10 lessons from 10 years working in management consulting

This month marked my 10 year anniversary of being a finance transformation consultant at a big 4 accounting and consulting firm. Yes, a whole decade 😳

Here are 10 of things I’ve learned and/or confirmed (sometimes repeatedly) over that time frame.

1) You can learn so much just by paying attention to the interactions around you

2) People lie -- a lot -- sometimes accidentally

3) Always ask the follow-up question

4) Dream teams > dream projects

5) Most people overvalue what they know and undervalue building lasting relationships

6) The pressure to save face in front of one's boss can make people do some weird stuff

7) Taking things personally to motivate yourself works in consulting too

8) Avoiding hard conversations just means people are having them behind your back

9) Don't be afraid to say out loud what you might think is obvious

10) Your health is more important than any paycheck

It's impossible to list them all but these are the ones that were top of mind as I think about the past 10 years. I'll plan on doing a deeper dive on each one of these in upcoming posts.