The MECE Muse: 100+ Selected Practices, Unwritten Rules, and Habits of Great Consultants

Here’s what professionals are saying about

The MECE Muse

The MECE Muse is something not just for those thinking about or trying to get into consulting, but also for those in the middle of it or reflecting on their time in the space who seek to understand more about their experience. Having spent six years as a management consultant, I found myself repeatedly smiling by the clarity of the insights Christie shares, and wishing I had a mentor like her during my career to help it all make sense. As she says, The journey to greatness is infinite, so I can use this book now to continue on the path I started on as a consultant.

—Bryan Falchuk, ex-McKinsey consultant,

Inc. Magazine contributor, and author of Do a Day: How to Live a Better Life Everyday

This book should be required reading for all new-hire consultants. Christie neatly packages and delivers lessons that normally are learned through years of high-pressure client meetings, late-night deliverables, and early-morning sprints through airports. Consulting is a journey, and the MECE Muse provides a practical roadmap for anticipating obstacles and maximizing the experience.

—Destin Whitehurst,

ex-Deloitte consultant and Founder, ConsultingInterviewCoach.com

The MECE Muse is what the consulting industry has been waiting for! Christie Lindor masterfully ties together the untold significance of soft-skills, political nuance comprehension, technical skills and relationship management that set great consultants apart from the rest. The consulting leader interviews are powerful and answer all the questions that I wanted to know as an MBA student and former consultant. This book offers critical tools and stories that have never been covered before in all the books I’ve read on consulting and fills a gap of knowledge on the industry.

—Natalie Gill-Mensah, ex-PwC consultant and non-profit senior manager

Compelling, engaging, and ripe with useful insights, The MECE Muse serves as a quintessential guide to the world of consulting that is ideal for young professionals pursuing a future career in the industry. By leveraging her vast array of experiences, Ms. Lindor’s collection of anecdotes and advice equips the reader with valuable knowledge that is crucial in order to succeed in consulting, doing so in a manner that is informative yet highly immersive.

—Matt Boyle, College Student & Aspiring Consultant

Christie Lindor provides a critical resource for all types aspiring and seasoned consultants. The vivid examples of life as a consultant and overview of the industry’s landscape offer realistic previews for those interested in such a career and a reality check for those of us who have lived in that world. The learned lessons from Lindor and those interviewed for the book apply to all in fast-paced, high-stakes professions.

—Susan M. Adams, PHD—Professor & Chair,

Management Department, Bentley University

The MECE Muse: 100+ Selected Practices, Unwritten Rules, and Habits of Great Consultants,

Published February, 2018

Copyright 2018, Christie Lindor

Editorial and proofreading services: Kathleen Tracy, Karen Grennan

Interior layout and cover design: Howard Johnson

E-book formatting: Maureen Cutajar

Credits:

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Front cover image: Torn paper textures, Free Vector Designed by Freepik

All interviews published with permission by the interviewees.

Published by SDP Publishing, an imprint of SDP Publishing Solutions, LLC.

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ISBN-13 (print): 978-0-9986730-8-0

ISBN-13 (e-book): 978-0-9986730-9-7

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017960258

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated in loving memory of my ancestors: Chrysotome Jean-Baptiste, Alice Tingue, Gregoire Montasse Jean-Baptiste, Berenice Nicolas, Marie Therese Cadelien, Blythe Anderson, and most of all my mother, Itesse Jean-Baptiste. Because of your unconditional love, dedication, and sacrifices I have been given opportunities of a lifetime. I wake up every day with your ambition in my eyes; your generosity in my heart; and your fortitude, strength, and courage running through my veins. You are in my heart now and forever. If I become at least a quarter of the person you were, I will have lived a successful, impactful life. In the meantime I hope I make you proud.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PREFACE: When I Decided to Write This book, a Teachable Moment

