Q: I'm a senior manager in a highly prestigious management consulting firm, about two years away from being elected a partner. I also have a long-term career interest in the media business, and see myself eventually leaving the consulting field. To get a leg up, I recently applied to, and was accepted by, Harvard and Stanford business schools. Now I am uncertain about whether I should stay on at my present company until I become a partner, or leave to get an MBA and move into a new field. What would you advise?
The question, then, becomes, what is more valuable – becoming a partner or attending one of the world's most well-regarded business schools?
My bet is that you are better off going to business school. This may come as a shock to many consultants, but becoming a partner isn't as valuable in the job market as you might think. To most hiring managers, the longer you remain a management consultant, the more difficult it is to hire you in roles other than strategic planning. And with each healthy salary increase, you run the risk of pricing yourself out of many jobs that you would otherwise be qualified for.
So don't kid yourself: Are you sticking with the consulting route because you are continuing to learn and develop and because you are truly enjoying it, or because you are finding it hard to get off the gravy train? You may take some solace in the fact that investment bankers typically face this same conundrum, and feel it even more acutely.
It's the classic “no way out” problem, and the worst thing you can do is put off a decision. The earlier you take action (and the younger you are), the easier it is to break with one industry and join another. But with each year you wait, the opportunity cost goes up.
Consider the tuition and out-of-pocket expenses for two years, which in round numbers come to $100,000, plus the opportunity cost of forgoing your $200,000 income for two years. The total is about half a million dollars. That is a spectacularly high cost. And you also bear the stress of wondering if you will be any further along in your career with a new MBA (when 99% of your peers in consulting will have one, too) than you would be as a partner of your consulting firm.
The value of a business school education, however, is far greater than a degree or classroom teachings. As I approach my 15-year business school reunion, I realize that it is not the technical disciplines of the capital asset pricing model, competitive strategy or managerial economics that have stuck with me. Two things have been most enduring and valuable:
1: Social and business networks
Among my classmates, at least a couple dozen are still good friends. Even among those to whom I may not have been close during school, there is a natural and easy reconnection that can be made with a simple e-mail or phone call. Today, many of my buddies are CEOs, CFOs or other executives at major companies, or are partners at leading venture capital, investment banking or consulting firms. I am in a position to help them, and they are in a position to help me.
2: Effective group communication skills
At most business schools, the case method and class participation make up an important part of the curriculum. In a business school setting, you learn when to intervene, when to keep your mouth shut, when to be serious, and when to use humor to break the ice. This same group power dynamic exists in many business situations, from board meetings to team projects. Mastering the art of communicating in a group setting is one of the things that distinguishes successful people, and it is learned very powerfully in business school.
The best course of action is to get your career on a different trajectory by accepting one of the business school admission offers. If you are still interested in media when you come out, you should be an attractive candidate to join one of the major media companies as a director in strategic planning or marketing. My guess is that within five years of joining a media company, you will be ahead of where you would be if you had gone straight from your consulting firm into this new field, either now or even after making it as a partner.
Before you decide, I urge you to talk to several well-placed people who have gone into media (with or without an MBA), senior partners at your firm, and other business school alumni for their views.
This text was first published in Jim Citrin's column, Talent Monger, in the online magazine Business 2.0.
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