The Reluctant Consultant

For 10 years, I have worked at the federal Ministry of Finance of Pakistan. During this time, I interacted with consultants of international development and financial institutions. They helped government agencies with projects, social and economic reform measures and financial and capital market dealings. I used to wonder what kind of knowledge and expertise they possess that they were hired by international organizations. Mostly, it seemed to me that they perform some confidence tricks to convince higher management and political administrators of their ideas and plans.

Being skeptical in nature, I used to doubt that their work would create any value. Generally, in my country system, external advice is considered something with ulterior motives. People believe in conspiracy theories a lot. We think that we understand our problems better than anyone else and know best how to solve them. Despite very low success rate, this attitude persists. 

In Spring 2023, the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University offered Sustainable Investing Research Consulting Project course. Seeing words “Sustainable” and “Research”, I became excited but “Consulting” stopped me. It is very hard to banish doubts from one’s head when one has remained for a long time part of a system that nurtured them. I thought that if I enroll in this course, would I not become a consultant? I would be playing the same role I am suspicious of, even if for a limited time. Becoming a consultant was a problem. So, what is to be done? Remain doubtful. Or, find the truth. I decided to give the latter a try. 

I was assigned to a project with three other students. Three consultants, one me (I assume they think differently than me). We all have different but complementing professional experiences. I engaged with our project client and discussed activities and deliverables. As I read sustainability related reports prepared by various kinds of organizations, slowly and gradually, it dawned on me why clients need external advice: there are different views in the world that enrich your work, make it more meaningful and beneficial and minimize risk of shortcomings. Looking at problems from a single lens is a narrow approach to tackle them, better called short-termism. 

The consulting project allowed me to think deeply about insights of my teammates, their origins and compare them with my own to arrive at shared understanding of issues and solutions. Regular meetings with the client pushed me further and deeper into the sea of research and practice. I waded into a large body of knowledge to comprehend my client’s problems and critically review available solutions and started to develop guidance on addressing those issues. It may seem a routine job. It is not. I found consulting work put huge responsibility on my shoulders, i.e., to be credible and dependable resource not only for the client but for a lot more watchers in this space. Moreover, I have come to believe that my consulting work would open up new directions to promote sustainability.

Eventually, working on this consulting project has prepared me for more responsibility and increased accountability. After graduation, I, a public servant, would return to my government as a reluctant consultant.

*Note: The title of the blog is inspired by the novel “The Reluctant Fundamentalist” by Mohsin Hamid.