Let’s talk about a phenomenon infecting companies one smug slide deck at a time: former consultants who go full-time but never quite leave the consultant mindset behind. You know the type. They join the org, settle into their shiny new role, and immediately start diagnosing everything wrong with the place like they’re still on the clock for Bain, McKinsey, or Bob’s Boutique Advisory.
They’ve got all the opinions, all the frameworks, and none of the accountability. It’s like someone handed a clipboard to a backseat driver and said, “Congrats, you’re now in charge of the car.”
From Decks to Directives (Without Ever Getting Dirty)
Consultants are great at telling you what to do. That’s their job. But once you’re in-house, you’re supposed to do things. Not just point out problems and toss PowerPoint grenades from the balcony.
The issue? They never shed that outsider posture. They make binary demands from the safety of their Google Doc kingdoms.
- “Just roll out this solution.”
- “Just reorganize the teams.”
- “Just rewrite the process.”
They say just a lot.
Because they’ve never had to actually implement anything with skin in the game. They’ve never had to balance it against people’s workloads, culture, resistance, tools, or reality.
They operate in a world where saying, “Here’s how it should be,” is somehow more important than, “Here’s how we’re going to get it done.”
No Skin in the Game, No Right to Swing the Axe
These folks love to say, “We suck at this.” And maybe we do. But the moment you ask them to take ownership?
“Oh, that’s not my role.”
Right. But tearing it down apparently is.
You don’t get to critique the chef if you refuse to step foot in the kitchen. If your only contribution is pointing at what’s broken, you’re not helping. You’re heckling. And nothing kills team morale faster than someone who’s quick to criticize but allergic to responsibility.
Real Talent Means Getting Dirty
Here’s the thing. If you actually believe something could be better, then go make it better. Own it. Run it. Deliver results.
Because the real talent isn’t in noticing the mess. It’s in rolling up your sleeves and cleaning it up. It’s in listening to the people doing the work and building solutions with them, not for them from a distance. It’s in learning the business well enough to lead, not just consult.
Final Thoughts
Former consultants can be incredible assets. Smart, strategic, driven. But only if they actually switch mindsets. If you’re in-house now, act like it. Build something. Run something. Own something. Or at the very least, show some respect to the people who do.
Because nothing says, “I don’t belong here,” louder than refusing to do the work while telling everyone else how to do theirs.
If you think we suck at something, congratulations. You’ve just volunteered to fix it.
Let me know how it goes.
