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-consultan...

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