Letters

Aspirations for Greatness in Management Consulting

My father once told me that success for an athlete is defined by three key components: talent, skill, and motivation. It's not hard to understand the meaning behind this axiom. Talents are those things we are born with such as intelligence, height, and speed. Skills are those things we learn through practice, such shooting, passing, dribbling, etc. Motivation is a more nebulous concept.
All three are important. All athletes, women and men, amateurs and professionals, have a measure of each.
Unlike athletes, management consultants have a particularly sinister reputation. They tend to take advantage of their clients. Their clients are invariably facing a crisis and in desperate need of expertise nonexistent within their own organizations. When at work, consultants tend to learn on the job (at great cost), having seemingly overstated their abilities during the sales cycle. Once the consultants leave, if they ever do, the organization has very little evidence of their presence. More often than not, the consultant's term and cost are expanded. But consultants are a necessary evil in the race for competitive advantage in the global marketplace.
We know that there are good consultants and there are great consultants.
Good management consultants produce high-quality deliverables and meet deadlines. Having thus fulfilled their obligations, they can expect more billable hours. Rarely does this anticipated benefit come to fruition.
Great management consultants are motivated by a sense of moral purpose that transcends the desire for an industry reputation and financial gain. This sense of moral purpose governs the great consultant's professional conduct. In the labyrinth of interests in any consultant/client relationship, the great consultant will give the best, most candid advice based on his/her personal obligation to the client. Trust will be established, and the all-important partnership can be nurtured.
Good consultants will meet their obligations. Great consultants have the talent and the skills. and a high degree of the right motivation. They will ultimately exceed their obligations. Financial success and a secure reputation are the residue of this right kind of motivation.
— David S. Flynn, Headstrong, Inc.
Headstrong, Inc. is a global consultancy based in Fairfax, VA.