100 words to each discussion

Discussion 1

Skills which I believe would make me a successful consultant are the following:

Resourcefulness: My ability to think quickly and creatively to a problem, which I have never encountered before makes me a resourceful consultant. I stay up to date on the current world events and frequently read newspapers and magazines like the New York Times and Forbes magazine, etc. about the ongoing events in detail. This knowledge makes me highly resourceful and it helps me analyze ongoing industrial trends (Cunningham, 2014). With this skill, my advice to the client will be more effective and it will make managing easier for clients. Also, I maintain good contacts with other consultants working in the industry, and I can share my network with the clients too to help them build new relationships.

Decision Making: Coming from a technical engineering background. I have often been in situations where I had to decide on which approach to take to fix a problem. Quite often these decisions were made under stressful circumstances. A most recent example which comes to my mind was during the COVID-19 crisis when my company decided to send most of its employees to work from home. My team was tasked to expand our network to accommodate up to 40,000 WFH users, which required making some crucial strategic decisions on how to accommodate these growing number of users. I believe with a technical background; I can provide services to the client in IT consulting (Muse, 2017).

Attention to Detail: I have been told by many of my previous managers that I have an eye for the detail. This skill is something I take pride in, paying close attention to details has often helped me to ensure that all the bases have been covered and every alternate solution has been vetted before finalizing a strategy. This will also help in building a strong relationship with clients because they can have faith in my ability to successfully execute ideas and I will be providing my knowledge and experience to clients.

Discussion 2

I am a very adaptable person. Some examples of this, is when I came to live in United States, and easily inserted myself in the culture here. Even thought I have never been exposed to the American values before, I could learn how to behave with their customs and values. This could be a potential skill for working in a consultant firm, where you might have different projects going on at the same time, with people from different business sectors, that requires you to have a flexible and adaptable performance.

Even though I am still starting my professional career, I have been exposed to different business, such as the marketing and advertising world, and the medical fields. This could be an advantage for me, once I can bring the knowledge that I gained so far to the clients who I am working with.

I consider myself a good communicator, an essential skill for a consultant. I can easily connect with people, introduce myself in a way that creates an initial connection, and transmit the confidence that clients might be looking for in management consulting firms. In addition, I am a creative thinker (part of this you grow up with but you can also developed it during the course of your life). Since young I try to find solutions and innovative ways to do things. To complement hat, I studied 4 years of Advertising, with a creative track, which exposed me even more to the creative skills that a consultant needs to have.

When it comes to decisions and team leader, I consider myself as a person who take the lead in groups. I can make decisions if needed, in a way that will positively impact not only the client but also the organization that I am working with. Even though I am not a “leader” in my team, because of my position, hierarchy, and age factors, I do see myself leading others.

Those are some skills that I feel it would make me a successful consultant. There are other things that a consultant might need, and that I would be open to learn, and prepare myself even more to work in this business field. I am sure that consultant firms (specially the well-known) can be a “school” for young professionals like me.

Cunningham, L. (2014, November 14). Are there too many consultants in the world? Retrieved May 22, 2020, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/on-leadership/…