultant. There are plenty of non-scientific but data-centric studies (https://qz.com/748741/companies-headed-by-introverts-performed-better-in-a-study-of-thousands-of-ceos/) that reveal that introverted personalities make better leaders. Most of the CEOs you will meet as a consultant are likely going to be introverts. Sundar Pichai, Satya Nadella, etc are all introverts who, IMO, would tend to get along better with introverts -- take this with a grain of salt that "introvert" in my world typically means "inward focused" rather than the typical "car-salesman" stereotype.
Your job as a consultant is to achieve two things: you need to be liked, and you need to be respected. If you fail in being liked, CEO will take your analysis/recommendation and will find ways to disagree. If you fail in being respected, you just relegate yourself to a good bar buddy but with no consultative value. A good combination of inward looking extroverts (what is being called as "extraverts" these days) is what does the trick. At the end of the day, the role of a consultant is cerebral first, visceral second, but it is the visceral that makes for a great consultant so you need to a bit of an emotional chamaleon.
-Hemant
