My 3 (okay, a little more than three!!!) Pieces of Advice for New Consultants

We are in the thick of onboarding season for our new college hires and almost to the end of our interns; likewise, I have a couple of family members who are early in their career or in the middle of their internships and so I’ve been thinking a lot about things that I wish I had known - or lessons I learned along the way. 

When I first started at IBM, one of the first tasks that was assigned to me was to plan a go-live party for the project I was on. I planned the party, thinking it was an extravagant event… but did not plan a bar or any cocktails (we were WORKING after all!!!); my boss at the time was quick to fix that mistake before the event review with our project partner (it WAS a CELEBRATION after all!!!!). Then, the partner completely overhauled my menu that I’d spent hours perfecting (as it turns out passed appetizers are better than stations… etc.). 

Another big task of mine at the time was to create the slides for the weekly project status meeting. I had two major issues in my first run through - one slide had a typo and the client actually got up and walked out of the prep meeting after telling me that she was paying me a lot of money to be there and she expected me to run spell check before I reviewed things with her (she was right). Next up was taking notes at that status meeting. They were talking about this CIS “gooey” project and the status on the updates to the “gooey”. A bit odd to be naming a project the “gooey” project, but whatever, who was I to judge? I proudly sent my first set of notes over to my project manager who laughed in as she corrected my notes to GUI “graphical user interface.” 

All of that goes to say - we all have some adventures starting out in our careers as we learn the new vocabulary, new cultural norms, and new stakeholders in the corporate world. So - 3 big reflections for those starting out:

1. Do not set your expectations on having a “dream job” - no job out of college is a dream job, and if it is, you’ve got a long road ahead of you. One of my big career-long reflections is that it’s really about creating your own dream career as you rack up your arsenal of career experiences. There will be things you like and don’t like about every job; there will be people you like and don’t like in every job. So, the focus is and should be how do you spend more of your time doing things you like and are interested in and less time doing things that you dislike. That doesn’t mean that you don’t do the things you dislike, these tasks must still get done. But most of us have more control over our schedules than we think we do - and we all have agency to add things into our workday in addition to our required responsibilities.
   
   For me, as a new associate, I really wanted to get involved in sales. So, for about 1 year, I told my leaders at every chance I got that I wanted to help them with sales. I didn’t get the opportunity right away, but I was persistent in asking to add this to my plate. In my second year as an associate, I helped with over 90 pricing files. This is not glamorous stuff: this is inputting stuff into a glorified spreadsheet to calculate our fees for our work. I became a machine at it. By the way, do you know what still helps me today? Being extremely proficient with how we price our work. 
   
   
2. Attitude matters a lot more than you think - and it’s very clear to your leaders what your attitude is. This will be in conjunction with #3, but there is nothing that makes me more irritated than when a new associate turns down a project. Projects are not a dating app, you do not get to swipe left on projects. When you are on a project, it’s very clear when people are just showing up or when people are enthusiastic.
   
   For example, there is an associate on my team who was helping me with a strategy project and mentioned he had done research on the topic the night before to get more familiar with it, and offered some insights from his research (YES!!! - this is impressive!). It takes courage to offer insights to senior leaders, but more importantly, what’s impressive about it is going the extra step to be prepared for something you are working on.
   
   While I’m at it on the earlier comment I made, it is the people who have a great attitude and go the extra step who get better roles. You make your reputation from the moment you show up - and so when we are on staffing calls, the other leaders on the call will make comments like “oh this person is amazing!” - even at big companies, it’s a small world.
   
   
3. Say yes! To everything! I mentioned I tried to get involved in sales for 1 year. The first opportunity that came my way was a cybersecurity proposal around a NERC CIP (for the uninitiated, this is utilities cybersecurity regulations) strategy. For those of you who know me (and knew me then), you know that this is not my area of expertise (to say the least). But, I wasn’t going to let that first proposal run me by. I read that proposal. I ran spell check on it (I learned that lesson!). I asked the SME's about things that didn't make sense to me. I'm a good writer (I think - but you're reading my blog, judge for yourself), so I was able to edit some of the content for clarity. I learned a lot - but through doing that I also showed the partner who asked me to help out that I was a team player who would help no matter the ask. 
   
   A lot of times, new associates ask to help out on the glamorous work. What that work is has changed over time - at one point, about 10 years ago, we were very focused on cloud, analytics, mobile, and social - at the time, EVERYONE wanted to work on mobile apps; now I would say generative AI is the front of mind topic. But, it's not the glamorous work that earns your reputation - it's showing up on the other stuff. It's being consistent. It's going the extra mile on the unglamorous work. 
   
   Likewise, when I started, the new hire program was originally branded as a strategy rotation program; many new hires were disappointed when the work was actually more execution of consulting projects than strategy work. I now reflect a lot on that - my job now is very strategic. I spend a lot of time on things like on the go to market strategy for the business I lead and for clients who I personally work with, thinking about their business strategy, prioritization of projects, technology investment, experience investment. It would be really hard to advise on this strategy without my experience DOING the work. For example, I've been in the weeds of performance testing on a website - so I have a really strong understanding of the importance of factoring that into any digital program.

