Being successful in a large professional services firm can require a sip or two from the Kool-Aid pitcher. You need to believe in the messaging. Believe that you have a career path. Believe that at the end of the day, there is no where else that you would rather be.
However, if you stay at a firm long enough, there are some things that come across the radar that make you question everything. If you are like me and are one of the few to not contribute to the high turnover percentage in management consulting, those questions start to pop up more often than not.
Over the past two weeks, I've been getting a healthy dose of our firm's recruiting messaging and goals over the next few years to "dominate the world"... OK. Maybe I'm being overly dramatic, but I have the right to interpret a data point or two the way that I want.
As a management consultant, the natural tendency is to challenge everything. But sometimes there are things that are so utterly ridiculous, that it's not even worth the challenge. You just begin to wonder if you are the only person that sees how utterly ridiculous things are. In my opinion, you have 2 options. 1.) You can drink the Kool-Aid, take the order, put on your tap dancing shoes and buy into the propaganda; or 2.) You can say WTF and become the squeakiest wheel. Based on my 10 years in this industry, #2, is what people want to do, but is not recommended.
I won't go into specifics to protect the innocent, but the reality is that my firm's messaging basically throws my 10 years of management consulting experience out of the window where it gets run over by a bus and then sh*t on by a possum. Motivation - where it existed- has now turned into understanding that the only thing constant in consulting is change. But the change sucks when it puts you on the wrong end of the organization's strategic direction. Who knows? Maybe in another 5 years, what I do will align with the new strategic direction of the organization. I'm not sure I'm willing to wait.
However, if you stay at a firm long enough, there are some things that come across the radar that make you question everything. If you are like me and are one of the few to not contribute to the high turnover percentage in management consulting, those questions start to pop up more often than not.
Over the past two weeks, I've been getting a healthy dose of our firm's recruiting messaging and goals over the next few years to "dominate the world"... OK. Maybe I'm being overly dramatic, but I have the right to interpret a data point or two the way that I want.
As a management consultant, the natural tendency is to challenge everything. But sometimes there are things that are so utterly ridiculous, that it's not even worth the challenge. You just begin to wonder if you are the only person that sees how utterly ridiculous things are. In my opinion, you have 2 options. 1.) You can drink the Kool-Aid, take the order, put on your tap dancing shoes and buy into the propaganda; or 2.) You can say WTF and become the squeakiest wheel. Based on my 10 years in this industry, #2, is what people want to do, but is not recommended.
I won't go into specifics to protect the innocent, but the reality is that my firm's messaging basically throws my 10 years of management consulting experience out of the window where it gets run over by a bus and then sh*t on by a possum. Motivation - where it existed- has now turned into understanding that the only thing constant in consulting is change. But the change sucks when it puts you on the wrong end of the organization's strategic direction. Who knows? Maybe in another 5 years, what I do will align with the new strategic direction of the organization. I'm not sure I'm willing to wait.
Comments
Post a Comment