Going Solo

Most consultants at big strategy firms – all of them, if they’re honest – have considered the question of whether to stay put (either in their current job, or at a similar firm offering better prospects) or strike out on their own.

It’s a risky decision. Can you afford to give up a guaranteed monthly pay check for what is likely to be a very volatile fiscal future?

But money isn’t everything. Going solo was the best decision I ever made and however much, during lean periods, my inner accountant may shake his phantom head, I reap the benefits of independence every day.

1.??????The pleasures of autonomy

All strategy consultants carry the scars of terrible projects – demoralising or humiliating situations which everyone has had to endure at some time or other:

• Disrespectful clients - bitter individuals who try to exorcise their personal disappointments by lashing out at their service providers, or client teams who actively resent and undermine the consulting team;
• Inveterate polluters - industries that are damaging to the planet and its inhabitants (you know the ones I mean, the clients you’re ashamed to admit to in front of family and friends);
• Uninteresting problems – strategic challenges where you don’t give a damn about the outcome (finding a way to add a few points to an already inflated profit margin – really?);
• The big ego brigade – clients so dizzy on the power of writing the cheque that they require a steady diet of flattery and appreciation

Most companies and clients are not like this, of course, but when you work for a firm, you have no choice: you have to take the bad with the good, whatever your position. ?

Working as an independent strategic advisor, by contrast, you have absolute freedom of choice. You can pursue opportunities with organisations that interest you, with clients you admire and where you see the potential for real partnership and actual change.

And for the rest – you can just say no.

2.??????Finally, a boss who really understands me

As someone, who for years chafed under the yoke of different awful bosses[1] – Partners, Vice Presidents, Managing Directors – what a blessed relief only to have to report to myself. If I mess up a meeting or a workshop, or miss a (personal) sales target, I don’t say to myself, “You’re a failure, you’re fired!” but rather, “Come on, we can do better than that. What did we get wrong? What should we do differently next time?”

Similarly, if I want to take time out to be with family, travel or pursue other projects, I don’t have to worry about how much leave I have left. Instead, I just sit down with myself and plan my time to fit in both work commitments and my own needs and preferences.

Being in control of one’s own time is a powerful stress reliever – the best way I can describe it is to say that since becoming my own boss I have never felt that Sunday-night or back-to-school sense of dread I used to have at the end of every weekend and holiday.

3.??????A sense of identity

Call me vain, but what I really like about the independent life is that clients buy me, myself and I for who I am and what I’ve done in the past. They’re not buying a brand of which I happen to be some random representative. I’ve worked on projects in the past where what the client really liked was his weekly chat with the consulting partner, while the rest of us, the team, were just the price he had to pay for that privilege.

Nowadays, I appreciate the space I have to build personal relationships – to talk to my clients not as egos to be stroked or as wallets to be emptied, but as partners and colleagues, and for them to view me in the same light. I recognise that they know more about their own business than I ever will and they recognise that I have things to say about strategy and organisation that will help them (otherwise, why hire me?). Together, we do our best to come up with solutions that make things better, not worse.

4.??????Farewell to the Impostor Complex

OK, maybe that’s overstating it – one never fully loses it, but compared to times past, my impostor complex is wonderfully muted (see point 3 above).

My last position (last few positions, in fact) in a corporate consultancy was as Principal Consultant. This is a very hard role to define: you’re like a Partner, but not quite; you’re like a team leader, but not really, as there will almost always be a Managing Consultant, or equivalent, in that position. Makes no difference – you’re still expected to hit high sales targets as an adjunct to a Partner, and to have high project utilisation as well.

It’s this last requirement that is most tricky. If it’s hard for consultants to know what it means to be Principal, it’s even harder for clients, and they resent having to shell out big bucks for a position of such obscure value. And they are big bucks – Principals are very, very expensive, with eye-watering day rates.

These days my rate is a fraction of what it was before, and yet far more meaningful. Now, when I work on a project, I know what my role is – I do exactly what it says on the tin - and so does my client.

5.??????Calling Mr Delivery

In my last blog I talked about sales, and the similarities and differences between being a corporate consultant vs independent advisor when it comes to bringing in work. In a firm, as I’ve said, as you climb the rungs, you reach a point where the ultimate measure of success is sales. Reel in a client, and you’re a hero. Miss your targets and you’re on thin ice. The projects which result from these sales are of lesser concern – it’s someone else’s job to make them happen.

It's different now. Sales still matter because I like to work and need to eat, but beyond that, what actually matters is the delivery of the project itself.

For the last 7 years I’ve been co-designing and delivering projects with clients and partners. We agree the critical questions, approach and analysis; I lead teams if I’m lucky enough to be working with a team; I run meetings and workshops and talk to staff, to customers, supporters, partners and competitors; I come up with findings and recommendations; formulate implementation plans – in short, the nuts and bolts, the inner engineering works of consulting.

It’s what I’m good at, why I chose the profession in the first place, and it’s what, as a sole operator, I’ve come back to.

6.??????The loneliness of the lone wolf

I’ve always liked working in teams. Some people hate it, but that’s where I feel most comfortable.

When I left corporate consulting, what I feared most was the loss of the collegiality that had always been such a large part of my working life: being part of a cohort of shared experience; being surrounded by thought partners and critical friends. I loved having a laugh with the team about the more absurd aspects of the job, or trying out ideas on whiteboards or (in some cases) washable tabletops in the coffee zone.

I don’t mind being alone with myself, but I get bored if I spend too much time in my own company. I count myself as extremely fortunate that even as a lone wolf I’ve been able to build strong professional partnerships and work with outstanding colleagues. On the other hand, I’m also aware that however close our working relationships, I’ll always be on the outside looking in. There’s a shared culture, calendar, community that I may be close to, but will never be a part of.

When that happens, I remind myself that I’m standing where I’m standing out of choice and my own free will. And I remember, too, that even if there is a barrier of sorts between me and my colleagues, behind stretches a whole wide world of opportunity, and to reach it all I have to do is turn around.?

[1] They weren’t all bad – I had some great bosses – but either way you’re at the mercy of the luck of the draw.?