Bio Career Center

"You really don’t know what consulting’s about, do you?"

I hesitated and answered softly, "No." It was my first day on the job as a strategy consultant. I was at lunch, sitting across from John, a second year, asking him about his experiences. From my questions and his answers, it was clear that I had less of an idea about consulting than the average new hire.

Perhaps my excuse was that I wasn’t exactly an average new hire. Until a month before, I was an internal medicine physician in practice at a community hospital. I was married with two young sons, a dog, a house in the suburbs, a minivan, and an age easily ten years older than my peers. Not the typical business school background.

Despite my cluelessness, I was eager to get started on my first case.

I did have some expectations about what consulting would involve, both good and bad, which I’d gathered through reading and conversations with my future colleagues. My ideas about the job could have been summarized in the following vague and occasionally naive hypotheses:

• Consulting involves helping companies solve challenging situations and answer tough questions
• Because consultants are at companies to help, they engender trust and respect
• These companies are often at some distance from the consultant’s office, giving consultants plenty of opportunity for luxurious travel

I soon found that I was wrong about each of these notions.

Travel was glamorous for about three weeks. For that brief period of bliss, I treasured the opportunity to fly on planes with seats that blatantly disrespected personal space and were so precariously balanced that passengers were regularly asked to shift seats to maximize the chances of a successful take-off. I also enjoyed the amenities of late night shrink-wrapped room service salads and the adventures of forgetting my hotel room number. "Hi, I’m a guest here. I think I’m on the 6th floor, or is it the 7th?" Fortunately, the staff at the hotel quickly learned to recognize me, greeting my late night entrances with the enthusiasm of crazed sushi chefs.

While I knew that travel would make family life much harder and place a heavy burden on my wife, what I didn’t expect was the effect it would have on my two young sons. My boys, ages 3 and 6 at the time, started acting out because they didn’t see me in the evenings, when I would have read to them. My wife and I hit upon the idea of webcams so that they could see me as I read them bedtime stories from a thousand miles away. It wasn’t a substitute for being there live, but definitely made a difference.

One of the privileges of being a physician is that by virtue of your degree, you automatically gain the trust of your patients. I knew that consulting would be different but was unprepared for my first professional experiences without the shield of my white coat. Not having seen Office Space prior to beginning my consulting career, I was surprised to encounter the degree of cynicism and occasional hostility directed toward consultants. To succeed, I had to earn my clients’ trust. While I had the luxury of being perceived as an expert within healthcare, I found that the surest way toward client trust was not by relying upon expertise but demonstrating value through analysis and insight. While easier said than done, it’s also a large part of the reason why I enjoy consulting. One of the best moments in my first three months was when I analyzed the economic impact of regular flu vaccinations on a metropolitan area, answering a major question on the value of medical reminders and establishing my intellectual value to the client and the team.

When I was interviewing for consulting positions, I had thought of case questions as being abstract constructs. The fact that they are often sanitized with convenient numbers and issues gives them an air of unreality. I knew that they bore some semblance to reality so thought of consulting as answering the same specific, well-demarcated questions. Yet, I soon found that strategy consulting is much more. It’s not just about answering the client’s questions, but also of recognizing root causes and looming issues. It’s also about achieving a thorough understanding of the client’s situation on many levels, cultural through economic, and acting as a personal counselor. Client situations are often messy and far more complex than what can be depicted in PowerPoint or asked in cases. Yet, when you can demonstrate understanding, you can connect with your clients on a much deeper personal level, something akin to the doctor-patient relationship. I was shocked the first time a particular ornery and cynical client called me in to ask in a quiet, humble way for personal career advice. I knew then that I had earned his trust and respect.

Perhaps the best part of consulting was one that I didn’t count upon when I entered the field. It’s the opportunity for continued intellectual growth. While I expected to get better at the job as time went on, I didn’t expect the almost weekly transformation in my knowledge and abilities. Even now, I’m excited to start off each week knowing that, by the end of the week, my understanding of the case issues will grow considerably deeper, teaching me new facts, skills, and means of conveying and portraying information. Most of my learning has come from my teammates, who are enthusiastically committed to the client and are patient and able teachers. It may be a cliche but also a truism that what makes the difference in any job is the people you work with. In my case, my co-workers have made consulting an exciting, rewarding career.

So, when I look back at my start in consulting, I have to say that indeed, my initial ideas were well off the mark. Overall, it’s turned out to be much more: Much more challenging from a travel and work-life balance perspective, but also much more rewarding from the opportunity to demonstrate value, to connect with people, to tackle complex issues, to interact with talented, enthusiastic peers, and to grow intellectually.