Why consulting is grand
Over on LinkedIn, I’ve penned an article for Acumen on why public affairs consulting is a great way to kick-start a career in and around government. In short:
Great way to learn skills of influence game (monitoring and analysis, helping coalitions define their positions/messaging, listening to and aligning different actors, campaign planning, advocacy (e.g. reaching out to policymakers), events organization, communications…).
Great way to interact and work with many different people and organizations, helping you understand the public affairs landscape as a whole.
You get to see how the influence game works in reality. Very far from a lot of simplistic analysis based on headlines, soundbites, or outright conspiracy theories. (Above all, moving the policy needle is very hard. Policy is a collective coauthoring exercise where everyone is trying to push things in some direction. Even the biggest players by no means have control, merely influence, if they are doing their jobs well and/or the stars are aligned.)
While typically with consulting, the majority of clients will be corporates, the skills you develop may be useful advocating for any number of causes, such as NGOs, a policy department, or diplomacy.
Consultancy is fast-paced and above all about service. Perhaps especially in this sector, the Client is King (this can lead to some humbling experiences, but it’s also best to learn to put your ego to one side from time to time). Hence ones learn to serve and be useful. Perhaps that’s the best thing. As Aristotle said: “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”1
Truth be told, I think I would have benefited from having this kind of role earlier than in my career. Better late than never! I also think a stint in consulting may be useful for political scientists and others of a more academic bent: in almost all fields of knowledge, experience is a beautiful complement to books, studies, and theorizing.
Speaking of habits, I reshare Stephen Covey’s excellent video on setting one’s life priorities and weekly planning. Seems somehow appropriate in this context.
Actually this is a famous misquotation—a paraphrase by the historian and philosopher Will Durant—but one which is too evocative and faithful a summary of Aristotle’s thought to not use.