A senior partner enters the room...
Consultants struggle to create leadership exposure. They can't be successful if partners don't know them. But, often consultants waste perfectly great opportunities without even knowing it.
As a manager, I mentored a bright BA.
He was extremely smart, resourceful, and driven. He learned like a sponge, absorbing new skills at an unbelievable rate.
I liked to staff him on my projects and trust him with the most difficult problems.
Now, imagine this situation.
A group of partners enter the team room.
I immediately started updating them on the project's progress, achievements, and priorities. I knew it was my job as a manager.
But then I glanced at the room. My whole team was sitting behind their laptops doing something else. The conversation between partners was not of concern to them.
Okay, the team, but what was my protege doing? What the hell was he thinking about? Many times, I explained to him the importance of leadership exposure. What happened to him?
I look at him with an angry face, nodding towards partners and sending him non-verbal signals.
Well, he was a smart guy. He got my hints immediately.
He stood up and started listening carefully. Then, in a minute or so, he said:
"Can I offer one observation? I am doing an analysis that is relevant to your discussion. I found that one product behaves differently than others. I suspect the sales team used it as a backdoor to bypass the anti-fraud constraints."
Wow, that was an impressive attention-grabber.
Then, they had a 10-minute conversation about this insight, during which my protege showed his analysis and slides.
Then, the partners had to go. And I walked them out of the client's office.
The senior partner pulled me aside and asked who the BA on the team was.
I told him that his name was Nick.
"A quite smart guy! I liked him." the senior partner concluded.
Needless to say, Nick got a distinctive rating after this project, mostly for his outstanding work but also because leaders knew him well and were quite impressed.
That trickled down to his feedback memo, resulting in a great outcome for him.
The lesson is that exposure opportunities sometimes present themselves, and you just must grab them.
The consulting journey is complex and treacherous.
Walking it alone is extremely difficult.
It’s helpful to have the support of someone experienced who has gone through this journey and helped many others.
Imagine having a navigator to get you from point A to point B.
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