I recently took part in the discussion on what is proper age for a management consultant. This is discussion was initiated in the consulting professionals web community by a person who experienced some lack of confidence from the prospective client. The question raised was: shall a consultant be over 30?
Most of people agreed to the fact that age it isn’t as important as experience. Consultants need to be able to solve very complex, unique problems which lie very often not in the one functional domain of client’s organization. That is why the resolution is usually also a mixture of various remedy actions, tailored to client’s needs. Generally, we may say we gain experience we age but I think that each case is unique.
While I entirely agree that experience and management skills are key for a consultant, I would add one, very important point: experience in different professions is a huge advantage. Not by accident, some companies use advisory services from people who have nothing to do with their business. These people can bring fresh view. Broad knowledge and open mind enable out of the box thinking and allows seeing some overlooked patterns on the market and within a company.
Unfortunately, most of SME owners are usual people who are very attached to the ways they do business, including common repeatable mistakes. Big corporations have the culture and politics which does not allow accepting some facts that prevent the company from the real market success.
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