The 2017 Women Leaders in Consulting: Michelle Russell

Fortunately, she joined a good friend for a consulting informational session at the Stanford Faculty Club and she caught the bug. Well, sort of. "My plan was to do consulting for two years and then go back the West Cost to a biotech company, but I fell in love with this job," she says. "That was over 16 years ago.

"I get to work with amazingly talented individuals—both at BCG and at my clients. I find the 22-year-old associates we hire straight from undergrad to be incredibly talented and articulate. I don't think I could have done this job at that age," she says. "And our clients put their strongest talent on the high-impact assignments for which we are hired. I feel very fortunate to have 'grown up' professionally with a number of clients who have become close friends over the years."

Russell led the firm's women's initiative, known as Women@BCG, in North America from 2013-2017 and has subsequently taken on a global role on the Women@BCG team.

The results the firm has achieved over the past few years leading Women@BCG in North America have given Russell a great sense of accomplishment, she says. One program that she helped develop—Apprenticeship in Action, which was launched five years ago to improve the retention, satisfaction and promotion of female employees in North America. —has been particularly rewarding.

"Since then, female promotion rates have increased across all consultant cohorts in North America, with a 22-percentage-point rise among senior managers," she says. "Satisfaction with BCG's efforts to retain women has increased by 20 percentage points among all women and by 30 percentage points among senior women."

By why stop there? Russell is also a core member of the People & Organization practice. She also has deep client experience in change management, strategy and post-merger integration.

As far as winning the Women Leaders in Consulting award, Russell says that it's "an awesome honor and so humbling. I think about the BCG women who have won these awards before and to put myself in the same group with those leaders is daunting," Russell says. "I have a lot of work to do still to deserve being in their ranks."

Consulting: What's the best advice (consulting or otherwise) you've ever received?

Russell: "There are two, both from amazing women! Anna Maria-Chávez, the former CEO of Girl Scouts of the USA, said, 'Save your front row for your cheering section.' That is powerful advice about surrounding yourself with people who believe in you, who support you and who will have your back! The other memorable advice came from Jeanie Duck, a former BCG senior partner, mentor and change management guru. When receiving Consulting magazine's Lifetime Achievement Award almost a decade ago, Jeanie restated what many of us have heard so often: 'Fasten your own oxygen mask before assisting others.' "