INTRODUCTION: Setting the Context on Consulting Basics

SECTION I: THE MINDSET OF GREAT CONSULTANTS

1 Make Manners Your Competitive Advantage

2 Boost Your Personal Brand as Low Hanging Fruit

3 Network to Unlock Any Door

4 Balance Life as a Consultant

5 Celebrate Moments with a Happy Hour

6 Commit to a Consulting Career

SECTION II: PERFORMANCE AND CONDITIONING OF GREAT CONSULTANTS

7 Make the Most of Downtime

8 Build a Consulting Career Toolkit That Lasts

9 Ramp Up on an Engagement

10 Make the Best of Life in the Team room

11 Achieve Breakthroughs by Managing Relationships

12 Nail Your Deliverables Each and Every Time

13 Take Your Clients Along for the Journey

14 Manage Energy and Bandwidth Remarkably Well

15 Learn the Art of Influence, Pushback, and Negotiation

16 Roll Off with Grace

SECTION III: REFLECTIONS OF A CONSULTING CAREER

17 Shape Your Consulting Experience

18 Follow the Traditional Consulting Path

19 Explore Nontraditional Consulting Careers

20 Make Consulting Career Decisions That Matter

21 Prepare for Consulting of the Future

CONCLUSION: MECE MUSE MANIFESTO OF GREAT CONSULTANTS

Acknowledgments

Appendix A: Consultant Toolkit Starter Pack

Appendix B: Summary of 100+ Selected Practices, Unwritten Rules, and Habits by Chapter

Bibliography

About the Author

PREFACE

When I Decided to Write This Book, a Teachable Moment

Iremember the exact moment I said I was going to write this book. I was underneath a conference room table picking up scattered papers thrown at my team lead from an irate client the first week of my first consulting engagement. It was Thursday morning, September 13, 2001, just days after events that changed the course of the United States’ history and also my career.

My first day on the project I walked in on the client yelling at my team lead, Jeremy—not once, but twice in the same hour. The second time she started yelling at Jeremy, she flung copies of a status report right in his face. I immediately knelt on the floor to help Jeremy pick the papers up. In that moment, I thought: I have got to write a book about consulting so people know what they are getting themselves into.

Had I been better prepared prior to arriving at the client site, I would have connected with Jeremy beforehand to understand the current state of the project. While that incident may have still happened on the first day, it might not have been as shocking or impacted me as much as it did. The client’s reactions were based on high tensions resulting from having been recently acquired.

Let me take a step back and retrospectively share the top five insights about the consulting profession I learned in the first year of my consulting career. While the ride would have been less bumpy and certain mistakes were avoidable had I known this information earlier, I would not have had enough experience to write this book nor the motivational drive to help others succeed in consulting years later.

Consultants Must Live in a Constant State of Adaptive Execution in Order to Survive and Thrive in the Profession.

I learned this lesson before I even graduated college. Within six months of being offered an IT strategy analyst role at a large firm, I went from being elated to my entire consulting future being in jeopardy due to sudden market shifts. It was 2000–2001, the height of the dotcom bust era. The company gave me a choice: either defer my offer or join the firm as an IT implementation analyst where there was plenty of work. I decided to join the implementation side of the consulting practice, which changed my career trajectory—it took close to a decade to course correct toward my desired consulting area. (See Chapter Six to understand how to position yourself in consulting.)

Downtime in Between Projects Is Just as Critical as Project Time

What you do during that time can either be a setup for success or failure of your next engagement and over time, your career.

I spent the first six months of my career on the unstaffed, learning how to do java code programming, testing, and a slew of other core technical skills. The first project I finally landed was a post-acquisition IT systems integration of a regional bank. Since my training was not targeted for a particular project, none of the training prepared me for my first consulting project role. Six months of wasted time. (See Chapter Seven to learn how to maximize downtime in between consulting engagements.)

Consultants Have to Understand the Dynamics of Organizational Politics of Their Environments to Determine How to Best Add Value

There were a lot of politics played after that first incident with Jeremy and the client. Word got back to engagement leadership about our client’s rage. By the time I returned to the client site the following week, Jeremy had been rolled off the project to my surprise. Another team leader arrived in full damage control mode. We ended up successfully delivering on the work, and there were no other hiccups with the client. (See Chapter Eleven on managing relationships and navigating organizational politics.)

