I wouldn’t over-update based on my experience in management consulting. I only worked in it for one year and at one firm. Of my friends currently or formerly in management consulting my rough sense is only ~half agree with my take. E.g. my brother has been in management consulting for 7+ years and disagrees with me, and he’s smarter than me :)
I think the confusion is partly caused by the term “management consulting”; I think “business consulting” is more accurate. My experience has been that the big consulting firms mostly solve specific business problems (e.g. how to cut costs by 10% without hurting sales) not management ones. So I wouldn’t necessarily expect someone who does a few years at a big consulting firm to be a great manager.
That said, seeing mismanagement problems in our movement has updated me on the value of bringing in people from outside our movement with greater management experience. That could come from consulting, but I think could just as easily come from experience managing at other big firms or nonprofits that value good management.
Two thoughts here:
I wouldn’t over-update based on my experience in management consulting. I only worked in it for one year and at one firm. Of my friends currently or formerly in management consulting my rough sense is only ~half agree with my take. E.g. my brother has been in management consulting for 7+ years and disagrees with me, and he’s smarter than me :)
I think the confusion is partly caused by the term “management consulting”; I think “business consulting” is more accurate. My experience has been that the big consulting firms mostly solve specific business problems (e.g. how to cut costs by 10% without hurting sales) not management ones. So I wouldn’t necessarily expect someone who does a few years at a big consulting firm to be a great manager.
That said, seeing mismanagement problems in our movement has updated me on the value of bringing in people from outside our movement with greater management experience. That could come from consulting, but I think could just as easily come from experience managing at other big firms or nonprofits that value good management.