This post has been reproduced from my BusinessWeek MBA blog. Comments and trackback only taken over at the original post.
I had an excellent opportunity to phone interview management consultant, Mike McLaughlin, about the overall management consulting industry today and about employment opportunities for MBAs in the field. Mike is not only a blogger at award-winning Guerrilla Consulting but also a principal at Deloitte Consulting LLP and the former Managing Partner for Deloitte Consulting Chicago, where he had market responsibility for a practice of 800 consultants.
Steve: Mike, it’s been awhile since I worked as part of a larger, management consulting firm. Please talk a little bit about how strategy consulting has shifted over the past five years and where things are at.
Mike: Strategy consulting has been the bedrock of the industry. There are some firms, like McKinsey, BCG, Bain, etc. that are branded as strategy firms. The market has been cyclical for other firms that are not branded that way. But there has been a market uptick, e.g., for the former Big Four consulting firms. The difference in the overall industry, however, is that there has been a slight shift. It has to do with what strategy consultants do.
Strategy consultants do more on executable strategies these days – less credenza-ware.
Steve: I like that term. I know exactly what you are talking about, but I’ve never heard a term that evokes such imagery.
Mike: Lots of management consulting firms have negligible implementation capabilities. Clients are looking for the implementation tail and a roadmap of how to execute. As a result, what we are finding is that some of the best strategy teams are those that have a mix of strategy and implementation backgrounds, whether those be in operating roles in companies, IT groups, etc. The successful consultants these days are those that have a good mix of strategy and operations background.
Steve: Consulting seems to be beginning to boom again. What’s your take?
Mike: A handful of reasons come to mind. In the decline phase of prior years, companies were battening down the hatches. Management consulting fell into the discretionary fund pool. Lots of companies got swamped. Many consulting firms were not bringing good ideas to the table. Operating companies got tired of the strategy prescriptions where one or two firms dominate. Now there are a lot of new developments around managing a company, whether this be offshoring, managing a workforce, or fostering an environment of innovation. Management consulting engagements are not coming back as mega projects. Shorter projects. Smaller teams. Plus there was an awful lot of consultants back in the operating company workforce. After 2001, consultants went out into the streets. Many of these people are buying services from consulting firms, in part because they can get high-caliber people. Current growth in consulting now is probably 7%-9% these days as opposed to the 25%-30% growth rates of the wave.
Steve: How would you recommend business school students look at opportunities in consulting versus an operating company? Would the internal consulting arms of operating companies be another good place to look if people like consulting? I saw some of these crop up post some of my engagements in the profession.
Mike: One fundamental question to answer is whether people like industry or professional services. If you like services, then people should look at things like consulting and investment banking. If one is looking at industry, then one should be looking at a functional role like brand management or finance, say. I haven’t seen internal consulting arms work. Maybe one or two companies come to mind that could pull this off. There is a lot of backwater in most of the internal consulting groups in that they either have no budget or are understaffed. Not a high probability bet to go down the internal consulting path.
Steve: What dark sides do you see to consulting?
Mike: None of this is going to be new to you, I’m sure. The upside is that one can make a lot of money in consulting. You can get about tens years of normal industry experience in about two years. You can run the risk of an extensive lifestyle focus.
Steve: You mean travel?
Mike: Travel is a good catch word for something much broader. It’s about where you are living your life. You could have consulting projects in the armpit of the world. Or there could be family issues.
Another dark side is that the longer one stays with a consulting firm, the more important the number game becomes. A drive to sell, execute, make sure that partners get paid emerges. There can be ethical challenges. Not a problem with firms like Deloitte or firms like your past firm (PRTM), but there becomes a point when the interests of the client and the management consulting firm diverge. If you cross the path of not acting in the interests of the client, you’ve compromised yourself, and you are done. No one will work with you again.
Steve: Since this post is geared for the BusinessWeek MBA Blog community, can you give some tips for current b-school students on interviewing.
Mike: Consulting firms like Deloitte are looking for talent. We don’t care what course you took. Be yourself. Let the talents come through but not in an arrogant way. We want to see how you think on your feet. How this is done at Deloitte is through the case interview. A decision is pretty much made on the spot. There are diminishing returns for multiple interviews. The importance of using business school frameworks and practicing for the case interview are more for the purposes of freeing yourself so that your talents can show through. Not so much for the process itself.
The other aspect of interview is what I call, "passing the airplane test". This is the cultural stuff. As an interviewer, can I bear to be with this person ans sit next to him/her on an airplane? Can I put this candidate in front of a client?
Steve: How does Deloitte manage to make sure that interviewing does not fall into the trap of the Pepsi sip test, where the short interview and trial does not reflect how the person will actually work out in the long run?
Mike: The trends are way up at Deloitte in terms of only making offers to people that have done internships with the firm. If you didn’t intern with Deloitte, then we will make these candidates jump a higher bar.
Steve: Was great talking with you live for the first time as opposed to exchanging emails. I’ll let people know that if they have any questions, they should feel free to post comments to my blog, and I’ll pass on to you so that you have an opportunity to respond.
Mike: That will work great.
P.S. by Steve: If you don’t use a newsreader, consider using something like NewsGator and add Mike’s RSS feed to your reading list or subscribe using Bloglines. High value and free cost!