How Consultants are perceived as Competent, when they are NOT

Why do consultants often seem so confident and competent? In this video, I talk about how consultants are perceived as competent, when they actually are not. As a consultant in the first weeks of your project, you will need some time to better understand the client's organization, industry and problem at hand. Though the client will usually expect consultants to be competent and highly knowledgeable from day 1! Especially for junior colleagues fresh out of university, this can be a very challenging part of consulting. Based on a Harvard Business Review article describing what the authors call "learning-credibility tension", I share techniques that consultants use to overcome this challenge. The video covers important communication skills for consultants. It covers consulting techniques relevant to management consulting careers and your regular day in the life of a consultant. Chapters 00:00 Introduction 00:37 HBR article 02:56 Why consultants "fake" competence 04:48 Leverage the knowledge that you receive 06:44 Frame information as experience 08:02 Frame questions the right way 09:31 Being perceived as intelligent 11:31 Reflections on these tactics 12:08 Wrap-up Referenced Harvard Business Review article: https://hbr.org/2018/07/how-consultants-project-expertise-and-learn-at-the-same-time 🎓 COMMUNICATIONS AND SLIDE WRITING ACADEMY Learn to communicate and create slide presentations like consultants at McKinsey, BCG or Bain. This is the Firm Learning flagship program: https://link.firmlearning.com/slides 📄 CV AND COVER LETTER TEMPLATE* Get a CV and cover letter template based on my own documents. With earlier versions of this CV and cover letter, I successfully applied to McKinsey as consultant: https://link.firmlearning.com/learning ✅ THINK-CELL - EXTENDED TRIAL AND SINGLE LICENSES* think-cell is the leading PowerPoint tool to create professional slides. It is used by 8 of the top 10 consulting firms and the entire DAX 40. Get access to an extended free trial and single licenses: https://link.firmlearning.com/think-cell-2022 👍 CHANNEL MEMBERSHIP Become a member of Firm Learning to support my work and get access to perks: https://link.firmlearning.com/join 📩 NEWSLETTER Sign-up to the Firm Learning e-mail newsletter for more regular content: https://link.firmlearning.com/e-mail ☑️ RECOMMENDATIONS* Book recommendations: https://link.firmlearning.com/books Travel like a consultant: https://link.firmlearning.com/travel GMAT study material: https://link.firmlearning.com/gmatstudy My video equipment: https://link.firmlearning.com/myequipment 💬 SOCIAL MEDIA Instagram: https://link.firmlearning.com/instagram TikTok: https://link.firmlearning.com/tiktok LinkedIn: https://link.firmlearning.com/linkedin Discord: https://link.firmlearning.com/discord Twitch: https://link.firmlearning.com/twitch Facebook: https://link.firmlearning.com/facebook * Links are Affiliate or Sponsored links. I receive a fixed fee or revenue share whenever a purchase is made. The price for you stays the same. Thanks for your support! All views expressed on this channel are private opinions of this channel's creator Heinrich. This is NOT an official channel of any consulting firm.