I lead a social lifestyle and am quite an extrovert. I’ve mistakenly assumed that this should extend across all parts of my life – from personal to professional. But after several years, I’ve noticed that at work, I prefer individual responsibilities to team-based ones. I dislike needing to depend on the effort of others to determine the quality of mine. I don’t like the lack of control from anyone when tasks are divided by everyone.

I sought the consulting profession for the variety of projects available and the challenge of an environment where nothing but the best is expected. While all this still true, the field also requires a large amount of relationship-building with clients – translated, a project’s worth, value, and direction are set and determined by someone else. Success is then based not on the what you’ve produced, but what the client, with your ‘guidance,’ thinks is produced. This doesn’t work for me; I’m the only one I will allow to determine the worth of my own work. There are no compromises.