When I started my MBA at Wharton, I had no idea that I would spend my summer doing consulting at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). Throughout my internship recruiting process, I took the time to reflect on what I hoped to do in the future and what I wanted to learn over the summer. In terms of long-term impact, I knew that I want to contribute to improving mental health services in the Caribbean. To make this lofty goal a little more tangible, I then thought about where I could gain skills to prepare me to manage health systems down the road.
Of all the options available to me, a summer at BCG stood out as a great opportunity to work on a team and learn both hard skills (e.g. Excel modeling, PowerPoint, etc.) and soft skills (e.g. interfacing with clients and conducting interviews). Thankfully, my MD and MBA candidacy made me an attractive applicant to the firm, but, I want to be clear: as an MD, you DO NOT need an MBA to become a consultant.
A lot of my medical school peers give me puzzled looks when I say that I’ll be doing consulting this summer, so here I am to break it down.
WHAT IS CONSULTING?
So, the main question you’re probably asking yourself is, “Atasha, what is consulting?” It’s a common question that often gets an unclear answer. During my recruiting process, I asked this question time and time again. Based on all the conversations I’ve had with consultants, my catch-all answer to that question is as follows:
CONSULTING FIRMS PROVIDE PROCEDURAL OR TOPICAL EXPERTISE TO HELP COMPANIES SOLVE PROBLEMS.
It’s a simple answer, but in my opinion, it does a good job of answering the question without getting into the weeds of day-to-day tasks. However, when thinking of the types of consulting that MDs usually pursue, there are a few distinct subgroups of consulting that I’d like to expand on.
MANAGEMENT CONSULTING
When you think of the big consulting firms (e.g. McKinsey, BCG, Bain, etc), management consulting is the general bracket that these companies fall into. Consultants at these companies work together on teams to solve problems for clients across multiple industries and functional capacities. For example, a large hospital system might engage a team of consultants to help optimize their medical supplies purchasing or elucidate new avenues of organic growth. As a management consultant at a large firm, MDs are able to expand their reach beyond healthcare. MDs can work in retail, consumer packaged goods, education, or defense work – whatever you have interest in.
BOUTIQUE CONSULTING
There are hundreds if not thousands of smaller, specialized consulting firms that address specific niches. Those niches can be industry or function centric. Manatt Health and The Chartis Group are healthcare-specific consulting firms. The Bridgespan Group works specifically with NGOs. These are just a few examples of the many boutique consulting firms that exist. As you might have guessed, healthcare consulting firms jump at the opportunity to have MDs on their teams. MDs typically provide basic science, clinical knowledge, AND strategy insights to help businesspeople to make decisions.
EXPERTISE CONSULTING
Doctors can become expertise consultants to contribute their specific fund of medical knowledge. This form of consulting can be pursued in two ways. First, MDs are often contacted by pharma, biotech, med tech and other healthcare companies to sign on as expertise consultants for drug or device development. Physicians sometimes sign part-time contracts to lend their knowledge of basic science, clinical decision making, and health systems operations to these companies. Physicians can also “go to the dark side” and become full-time employees at these companies. The second form of expertise consulting occurs when MDs become independent consultants. Working independently gives physicians the opportunity to expand the scope of healthcare companies for which they consult. As an independent consultant, MDs can help smaller healthcare companies that might not be able to afford the ticket price of larger consulting firms.
Now that you have a better sense of what it means to be a consultant as an MD, let’s talk about WHY consulting might be right for you! Check out my post 5 Reasons to Consider Consulting as an MD. After my internship, I’ll probably write “What is Consulting: The MD Perspective Part 2” to give some more details about the management consulting lifestyle.
Peace and blessings,
-Atasha Jordan, MD (to be)
