Senior Consultant, Strategic Communications
Washington, DC

What I Do

I work for a consulting firm that provides services to government agencies, chiefly those concerned with defense and national security. My particular job is to help these agencies, or programs within these agencies, tell their story more effectively. However, I’ve also done more straightforward consulting where we try to infuse an agency with greater adherence to the principles you learn at business school: cost-effectiveness, efficiency, urgency, and the like.

We help agencies heighten their profiles within the government and with the general public. Internally, they need to tell their story to gain creditability and resources. Externally, agencies are accountable to taxpayers and other stakeholders. Unlike private companies, government agencies have no profit margin, so there is no easily measured “bottom line” to keep people focused. We help agencies to act more like businesses, to look more at outcomes and not just outputs. The work that government agencies do is vital and we want them to have the same sense of urgency and accountability that businesses in the private sector do.

What I Enjoy Most

Those of us who support government agencies, particularly within the Department of Defense, often have a very strong sense that we have not just a job, but a mission: the work itself is generally important and meaningful. This field has also been a growth industry in recent years, and tends to be recession-proof. It will likely remain stable, and enjoy continued growth.

What I Enjoy Least

As a consultant, you are almost never the decision-maker, and that can be very frustrating. The needless bureaucracy and red tape that is so often part and parcel of working with and for government clients can be challenging, too.

Why I Chose This Career

I am an Army Reserve officer, and this was a great way for me to combine my varied interests in business, the military, and communications. I’m really interested in defense issues, so getting paid to read, think, and write about that (and manage others who do the same) is ideal for me.

Desirable Traits to Be Successful in This Career

You need a strong interest in the military/national security, the ability to think clearly and write well, and a sense of how to conduct business development very subtly, given the many rules and regulations of working with the government.

There are restraints in the public sector that don’t exist in the private sector, and you have to be aware of this. In the private sector, taking prospective clients to lunch is a given, but in the public sector there are strict limitations on what people can accept from you. Even if a client wants to work with you, there is still a process they must follow, and a government agency may be bound to take the better price even if your firm is the most suitable. You can easily get yourself and your client into trouble if you conduct business development too aggressively.

Words of Advice If You Are Considering This Career Path

Military experience isn’t absolutely necessary, but it certainly helps. This is also a career where seniority is prized. There is often an over-emphasis on rank (if military) or Government Service level (if civilian government employee).

The military is famously hierarchical; you get accustomed to that and gain a sense of how to work within it. You have to be respectful, but you don’t always have to be deferential. The people who do best in the military are mindful of rank, but not overwhelmed by it. The same mentality applies to consulting in a defense/government environment.

Those interested in this type of consulting should know that it tends to be rather localized. There are also opportunities with large state and city governments, but the bulk of the work is in DC, Maryland, and northern Virginia.

What I Did Before This (Including Pre-MBA and Post-MBA Jobs)

Before the MBA, I worked first in educational administration at my high school alma mater, then in marketing for an architecture firm. I'd also done several stints as a U.S. Army Reserve officer on active duty, including a deployment to the peacekeeping mission in the Balkans.

When I began my MBA, I thought I wanted to be a business consultant working with large international firms. But in the middle of my studies, I was deployed with my Army Reserve unit to the war in Iraq. While in Iraq, I was struck by the importance of government, both the Iraqi public sector struggling to provide some sort of local services, and the U.S. public sector that had to deploy and sustain hundreds of thousands of service members. I became more and more interested in helping to make the public sector run smoothly, and decided to look chiefly for jobs at those consulting firms that had a government focus or at least a government practice.

My first job after the MBA was at another small consulting firm that also worked exclusively with government clients, often with an IT emphasis. [IT] isn't my forte – my current position features "more Word and less Excel," and I have the opportunity to do much more reading, analysis, synthesis, and writing, as well as perform some management functions within my firm.

Educational Background (Undergraduate, MBA, Other)

MBA, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, 2004
Bachelor of Arts, Princeton University, 1992

In MBA Programs, I'd Suggest You Look For...

Look for programs with a strong international component to the student body, and some indication that the people from different places actually mix. The architecture firm I worked for pre-MBA was not one of the largest in my city, but it derived much of its revenue from international clients. In fact, I lived and worked overseas for a year as their Director of Marketing, Europe.

With the rise of the Internet, there are no more strictly local businesses. The world is steadily shrinking, and those who understand how to do business across borders will have a huge advantage over those who don’t.

I really enjoyed the opportunity to get additional international experience at Cambridge. It was both fun and eye-opening to interact with people from all over the world and discover the many different ways in which business is conducted outside the United States.