You want to impress your leaders, but don't know how
You want to impress your leaders, but don't know how
Doing a good job is not enough in MBB firms. They are inherently competitive. To stand out, you must impress and overdeliver. Let's discuss how you can do that.
A senior partner sent Danny a text message after a client presentation.
‘Danny, what a fantastic work! I am very impressed. I know it was not easy, but you delivered a great impact for our client. Well done!’
It may seem like an ordinary thing.
But for Danny, it was a big deal. He was ecstatic. It was the first time a senior partner praised him for his work.
A few months ago, he couldn’t even dream of this. He struggled with performance, and his partners didn't know he existed.
Do you have these situations when you work extremely hard at your full physical and mental capacity? But then you hear a "Meh" reaction from your leaders. That was Danny's everyday reality. It's heartbreaking and demotivating.
Now, the situation has radically changed. He delivers impressive impact not just for clients and the firm but for his own career as well.
As a result, Danny is more confident and less stressed. He smiles and makes lots of jokes. Apparently, he has a fantastic personality, which nobody could see before due to high stress and anxiety.
Danny is a member of the Hero’s Journey coaching program. If you want to improve your performance, I would like to speak with you.
Book a Free 1-1 Consultation to discuss how exactly I can help you. There is no commitment, and you can ask me any burning questions in a risk-free environment.
I bet you want to be a successful consultant. Nobody wants to be an average Joe.
You can only be successful in consulting once you achieve high performance. MBB firms are inherently competitive. To stand out, you must learn to impress your leaders and overdeliver.
The text Danny received was a good example of that.
I call this a magical moment.
It can be a great analysis or a fantastic client meeting—anything significantly impacting the project, client, or firm.
Actually, you don't need too many magical moments—just 2-3 per project.
Then, your partner will remember you for sure.
When your evaluator calls them for feedback, they will say something like:
"Danny is amazing! He is one of the best consultants I ever worked with. He is super smart and resourceful. His insights helped us deliver a fantastic impact for clients. We fully support his promotion and high rating (or whatever you need); he fully deserved this. We also want to continue working with him."
This is how you get a high rating, exciting projects, and promotions that you wanted so badly.
‘Easier said than done’—I hear you saying, my skeptical reader.
What if I told you that it's easier than you think?
There is one trick that can help you impress your leaders.
I call this a first-time-right approach.
Produce high-quality outputs from the first iteration.
You will impress your leaders because it’s very rare. Typical consultants don’t do that. The bar is very low here.
Your productivity will increase dramatically as you will save time by not doing useless iterations. Then, you will become an invaluable asset to your team.
This is exactly what Danny learned in the Hero’s Journey coaching program. He completed a series of practical exercises where I helped him to fix his mistakes and learn the right techniques.
But how does it work? Let me explain.
Imagine you produced an insightful output.
But you did it on your second iteration. In the first iteration, you aligned with your manager on the approach.
What do you think your manager will think about you and your output?
‘I am such a smart manager who helped you create great output. You couldn't do it without my help. I am a fantastic leader.’
Your manager will take credit for your work. Subconsciously, of course.
But if you do it from the first iterations, it will be clear it’s fully your contribution.
If you do this enough times, you build a very strong reputation. Your leaders will think that you are a genius.
Unfortunately, learning the right techniques alone takes many months, if not years.
Every task you do is unique. You don’t really know if you work well or not. Managers provide feedback on the outputs, not your toolkit. That’s why you waste a lot of time fixing symptoms, not root causes.
But, you can learn much faster if someone experienced can provide clear instructions, explain the rationale, and teach effective techniques.
Unfortunately, this level of coaching is very rare in real life. Your managers and partners are preoccupied with their own survival and success.
Now, you are left alone with these difficult problems.
That is why I developed a coaching program for MBB consultants, where they can learn much faster and better.
You can complete practical exercises and calibrate your performance with other consultants. Finally, you can see where the proverbial quality bar lies.
On average, it takes consultants 4-5 exercises to hit that quality bar. For the first time, they understand what leaders want from them. Once they do it, they can’t return to the old ways of working.
If you are an MBB consultant and are sick of producing mediocre outputs and getting choked with endless comments and useless iterations, I want to speak with you.
Book a Free 1-1 Consultation to discuss how exactly I can help you with my coaching program. There is no commitment, and you can ask me any burning questions in a risk-free environment.
Read this post to learn more about the Hero’s Journey coaching program.