One slide that changed my career

We create many slides. You might question the importance of this work. But sometimes, a single slide can have a massive impact on our own careers. Here is one example from my experience.

I was at a difficult point in my career.

I struggled as a first-year engagement manager.

I had just returned from a three-month break, which I had taken to recover from the worst project of my life.

I had nothing, no sponsors, and no platform.

My promotion perspectives looked pretty bleak.

Then, unexpectedly, one partner asked me to help with a client proposal.

I didn’t want to do that because my experience working with this leadership team wasn’t great.

Well, let me be honest here: I didn’t perform well when we worked together a few months ago.

The feedback from the senior client was that my work was solid but lacked imagination and creativity.

Because of that, that leadership team softly pushed me out of their team.

Hesitantly, I agreed because I didn’t have any other options.

I joined the call with partners to discuss our vision for the proposal.

It was chaos.

They didn’t know what they wanted.

Everyone was talking about their random ideas.

I was frustrated.

It promised to become a useless exercise with massive slide churn and no results.

Puzzled, I started my work.

I was so pissed and didn't want to do monkey job anymore.

So, I decided to do what I believed made sense.

I didn't have anything to lose.

The proposal task was already doomed from the start.

My logic was simple:

If the partners were clueless, perhaps I could create something that made sense to the clients.

So, I ignored all their input and did what I thought was right.

I imagined what the clients would appreciate.

I knew the key client—he was a visionary, a big thinker.

He needed a big idea that would captivate the imagination of his leadership team.

I spent 3-4 hours thinking and problem-solving.

I focused my attention on one killer idea.

My intuition was telling me that I needed one great conceptual slide.

At that time, ecosystems were a hot topic.

So, I created a concept for a new product.

The slide showed how it would glue together their fragmented offerings.

Well, I made it structurally sound but also quite visually appealing.

First, we discussed this document with partners.

They were so impressed.

Apparently, I created exactly what they all imagined (although they all said different things).

Later, a senior partner called me directly and said it was the best conceptual slide he had seen in years. He was thoroughly impressed.

He asked me to attend the client meeting to pitch my idea myself.

Wow, that was something new! Never happened to me before.

Long story short, that one slide helped us to win that project.

That project became a massive success for the client and our firm.

My partners were so impressed they included me in their inner circle and have sponsored me ever since.

This project was the first step in getting my Associate Partner promotion.

At that time, I realized the power of strategic communication.

How one bright idea can captivate people's imagination.

Since then, I tried to develop and hone this skill.

Unfortunately, I can’t show you that slide due to confidentiality reasons.

But trust me, that was pretty impressive. Hahaha.

---

If you are an MBB consultant and want to achieve high performance, I would like to speak with you directly.

Book a Free 1-1 Consultation to discuss whether I can help you solve your challenges and achieve your ambitious goals.

Read this post to learn more about the Hero’s Journey coaching program.

---