Nehaveigur

A consultant is a guy who borrows your watch and tells you what time it is

Howard Gossage

I used to work for a large, international management consulting firm, first in one of their German offices, later in London. I worked with the senior management of some of Europe’s largest corporations, did due diligence for private equity deals, and accumulated a lot of hotel points and airmiles.

I learned how to present with confidence, not to be intimidated by brash executives, do things in Excel that I would never have believed were possible, interpret financial statements and parse a company’s reports, and became adept at making decent dinner conversation during countless client meals.

It wasn’t for me. I realized this quickly, but it took me much longer to act on it.

Why didn’t I like it? It was the 60 hour weeks working on things I didn’t care about, like figuring out the deodorant market in Eastern Europe. Spending more than half of my time in hotels,eating breakfast, lunch and dinner in restaurants and a lack of physical activity took their toll. My fellow consultants were smart, ambitious and polished, but also bland. I didn’t make many friends.

Most of all it was the feeling that my work didn’t matter. I’d make a company a little more efficient or make sure that a private equity investor paid the right price for an acquisition, but in the end my job description was “help other people make money.” That’s not unique to consulting and technically applies to anyone who is employed by a for-profit organization. However, some of those organizations – including the ones I’ve worked for since, I’m happy to report – make things that make a difference. In my case, that’s drugs for severe disorders.