In the Midst of Chaos, Understand How to Best Proceed to Take Accountability for Your Career

Consultants must have the fortitude to take a step back and reflect on lessons learned with mentors or leadership. Jeremy taught me the power of being a professional under immense pressure in the short time we worked together. When the client screamed and wagged her fingers in his face and then threw papers at him, not once did he raise his voice, show emotion, or say anything smug, even after she left the room.

Reflecting back on that experience, I didn’t know what I didn’t know to set my career in the right direction. In consulting ignorance is not bliss; it’s quite expensive. I showed up to work without knowing any details about the client’s environment, their industry, or key challenges. I just showed up and let life happen to me. (See Chapter Seventeen to learn how to own your career experience.)

Consultants Must Learn to Embrace the Journey

Granted, I was a newly-minted college graduate, and it was my first job out of college. Just like coal under pressure creates diamonds, irritated oysters create pearls, and the earth’s crust creates gems and crystals, my experience as a consultant has been a cumulative journey. Over time, experiencing constant pressure under certain conditions allowed me to professionally grow into a competent, successful consultant. (See Section III, Reflections of a Consulting Career.)

In this book, The MECE Muse: 100+ Selected Practices, Unwritten Rules, and Habits of Great Consultants, I discuss defining career successes and failures. Not as humblebrags or regrets but as illustrations of the knowledge, experiences, and wisdom gained over my fifteen-plus years of consulting experience to give you an informed perspective. I focus on helping you maximize your opportunities as a consultant before you begin your career or walk onto your next client site toward a journey of consulting greatness.

INTRODUCTION: SETTING THE CONTEXT ON CONSULTING BASICS

In consulting context is everything. One of the initial steps toward being a great consultant is to first understand the definition of the role, history of the profession, and to have an impartial mental map of what excellence looks like in consulting. Having an understanding of how the expertise you possess fits the broader consulting ecosystem and your chosen industry is important grounding, particularly as you become a seasoned consultant. This context helps you better prioritize how to compete in the marketplace, acquire clients, build relationships, and create impact earlier on in your career. Since there are a lot of misconceptions out there, I will begin this conversation with a high-level primer on the profession. Having been in consulting my entire professional life, this book is about creating the building blocks of the profession in the most MECE (ME-see) way possible. But what does MECE mean?

MECE: Mutually Exclusive and Collectively Exhaustive

The MECE rule is consulting lingo and for many management consultants a way of being. MECE describes a technique on how business problems are visualized and understood in order to solve the root cause. When applying the MECE rule, information is grouped logically into distinct categories without any overlap (mutually exclusive). All categories added together cover all possible options (collectively exhaustive) then explored through the process of elimination based on data collected and insights gathered.

I was inspired to write the book as an adaptation of the MECE rule to pass along selected practices of great consulting in three distinct categories: the mindset of great consultants, how great consultants are conditioned for success, and ways to create a sustainable consulting career. I say inspired because this book is not truly MECE; however, it is about the humanity of consulting (i.e., the emotional intelligence side of the profession that sometimes gets lost in translation). It is about the stuff that is hard to quantify and compartmentalize into neatly packaged, black-and-white categories without overlapping concepts. Great consultants are able to operate well in the complex and ambiguous gray of life. I share resources in the appendix to provide exhaustive details of many concepts outlined in the book that deep dive into strategies and tactics on topics covered in this book.

Definition of a Consultant

Kris Pederson, a strategy consulting partner sums up the definition nicely.

I usually use the analogy of a business doctor when people ask me what I do. It’s kind of daunting to describe our work. Strategy consultant, what does that mean? I help diagnose problems just like a doctor would. I start out with a full examination and help provide a path forward to remedy the problem. Things like preventive maintenance to have that patient not land in the hospital again.

