I stutter. Can I be an MBB consultant?
The title really sums it up. I believe I have the requisite credentials on my resume to get an interview at MBB. I'm in the finance field right now, and I really haven't seen anyone whose stammering is bad as mine. It's slightly more discernable than Colin Firth in King's Speech. Naturally, I've receded from any active, vocalizing roles in my firm and almost only communicate via email internally. For other all hands calls, my supervisor would always answer my questions for me.
The problem is that I really like the idea of management consulting. Other than gaining personal experience, I've done as much research as possible and I think I would really enjoy the analysis/problem solving aspect of the job. I've done plenty of practice cases on my own, and I have enjoyed it and been able to solve them relatively easily. The only problem is that I am not able to verbally articulate it. I really don't see how I can pass the interview and even if I miraculously did, how I can make oral presentations before the clients. So I've been desperately looking for reasons other than my impediment to not apply to consulting, but in the same time, I'm reaching out for advise hoping that someone would tell me that my impediment would not matter in consulting. I honestly don't know why I'm posting this. I guess it's just a "what would you do if you were me" question.
I've seen a consultant with the worst stutter I've ever heard (sounded like he was gasping for air) WITH a strong Japanese accent pitch for 15 minutes to a fortune 10 CFO. The CFO simply ignored it and focused on the data the consultant was delivering. Mind you, once the meeting was over, the consultant's speech returned to close to normal.
A lot of lessons were learned in those few minutes.
1) If you're smart, have gained the respect of your peers, and can deliver value, not much else matters.
2) Lack of self belief or self doubt exacerbate those very insecurities especially in a professional setting. Chill... just be useful.
3a) If a CFO can kindly tolerate a heavy japanese accent with a heavy stutter for 15 minutes only to focus on extremely boring data analysis, you should probably think twice when before you judge someone on their faults.
3b) If a CFO of a fortune 10 company takes 15 minutes out of his day to listen to you, you might want to think about paying that kindness forward by taking care of your ticks. You want your next audience to suffer less than the last.
Clear eyes, full heart, can't lose.
You can be an MBB consultant t-t-t-today, junior!
I suggest you give it a try. I have several friends with stutters (one severe to the point of barely being able to speak) and they all have high performing careers.
It will be tempting to find some non-client facing role where you can do your great analysis as an individual contributor and avoid the speech issue. This would be a mistake.
Assuming you want to have a top flight career then you are going to need to learn to communicate effectively despite the stutter. For example in a client presentation you could deliver compelling visual slides backed up by just a select few audio quotes. It will force you to be extremely concise and clear to get your messages across. In other cases you may choose email or written reports as your medium. The point is tackling it head on now will help give you the confidence and tool set to be successful later in your career.
Some of the junior analysts may be critical. But you will find most confident senior leaders will have tremendous patience and leeway if they are aware you are working around an impediment. They just want great content and if they have to sit through a stutter to get it-- they will be more than happy to do so.
Barring some underlying physical ailment, I'm reasonably convinced that speech / public speaking issues can be alleviated by changing the way you think.
Most people believe it can't possibly be that easy, and in a way they are right. Actually changing the way you think requires a lot of work, and there is a lot of nuance involved. I know from experience.
I developed a pretty severe speaking problem towards the end of my banking tenure / beginning of my PE tenure. Any time I had to speak in a high stakes situation (e.g. in committee meetings, on conference calls, presenting a model to a senior partner etc.) my heart would race and I would basically start gasping for air to the point I couldn't really finish sentences. What was worse is that my speaking anxiety started to "spread" to other areas of my life to the point where I kind of had a flavor of constant, general anxiety. I tried a bunch of solutions (mediation, saw a psychologist, Toastmasters, etc.) but didn't really get relief until I started diligently breaking down my thought patterns. Basically doing cognitive behavior therapy on myself.
I still get adrenaline dumps / anxiety from time to time but I've been able to successfully interview, present to senior managers, give wedding speeches, etc. with little issue for the past couple years. I see no reason why you cannot do the same.