Flexibility entails more Responsibility. Now I truly understand why my former manager at a management consulting company looked so stressed that I could not fully understand back then. I am sorry Mr. Lee!
Prior to joining SIPA, I had the opportunity to work for a global management consulting company where the demands of the job were high. Nevertheless, as a junior, I was not able to fully appreciate the responsibility that came with planning and developing the project. However, my involvement in a sustainable investing consulting project thankfully helped me gain a deeper understanding of the challenges and responsibilities that managers would encounter at a workplace on a daily basis.
In this project, as a team, our group had to work closely to effectively narrow down the work scope, establish a hypothesis, create frameworks, and devise a work plan based on which we will develop a paper for our client. This was a significant departure from my previous role, where I was expected to follow instructions from supervisors without actively contributing to project planning. Now, I realize how pressuring/difficult it is to come up with new ideas as well as better work processes that would actually add value to the existing work of your client. It's a responsibility that seniors/managers should bear, which requires a great deal of experience and knowledge.
I would like to highly recommend this course to peer students, especially given that the average work experience of SIPA students is between 2-3 years. Throughout the course, I had to continuously challenge myself to think outside of the box, take initiative, and communicate with team members/clients in a timely and clear manner to ensure that all of us are aligned with the project’s goals. The insights I obtained by actively participating in this project will undoubtedly be found to be useful throughout my career as I will be better equipped to manage teams/projects effectively.
Overall, this program has been an exceptional platform for me to grow as a consultant, and I am looking forward to continuing to build on this experience in the future. Once again, I would like to express my gratitude to Professor Caroline Flammer for providing me with this opportunity. I look forward to stepping up and becoming a versatile thinker to continuously deliver high-quality products that meet the needs of my client.