The term consultant is also synonymous with advisor, confidante, or coach. Consultants provide advice, knowledge, support, and experience that a client deems valuable. Clients tap into consultants based on the perceived intellectual value of an individual’s or firm’s expertise to speed up the learning process in a competitive marketplace.

In this book I focus on selected practices, unwritten rules, and habits of business consultants that solve problems for organizations. The goal of a business consultant is to do three key things:

1. Become a trusted advisor who is to be called upon at any time to help leaders shape strategic decisions to address complex business problems within their organizations.

2. Create value-added impact to a client’s career, team, department, division, or company through influencing, advising, designing, implementing, or supporting business recommendations in a way that empowers clients to stand on their own.

3. Constantly create relationships, make decisions, build experiences, sustain networks, develop skills, leverage tools, reinforce habits, and share knowledge to do steps 1 and 2 phenomenally well.

Ecosystem of the Consulting Profession

There is a wide variety of consultants across industries that fall into two big categories: internal consultants and external (or market-facing) consultants. Internal consultants partner with various business units, leaders, and key stakeholders within an organization. External consultants are hired to provide expertise to clients on a temporary basis to help solve complex business problems. Internal and external consultants have a wide variety of career paths to consider, which are discussed in Section III of this book.

Consulting is a cyclical business that mirrors trends in the marketplace. Staying one step ahead of their client’s market is a critical component of a consultant’s role.

Internal or external business consultants specialize in a variety of industries, domains, and sectors including:

strategy consultants

advisory consultants

functional consultants (marketing, IT, finance)

industry consultants (consumer, energy, healthcare, government)

domain consultants (supply chain, customer, and transformation)

There are two ways you could gain experience as a business consultant: as a generalist or a specialist.

Generalists are focused on different types of business problems with breadth, typically under a broad knowledge area. Specialists are focused on one type of business problem with depth. Figure 1 provides a visual of the consulting ecosystem from a generalist (broad) to specialist (niche) view by types of consulting (from pure strategy to implementation to tactical support).

The type of consulting one does dictates the types of clients one will most likely gain exposure to. For example, strategy consultants tend to have the company’s board of directors—chief executive officer (CEO) and other C-suite executives—and venture capitalists as clients.

The clients of advisory, functional, and industry consultants range from C-suite executives other than CEOs to the executive layers such as executive vice president (EVP), senior vice president (SVP), and vice president (VP). For example, clients of IT consultants are usually a chief technology officer; for HR consultants it is a chief people officer or VP of human resources (HR). For domain and operations consultants, VP to directors to middle management such as product owners and managers are also potential clients.

Consultants have the option to work as an independent contractor, freelancer, consulting firm owner, or as an employee of a consulting firm. Consulting organizations are typically categorized by size and prestige. Size wise, consulting firms are grouped as boutique, midsize, or large global organizations. Gartner defines a boutique firm as having fewer than one hundred employees and earning less than $50 million in annual revenue. Midsize firms employ 100–1000 employees earning $50 million to $1 billion in annual revenue. Large global firms have more than a thousand employees with $1 billion-plus in annual revenue.

Consulting and Prestige as a Differentiator

Prestige provides a general way to differentiate amongst the competitive landscape of consulting firms. Prestige is collectively assessed by factors such as the level of expertise provided, firm culture, and selectivity in recruitment practices. The degree of innovative disruption in thought leadership has become an important vantage point for all firms in today’s business environment. Prestige is a polarizing topic, constantly debated in the consulting community. For the purposes of this book, I codify the profession based on four types of organizations and will use these definitions when referencing certain types of consulting firms.

Top strategy firms are historically known for their expertise in strategy and ability to solve general management problems. One can sensibly argue that there are no longer any pure strategy firms anymore given the heightened convergence and consolidation activities that have taken place in the market. Examples of top strategy firms include McKinsey & Company and Boston Consulting Group.

