Young management consultants may be novices, but they’re sold as experts. Conversely, even experienced consultants, who legitimately present themselves as experts, still feel like novices when they embark on a new project.
How Consultants Project Expertise and Learn at the Same Time
They actively embrace impostor syndrome.
July 27, 2018
Summary.
For consultants, work is largely a performance. Like skillful actors, they use a combination of “backstage” preparation and “front stage” performance to make clients believe the story they want to tell. But consulting often depends on in-depth situational knowledge that consultants simply can’t have when they start a project. How do consultants learn about their clients’ challenges while also showing they have the expertise to solve them? In a study of consultants over almost two years, the authors found several techniques that these professionals use.
New!
HBR Learning
Strategy Planning and Execution Course
Accelerate your career with Harvard ManageMentor®. HBR Learning’s online leadership training helps you hone your skills with courses like Strategy Planning and Execution. Earn badges to share on LinkedIn and your resume. Access more than 40 courses trusted by Fortune 500 companies.
How to develop a winning strategy—and put it to work.
Learn More & See All Courses
New!
HBR Learning
Strategy Planning and Execution Course
Accelerate your career with Harvard ManageMentor®. HBR Learning’s online leadership training helps you hone your skills with courses like Strategy Planning and Execution. Earn badges to share on LinkedIn and your resume. Access more than 40 courses trusted by Fortune 500 companies.
How to develop a winning strategy—and put it to work.