Is consulting the best training ground for future CEOs? I think the answer is complicated.
Consultants are very good at getting to quick first-cut answers, without boiling the ocean. And that’s an incredibly valuable skill for any business leader, including a CEO.
But the problem is that many stay with the first-cut answer, instead of going deep, validating, and fine-tuning it, and sometimes, changing the answer itself — because the first-cut is not always right.
Unfortunately, consulting is so fast-paced that you rarely get time to go deep — most of your life is spent in the world of “quick but shallow.”
People often hold one of two extreme views about consulting — the fans gush about how it is the best training ground for CEOs, whereas the detractors believe that it is all about fancy presentations that state the obvious using impenetrable jargon.
The reality, as always, is more complicated.
Whether you are a consultant or not, to succeed as a CEO or business leader, you need both the skills — quick thinking, as well as deep (but slow) thinking.
The answer is not simple because real life is not simple.
– Rajan