Is there something you would change about the work as a consultant?

Hi Anonmyous,

Long working hours are more a function of wrong prioriziation than actual necessity. Science knows that sleep-deprivation (except very few people with genetic effect) has similar effects than alcohol - do you really believe this is the way to get the best results for clients?

Following graphic is obviously a simplication but tells a true point:

Hope that helps - if so, please be so kind to give it a thumbs-up with the green upvote button below!

Robert

1) 100% "Working in Powerpoint"

Most thoughts, ideas, iteration, etc happens in PowerPoint. I think it's incredibly counter-productive...too much time is spent on aligning things, making things look good etc.

2) Too many chefs in the kitchen...Having 10 "stakeholders"/bosses

The amount of times Partner A says A, Partner B says B, Principal C says C, Client Executive says D, and Project Lead says E, was insane...and all over the span of a week with none of them talking to each other. The churn/iteration/re-work was insane and I always felt it could be better resolved by just having people in a room talking AND probably having fewer headstrong/opinionated leaders!

I love how Amazon has banned powerpoint and just jointly works together in a shared word document in the first 30 minutes of every meeting...no wonder they're taking over the world

Less document creation (and the associated churn) and more time with the client, problem solving together to get to a distinctive solution that has a meaningful impact on their business!

Great question! This is something all current and former consultants think about a lot..:).

My view:

1. Don't think of clients as a "Account". They are humans too

2. Build trust genuinly. This takes time and works both ways. This also requires support from internal leadership to give you the space and time to build trust while delivering results

3. Pressure to sell - the more senior you go, $$ (sales/revenue) becomes a key metric of performance managament. A balanced model must be created which smaller consulting firms have adopted but the bigger ones are far from it

4. Sustainability needs to become #1 in a consultants job regardless of role/client- we have destroyed the planet. Its a place with finite resources so not every industry and job can continue to grow at x% year on year

5. Using slides in a frugal way :)

6. On top of IQ and EQ, all consultants must be trained in TQ- technology quotient i.e. understanding how machines-humans interaction will pan out in coming years

Cheers!

Adi