Consulting, Money, Differentiation etc etc

Any job, no matter how minuscule, is tough. Consulting is no exception. In fact, most people will tell you that Consulting is as tough a job as a job can be. Most people get into consulting with one of the two broad aims, Money and Knowledge.  As you spend more time in Consulting you realize that money and knowledge and smartly entwined with each other.

In any top notch consulting firm, you will be working with the sharpest minds around, while having smart people around works well in attaining the “Knowledge Goal”, i.e. learning more about business. The “Money Goal”, i.e. making more money than others, can be a tough job because all those smart people turn into competitors at the time of appraisals. This post offers some insight on managing the “Money Goal” a little better.

In most industries, hard work can be a very efficient differentiator,   i.e. an employee who puts in maximum amount of effort and delivers good result is the crowned out-performer. Sadly, Consulting does not work this way. Everyone you work/compete with is likely to be a hard worker. Though results may vary from engagement to engagement, over a period of time, everyone delivers good results (Most people who manage to break into consulting are inherently smart). So the big question is that how do you differentiate yourself from your competition?

Answer lies in perception. At the end of the year, a Consulting Manager is concerned about two things, a) How did you perform on engagements b) what did you do besides usual work. Most of the people would perform well on engagements, the real differentiator is the second question i.e. b) what did you do besides work. Let me elaborate more on this. For example

• If a young consultant, primarily engaged in execution of projects, can show exceptional management or marketing skills, he or she becomes the differentiator.
• If a consultant has already spent a couple of years in consulting and he or she manages to get a big assignment for his team using his or her marketing skills, he or she becomes the differentiator.
• If during an engagement a consultant can cash in on an opportunity to get the team together, navigate through a difficult client situation and deliver quality result. He or she gains the respect of the people he or she works with (i.e. his team members), doing so showcases his o her leadership potential and with this he or she can earn brownie points with his or her manager.
• Further, there could be a situation where a consultant might come up with a great idea, if he or she can put that down on paper (i.e. prepare a brief presentation/ teaser document etc) and share, discuss and defend that idea with his or her manager/partner etc, Then he or she suddenly finds  himself or herself in the spotlight. His or her seniors start looking at him or her as a thinker, an innovator and a leader.
• The above two points are just examples, you can differentiate yourself through little things for example, improving an existing marketing presentation, researching and writing an article and sharing it with the team, helping out a new employee etc.

Many times we find ourselves merely concerned with execution and sticking to the usual routine, however, it’s important at times to reflect on the fact that everyone we work with is most likely to be putting in those long hours and burning away weekends. Surely, the answer cannot be that simple. If it was, everyone would get great ratings/promotions/incentives; however, very few people are able to differentiate themselves from the crowd. Here’s my two cents on how to manage the “Money Goal”:

“Don’t merely be a workhorse, be the differentiator, enjoy your work, work with enthusiasm and eventually the money takes care of itself on its own”

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About Mohit

Mohit Kant has written 39 post in this blog.

Mohit is a Consultant at a leading consulting firm. He Conceptualized and launched Consulting Network in 2008. Mohit specializes in Background Research and Anti Corruption due diligence projects Mohit claims to be a proud coffee devout and a social media enthusiast. You can reach him on mohit.kant [at] consultingnetwork.co.in LinkedIn Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/mohitkant

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