As time passes and you get more experience under your belt, you will find yourself answering questions and leading meetings like you have been working in the client’s industry for decades. At this point, as you self-reflect on the flight back home, you may get hit with a feeling of anxiety known as impostor syndrome. What makes you the expert? Are you really as knowledgeable as everyone thinks you are? Am I an imposter, a fraud, a con man? A Jack of No Trades, a Master of None…just faking it and fooling everyone at a billable rate I do not deserve. This feeling is common in many consultants due to the high velocity required to switch roles and learn new businesses, processes and technologies. It is completely normal to feel the self-doubt and the inability to appreciate your own skill and knowledge. In consulting, when you start a new project, you will have to dance the dance while you get comfortable and get your feet under you, but drawing the line of when you transition from not knowing to knowing can create a false insecurity from time to time. Remember to take a step back and give your skills of a smart, adaptive and creative consulting credit for being as good as they really are.
For more insight into an Introduction to Consulting, check out my book Jack of All Trades Master of Some, An Introduction to Consulting