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Consulting

5 Benefits of Internal Strategy vs Consulting

Last year, after 2.5 years in management consulting, I transitioned to a Fortune 50 US company in an internal strategy role. Having had about a year on the new job, I want to highlight the benefits of this transition to give the many consultants out there some perspective.

Before outlining the benefits of internal strategy, I want to highlight a few things:

  1. I generally enjoyed my time as a consultant and view the firm I left with high regard.
  2. Internal strategy isn’t for everyone. I know people who have boomeranged back to consulting after some time in internal strategy because they missed the consulting lifestyle. Some of the benefits I highlight in this article could be viewed as drawbacks by other people.
  3. I would never have been able to enter an internal strategy role had I not paid my dues at a major consulting firm and proven myself by getting promoted and securing quality references.

Here are five benefits of internal strategy.

1. You don’t have to make new friends every few months

With consulting, projects generally change every few months. Many relationships with clients and colleagues only last for the project’s duration. Once you start a new project, you often have to start over, making friends with new clients and colleagues.

It is possible to meet the same clients or colleagues on a future project, but there is a lot of uncertainty around that. As a consultant, you ultimately cater to the staffing needs of your firm, which means hopping on to the client and team as business needs dictate.

I always enjoy meeting new people, but I also prefer investing in longer-term professional and social relationships. I keep in touch with my friends from middle school, after all. At a company, there is more security in the relationships you develop, and more likelihood that they will last throughout your tenure at the company. In my company, it is common for people to stay for years and those who have been around for a decade plus are notably visible.

2. You can have a stable portfolio to focus on

In consulting, whenever you hop onto a new project, you have to rapidly ramp up to get smart on a litany of new items. This includes what most people would expect, like the technical aspects of the business. However, extensive energy can be spent learning the political dynamics, internal processes, and even standard operating procedures for software tools. Even as you get more project experience and align towards a practice, you will still have to learn from scratch as you go to new clients.

I joined consulting to learn new things constantly, but over time I also realized I wanted to gain depth rather than persistently add breadth to my knowledge base. In internal strategy, you have one client, your company, and you can focus on developing a deep understanding of its dynamics. Along with that stability, you also have the benefit of seeing through the impacts of your work as it transitions to implementation. 

3. Your social life can be broader, not just dominated by your co-workers

With consulting, especially since I was traveling most weeks and working 12+ hour days on average, most of my social life revolved around my colleagues. Now, I liked most of my colleagues back then, and I still socialize with many of them. However, I didn’t have the time to get involved in my community and build a wider network.

When I transitioned to a corporate role and stopped traveling weekly, I made an effort to diversify my social network. Pretty soon, I realized I had gained greater diversity of relationships by notably including those outside of the consulting profession, including actors, coders, and teachers. Interestingly, with this new social diversity, I realized I had developed new ways of thinking, which had a knock effect of inspiring creativity for my projects at work.

4. You can make long-term plans for future vacations

On my calendar, I have planned vacations for 9 months out with plane tickets purchased. Although possible, it is much more difficult to confidently do that type of vacation planning short of a wedding or honeymoon while working in consulting. My consulting firm was more mindful of our vacation time than most others. Despite that, client business needs often afforded only about a month or two of planning visibility.

I want to be clear, my friends in consulting travel more than anyone I know, especially with the return of traveling to the client. However, the difference is that many of those trips are planned about a month out and sometimes very last minute, aligned with lulls in forecasted client business. As someone who likes to synchronize my vacations with friends and family many months in advance, long-term vacation planning during my consulting career was often stressful.

5. A lot fewer gatherings involving alcohol

Consulting firms reward their consultants with communal social events, which often involves alcohol, be it via dinners, happy hours, or casual gatherings. There would be some weeks where I would have as many as 3 work-associated events a week whereby alcohol was offered. I enjoyed all those events, and I greatly appreciate being afforded those opportunities to build relationships over drinks with colleagues.

However, now that I am older, I appreciate being in a work environment where most of my professional events don’t involve being served alcohol. I am still a social drinker, drinking a few times a month, but it is on my terms rather than a regularly expected professionally connected activity.

The bottom line

Transitioning from a management consulting role to an internal strategy position can offer many benefits. While internal strategy isn’t for everyone, having one client, your company, provides stability and the opportunity to develop a deep understanding of its dynamics. Additionally, you are often afforded more opportunities to expand your social horizons and build longer-lasting professional relationships.

It’s essential to weigh the benefits and drawbacks of both consulting and internal strategy to find the best fit for your career goals and lifestyle preferences.

Hall Wang  is a dual degree MBA and Master of Public Policy graduate from Georgetown University. He currently works as an internal Strategist in a Fortune 50 US company. He previously worked in a major management consulting firm. Prior to consulting, Hall has worked at some of America’s most innovative companies, including Blue Origin and Facebook (now Meta), as well as having done two combat deployments as a US Army Officer.

Image: Pexels

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