Originally Posted by aquinas
Originally Posted by philly103
I don't know that we do want to promote more and more smart kids into consulting or quantitative finance, given all of the areas where their talents could be applied (although not as well compensated).

As a former strategy consultant and corporate strategist, I'm going to bite and ask why? I'm a firm believer in applying sound business principles to important causes to maximize value for those most in need. Many of my former colleagues agree, and are now leading or in CXO roles in what would traditionally be considered siloed research or R&D-heavy firms.

As a social entrepreneur now, it's *exactly* my consulting background that is allowing me to fill a niche that is not covered by either private or public sectors, or inadequately so, where the least well off have urgent unmet needs. And my quant finance training ensures I have access to capital to maximize my impact, and not get fleeced on term sheets in the process.

I think there is:

a) Considerable room for lots of different professions to be fostered, to the detriment of none

b) Opportunity for high ability students to develop interdisciplinary skills to tackle some of the world's toughest problems

c) A need for the private sector to step up and carry water on the humanitarian issues of the day

A great example of where consultants add value is in the (IMO, impressive) roll-out of vaccines in the US. I think we'd both agree that that is a great use of consulting talent. Making bobbleheads of Pokemon characters and optimizing the sales strategy? Not so much.

Sure, and I want to preface my response by saying that it's not a slight towards finance or consulting industries or an implication that smart people shouldn't pursue those industries.

But there's no shortage of smart people already pursuing those industries. The enrollment rates of top end MBA programs tells us that. Lower end MBA programs were seeing an enrollment decline pre-pandemic. As referenced in this thread, the finance and consulting fields already reach into other industries to recruit smart, talented individuals for their ranks. Interdisciplinary skills are already recruited.

The consulting and finance fields are accomplishing this without the need for additional promotion. The potential compensation has proven to be compelling enough promotion for smart talented individuals in all disciplines.

To speak anecdotally, I know a guy in high finance who majored in English and did his Master's thesis on Shakespeare. His path to the world of finance or consulting wasn't derailed by initially pursuing the literary arts. And I'm sure we all know plenty of stories of people who found their way into finance from other disciplines. I would wager that we know far fewer people who go in the other direction.

So, I don't think we need to promote more and more smart kids into consulting or finance because the consulting and finance industries seem to have developed a strong and nuanced recruiting strategy that already reaches into other disciplines to find talent.