Big Four+ firms are a network of professional services firms that offer consulting, audit, and tax offerings. What started as the Big Eight firms through most of the twentieth century are now dubbed Big Four after years of market impacts, mergers, and consolidation activity. For simplicity purposes I’ve collectively called this group of firms Big Four+ since there are time periods discussed in the book when they were called Big Six or Big Five. Examples of Big Four+ firms include Deloitte & Touche LLP and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

Hybrid firms are both midsize and global organizations that focus on a broad category of consulting advisory and implementation services in core business functions such as finance, HR, and technology. Examples of hybrid firms include Navigant Consulting and IBM Global Services.

Boutique firms are smaller consulting firms with either a broad or narrow focus of professional services. Examples of boutique firms include Acquis Consulting and Putnam Associates.

Within consulting firms, divisions (or subdivisions) are called practices, which are grouped by a combination of industry, function, solutions, or domains.

Disruptive Convergence: State of the Consulting Industry

According to Consultancy.UK, the global management consulting market is worth an estimated $250 billion. While the top ten firms currently account for 56 percent of the global management consulting market share, accelerated convergence is the key theme for the consulting industry as we continue to progress into the twenty-first century. Three key disruptive trends are driving convergence activities: (1) the pending boom of artificial intelligence that will rapidly impact every single industry and sector at scale, (2) the paradigm shift toward micro-entrepreneurship where individuals will inevitably drive their careers through projects instead of full-time jobs, and (3) the rise of niche boutique firms positioning themselves to gain a stronghold in the consulting market share. Regardless of the pendulum swings that will continue to take place in the operating models of the consulting organizations of today, I believe great consultants will always be in demand. (In Chapter Twenty-One I discuss how to prepare for consulting of the future.)

Closing the Journey to Greatness Gap

The ever-evolving art of consulting. As with any profession there is pomp and circumstance that give it a uniqueness and appeal. Watch great servers at a fine dining restaurant as an example of pomp and circumstance. These servers are usually well-groomed and walk upright with their heads held high. They come into work early to prepare and memorize the day’s specials. The language used to describe the dishes leaves you salivating in anticipation of the pending experience. Great servers exude confidence, credibility, and ultimately provide a memorable dining experience. Great servers are better compensated and highly sought after. While consulting is a different profession from hospitality, the guiding principles of exceptional client service are the same.

Demonstrated mastery of basic habits and decision-making skills is what makes a great consultant.

From this moment on you have to decide if you are going to be a point-of-sale (POS) consultant, a role-player, or a great consultant. And you have to wake up and make this decision every single day of your consulting career. If you compare résumés, there is not much difference between the three types of consultants until you experience them in action, like a great server at a fine restaurant. Using a bell curve, let’s discuss illustrative examples of what a POS, role-player, or great consultant looks like in action on a journey to greatness continuum.

POS Consultants

POS consultants comprise the bottom 20 percent of consultants. They show up to work unprepared, without a plan, or having done any previous research or due diligence. POS consultants complete work as outlined in the contracts without regard to the client’s long-term strategy or needs. As long as the work is good enough to satisfy the contract, it’s good enough for them. Anything over and above meeting contractual obligations is not their job.

POS consultants don’t put a lot of time and energy into creating a personal brand. POS consultants are often reactionary, letting life happen without taking any accountability for the outcome. It’s never their fault why something happened nor is it their problem to fix it. POS consultants become immediately threatened by high-performing consultants who in their minds appear to be trying too hard. POS consultants will constantly focus on ways to create division on a team to make up for their insecurities. They sit back and criticize the ideas or work of others but do not offer any alternative value in return. They do not want others to think they are not working, but they are not willing to try harder either. POS consultants are energy vampires; being around them is draining and uninspiring. They present themselves as average and do average work.

Role-Players

Role-player consultants comprise 60 percent of consultants. Most role-players focus on playing their position to maintain status quo to obtain project extensions rather than focusing on long-term impact. Role-players remain indifferent on many topics in order not to ruffle any feathers. Some role-players struggle with imposter syndrome; the fear of embarrassment or being wrong keeps them paralyzed with inaction to innovate.