Without Internalizing These 5 Mindsets, Your Consulting Career May Be Heading to a Dead-End
Things firms like McKinsey look for that most people don’t know
Consultants solve problems companies either can’t solve or don’t want to solve. They are the ‘superhumans’ in the business world.
But where does their superpower come from?
What distinguishes a top consultant from the crowd?
After working with three North American three consulting firms, I realized there is, indeed, a pattern.
The consultants I worked with who are very good at what they do have five distinct mindsets. Let me explain them one by one.
#1: The Scope Mindset
If you develop software or manage products, you know that ‘scope creep’ is one of the worst nightmares.
Top consultants manage scope effectively. They make sure there is nothing left to ambiguity from day one.
That means making sure everything is clearly defined: what the deliverables are, when they’ll be delivered, how success will be measured, and who’s responsible for providing what.
Diving into a project without a scope mindset is dangerous.
There’s no way to measure success and completion when no boundaries were set in the first place.
What a lack of crystal clear scope usually turns into is extra time spent, projects dragging on, and dissatisfied clients with misaligned expectations.
#2: The Evidence Mindset
Consultants need to be good with numbers. But just knowing mental math and Excel and even how to do complex financial projections is no longer enough.
If you’ve worked in consulting, you’ll know that evidence is everything.
The rule of thumb is every assumption, every conclusion, and every claim needs to be backed up by at least 3 pieces of hard evidence.
On top of sense checking the numbers, of course.
The best consultants I’ve worked with document how they arrive at every key assumption. They cross-check the numbers not only with past experience, but also with multiple internal and external sources.
They don’t say anything based on speculation or personal opinion — every claim they make to the client is backed up by cold hard facts.
#3: The Solution Mindset
Clients come to us for solutions, not problems.
Effective consultants are solution-oriented. They bring solutions instead of problems.
Instead of telling the client “I’m having problems XYZ and I spent 10 hours working on it”, they say “I discovered these problems, here are feasible alternatives ABC, here are the pros and cons of each, and based on your objectives, I recommend option A”.
In the workplace, how much effort you put in doesn’t matter so much. It’s the results — the output — that count. This is especially true in consulting.
In consulting, you don’t get marks for completion or for participation.
When we transition from school to the real world, this mindset shift is crucial, though uncomfortable.
#4: The Resource Mindset
The best consultants I worked with are also exceptional at getting the right resources to move things forward.
They know where to find something and who to go find to get something. They’re deeply aware of the skills, knowledge, and human capabilities both internally and externally.
They’re also research experts — knowing where to dig and how deep to dig on the web to find a piece of information.
Like most work in the 21st century, consulting isn’t a one-man game. Those who can leverage much more beyond their own knowledge base and experience can go much farther.
#5: The Opportunity Mindset
Finally, the opportunity mindset is the habit of constantly looking for opportunities to add value beyond the problems at hand.
That means understanding the client’s big picture to build a relationship with them as a trusted advisor.
Opportunity-minded consultants never limit their line of sight to the immediate problem, but they try to uncover bigger opportunities that may be hidden at first, even to the client.
Consulting is about solving problems to add value, and the opportunity mindset is exactly the conscious habit of doing exactly that.
Final Word
If I had to summarize my biggest takeaway from my time in consulting so far, it’d probably be what I shared above.
I believe that to succeed in any field, consulting especially, learning the fundamental mindsets of top performers comes before any knowledge and technical skills, though they’re also important.
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