Episode 39: The One About Young Consultants

Consulting may be an old profession (the second oldest?) but no one can argue that it hasn’t undergone tremendous change over the past 20 years.

It makes sense, after all. Consulting reflects the business technology challenges and opportunities that clients are experiencing. And there’s been incredible business technology change in the recent decades.

Which begs the question, what is it like being a young consultant of Millennial or Gen Z upbringing?

For insight I turned to my smart friends and a smart, young consultant, Ian Liang, with whom I’ve worked in the past. Ian has been a consultant for a Big 4 firm, worked in market strategy at Uber and is currently in Strategy and Analytics at a media firm in Los Angeles. He may also be scarred for life having worked on my teams in the past.

In this episode:

  • What prompts a young person, fresh from college, to enter the consulting field?
  • Do young people generally know what they’re getting into with consulting?
  • Is consulting experience as valued by the young as it once was?
  • What do the fresh entrants into this field NOT know that may surprise them?
  • What are the different expectations of the youth entering consulting today?
  • Why do young people LEAVE consulting? Is the 10-15 year path to Partner career still relevant to the youth of today?
  • Is there a consultant DNA? Do experiences vary by gender?
  • And importantly for our guest Ian, would he do it again knowing what he knows now?

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