I asked my extended team what some of the big pieces of advice they had were - and some great ones included

• Personal brand is everything (and network building!) (CR Commentary: There was a lot of agreement on this one!!!! - and actually I think that almost all of the other ones roll into some version of this)
• When you have limited experience, the little things can go a long way! Be on time, be attentive/communicative, deliver what you commit too (even small tasks). part of building a personal brand of being a reliable, good teammate! (CR Commentary: YES!!!!!!!!)
• Coming in, I had the ideal project, ideal topic for that project and the ideal industry...and I thought that was the most important thing.  What I found out was that I had SOOOOO much to learn that none of those three things mattered at all for my first few years.  I have a saying I tell many of the associates that I speak to: "Be really good as whatever you hate doing." I think that sets a great expectation that there is always something to learn, and the things you don't enjoy are sometimes the most critical, especially early in your career (CR Commentary: Something that is under-focused on is that on ALMOST EVERY consulting project, there are core skills you need to develop. Listening. Facilitating a meeting. Building relationships. Creating work products. Being good at these things matters regardless of the industry or type of project you are in.)
• Strive to take on things beyond your defined role and master everything no matter how big or small (CR Commentary: YES!!!!)
• Nothing should be considered “beneath you” (CR Commentary: YES!!!!!!!!)
• Asking questions, getting clear about what help you need and self-advocation. It's uncomfortable to ask for help at first, but over time, you begin to realize that we are all learning and we can grow faster when we are willing to ask for the input / advice / feedback of others (CR Commentary: I used to say to new hires - I will be worried if you are NOT asking questions. When you are starting - we KNOW you are not a subject matter expert. Asking questions shows interest and curiosity)
• Definitely would encourage people to develop a system to keep yourself organized and responsive that works for you. Practice practice practice at telling stories verbally and in written / PPT form. Always be looking for ways to use less words to communicate your message (CR Commentary: Honestly, I need this advice now, still -- and probably for the rest of my life!!! In almost everything I write, I then go back and delete 25% of my words. I'm a pretty wordy writer -- again, you are reading my blog, so you probably know this already -- and so this is something that I have to be VERY INTENTIONAL about).
• Don't cannonball - you may be the best at something, but when you make a splash because you can, people notice. Wade into the water and link arms. Work is a team sport. (CR: WOW - so wise.)
• Taking notes and being able to pay attention to detail will always impress people. No one is beneath taking notes and showing that they are listening to what other people are saying (CR: I am a prolific note taker and one of my personal pet peeves is when people are clearly multi-tasking or on their phones in client meetings. It is disrespectful, and it is noticeable. Shut your computer, use a notebook, and pay attention. I really don't like when people take notes on their computer. It's distracting, and it's easy to be distracted. It is very clear someone is paying attention when they are taking notes in a notebook.)
• One of the most fascinating parts of our business is how many discreet job roles are at IBM. In college, often, you learn the big pillars: you can be a designer, developer, consultant, architect, etc. In our practice, there is SO MUCH potential to specialize in industries, specific technologies, frameworks, etc. (Did you know there are more than 40 different consultant job role specialties at IBM?) There is truly something for everyone. While most people inevitably figure that out as they move to more senior positions, keeping open eyes and ears early on, and trying different things, can be a massive accelerant to personal success.
• Always be learning. About anything, but make it a habit. What are good tools and resources for continuous learning.
• Say yes as much as you can, don't be afraid to say no. What's the best way for young professionals to say no. I think this one that is lost so often for the newer workforce. It's easy to say yes and get overwhelmed. And too often, I see the no's in the wrong areas or coming across poorly. (CR: Yes - and the important point of this is giving your leaders the visibility of what you said yes to. So "I've committed to X & Y. If I take on Z, do you want me to deprioritize")
• "I don't know" is a great answer when followed by, "I will find out." (CR: this is so wise - and came from someone who has always impressed by coming back with thorough & well thought out answers)
• Among all the professionalism and sometimes monotony required to be a good consultant, find ways to let your personality shine and act genuinely. One of my past clients threw a going away chili party, gave me a homemade fly fishing rod and a book about Texas (because my next project was supposed to be there at the time), and a basket of hand written notes because they enjoyed working with me so much. This is the part that stands out outside of doing good work. Ask people about their day and joke around with them as you can while still completing what needs to get done. (CR: YES - clients are people too!)
• Focus on the expectations set for your role; if unknown, define them with your supervisor. (CR: YES - and this is true at every level. If you don't know your expectations, you can't exceed them!)
• Listen, Listen, and Listen some more, all while focusing on HEARING (!!!!!!!!!!!)
• EVERYTHING you do is considered part of your reputation and brand. This includes very simple things that require no specialized skills, like responding to requests on time, following through on commitments, not being late to meetings, having calendars updated for time off, anticipating what others might want to know and communicating it without them asking first, and occasionally, saying “no” to things.
• Be fearless and open-minded. Fearless in that you will reach out to someone if you want to learn more about them or what they do and fearless in taking on stretch opportunities that your mentors have put trust in you to achieve. open-minded in that you never know the skills or lessons you'll learn from unexpected encounters and opportunities, even if it's not what you originally had in mind