It was 1968 when Sandy Moose, now a senior advisor with The Boston Consulting Group, telephoned Bruce Henderson to ask about a job, thinking it would be a great way for her to gain some real-life insights she could then use in teaching, her chosen profession.
Henderson, the founder and then-CEO of BCG, obliged and agreed to meet her, probably wondering who she was and why she was there. Following a three-hour "raging" debate on the experience curve, Moose recalls Henderson threw up his hands and said: "Lady, you've got a job if you want one, but I've never heard of a woman in management consulting."
Moose, who very may well have been the first woman in management consulting, told that story—and a few others—in accepting her Lifetime Achievement Award at Consulting magazine's Women Leaders in Consulting gala dinner at New York's Waldorf=Astoria on Nov. 11. (And we're happy to be able to provide the full transcript and video of Moose's acceptance speech online.)
A lot's changed, no doubt, since 1968. (For starters, let's see how far cold calling the CEO of a major consulting firm will get you?) In those days, Moose wasn't always permitted to enter private clubs for client meetings; she'd have to be snuck in a side door.
And, as any watcher of Mad Men will attest, we've come a long way. Moose has accomplished some incredible things; she pretty much single-handedly launched BCG's now thriving New York office and founded the firm's Global Women's Initiative. And she's still going strong as as a member of both the Committee of 200, an organization of women business leaders, and the International Women's Forum, which advances women's leadership across cultures.
Yes, we've made progress, but when you ask the Women Leaders in Consulting Award about the challenges of being a woman consultant, they never seem to struggle to find a few examples.
One of this year's winners, IBM's Kelly Chambliss, remembers a time early in her career when a the CIO of a major company walked into a meeting, looked at her and asked somebody point blank: Who is she and why is she here? "It's as if he was asking, 'how is she possibly going to help us?'" Chambliss says. In those situations, she says she "held her head high, spoke with confidence and—most importantly— always went into meetings prepared."
I think that's working just fine. Today, Chambliss leads IBM's largest consulting unit in North America, overseeing thousands of employees and billions in annual revenue.
The 2010 Women Leaders in Consulting: Who are they and why are they here? Good questions; we're glad you asked.
Joseph Kornik
Editor-in-Chief
jkornik@consultingmag.com
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