Client Interactions and the Importance of Critical Thinking

Overall, this consulting project unfolded very smoothly. My teammates and I managed to work well together, everyone was engaged, tasks were distributed effectively, and we remained on schedule. Moreover, we did not encounter major hurdles or need to drastically refine the agreed-upon scope, and the client was consistently satisfied with our progress based on the positive feedback we received throughout the semester. This led me to wonder: how representative is this of a professional consulting career? Listening to classmates describe their experiences, it seems like projects sometimes involve roadblocks – misunderstandings, disagreements and the need for consultants to push back on what is expected from them. In fact, I think this is especially true when matters as politically and socially charged as sustainability are involved, given the diverse perspectives and competing interests at stake. Clients might for instance seek advice on adopting more responsible strategies or marketing green products, but your understanding of the issues might differ from theirs, leading to challenging discussions before a consensus can be reached. Fortunately, we did not experience this kind of disconnect as our client had clear expectations but was also flexible and open to hearing new ideas.

After exploring different options to achieve our goal of helping the company identify promising business opportunities, we suggested using a multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) tool. Indeed, this method provides a way of rationally choosing between alternatives when there are several conflicting objectives and the various parameters (e.g. regulatory environment, technological features, market dynamics) cannot be easily compared or ranked, which makes it a good fit in this case given the complexity of the task. Then, we made iterative adjustments based on feedback from the chief operating, scientific and financial officers, and eventually tested our framework with real-world case studies. I think this was one of the most rewarding stages of the process as it not only helped us refine the deliverable but also validated our approach and proved that it was operational, robust and truly useful. In addition, it helped us identify potential limitations such as the challenge of data collection, which we had partially anticipated from the outset and could not really act upon.

Still, the absence of substantial barriers to overcome raised a key question for me: how do we ensure that we are striving for the best possible outcome when everything appears to be going well? In my opinion this is where critical thinking becomes crucial, and why it is such an important skill to have. For instance, it helps break down complex challenges, uncover the root causes of a problem and find impactful solutions with clear, logical roadmaps. As consultants, we are not just hired to do what we are told but rather to bring a fresh, well-structured perspective, challenges assumptions, ask the right questions and offer insights that have not been previously considered. Evaluating trade-offs and potential unintended consequences is also key, notably for the project I worked on this semester, with a client that transforms food industry side streams into alternative proteins with two priorities in mind: financial viability and societal impact.

Building on our preliminary research, we rapidly agreed on the fact that using raw materials otherwise treated as waste and converting them into something that has a positive impact on both the environment (by replacing highly-emitting meat-based products) and society (by providing an additional source of essential nutrients) large translates into positive outcomes. As a result, we might have jumped a little too quickly to the conclusion that financial performance and impact are directly proportional and simply increase with the total deployed production capacity of our client’s technology. We thus developed a tool that focuses on the potential supply and demand to assess business opportunities. However, a closer look at the sourcing dimension reveals a more nuanced picture. In particular, the side stream could serve other valuable purposes (such as biofuels or products on which local communities rely economically) or even originate from an industry contributing to environmental degradation (e.g. palm oil effluents), such that the societal benefits of upcycling it through our client’s technology may not be as clear-cut as we initially imagined. Accounting for these considerations in our decision-making tool is key, not just to avoid reputational risks but more importantly because we were specifically tasked with finding the sweet spot between financial viability and impact. This experience showed me how important it is to question early assumptions and think critically, even when the feedback is positive: sometimes meeting expectations is not sufficient to help companies make well-informed decisions that align with their broader objectives.