I chose management consulting because the larger firms seemingly provided a wide variety of engagements and required a steep learning curve at project outset. To some extent this is true, but systems-based thinkers quickly find the general model in the individual cases, and it's easy to feel like you're part of a white collar sausage factory pumping out the same boilerplate to every client. (Shhh! Trade secret!)
I totally get this. I've done project management work in many different sectors and industries, and I'm always excited going in, because of the steep learning curve, but I am ultimately applying the same basic tools and techniques regardless of the project, and I tend to master all the new substantive knowledge I can suck out of a job within 6 months to a year, at which point I become restless again and start thinking about the next thing. It's not even a matter of the grass seeming greener on the other side of the hill...it's that I've eaten all the grass and am starving!
I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that we've all banged our heads against the wall of a less competent boss (or boss's boss, etc.) who we had objectively demonstrated we could out-perform early in our careers, but who we had to continue to answer to. It's maddening!
Uh huh. And "out-perform" is exactly it. Some bosses have been threatened by my ideas, but mainly, they seem threatened by my drive and energy. A lot of people really don't want to work very hard or get much done. In fact, the more they can "coast" the happier they are. I've never figured out how to coast or ride the clock (I go batty, really), and if I'm going to do something I want to do it efficiently and well, with high quality results. I'm ALL IN or not in at all. In my experience, most bosses hate that and see aiming for anything more than passable mediocrity as rocking the boat. So I try to do things just "good enough." It's frustrating, to say the least.
