Context in Consulting

The finals are scored and the grades are posted, so that puts a wrap on my fall class at Penn, Quantitative Tools for Consulting.  This was my seventh year teaching the course, my second in the fall (the first five were during the summer), and my first while also juggling School Board.  So rest assured that my schedule will not miss the three hours of class every Saturday, plus prep, communications, and grading.

But I love teaching, and so a bigger part of me will miss the rhythm of classroom discussions, reading student tweets, and grading homeworks.   I particularly enjoy seeing the evolution in students from not knowing something to getting the hang of it to mastering it.  It looks different with different students and across different years, but it never gets old.

One important lesson I try to impart in my class is not so much the quantitative tools themselves, but the importance of utilizing them within a broader consulting context that speaks to who has hired the consultant, why the consultant has been hired, and what audience the consultant is trying to speak to.  Much of formal schooling is some form of “how do you add 2 and 2,” but much of the real world revolves around who has asked you to add 2 and 2, why you’ve been asked, and who you’re presenting the results to.

I chose my analogy intentionally, to offer a contrast.  There is obviously one right answer to “what is 2 plus 2.”  There is often not an obvious single answer to most of what we tackle in the real world, and even if you think there is, sometimes the people you are being hired by or presenting to don’t think so.   So context matters, because there is no such thing as “the right answer” independent of who’s asking and what for. 

Judging by the evolution in the homeworks I graded and then the final papers and presentations I just received, this year’s students get this, and I couldn’t be more pleased.  Context matters in consulting, and so on this front, I feel like I did my job this semester.  And now I count down the days until next year’s class!

PS If you have any interest in tracking some of the topics we kept an eye on this semester, you can take a look at our Twitter feed.