Becoming a tech exec is the ultimate achievement after years of diligently crafting and enhancing your reputation. Your reputation holds significant value, serving as a cornerstone for your career and personal brand. Your reputation counts.
As an influential leader, you have the talent to foster teams, stay updated with technology, and collaborate seamlessly with peers and executives. Your dedicated efforts have built an esteemed reputation, but it’s crucial to recognize the potential consequences of a misstep that could jeopardize all you’ve achieved.
Being mindful of organizational circumstances is crucial.
In hierarchical companies, leaders closely monitor progress, resulting in less career impact. However, in flat organizations like the Big 4, changing teams or roles carries significant risks that can affect reputation.
Imagine this: You’re a tech executive in a leading Cyber Advisory team at a renowned Big 4 company. With a strong software engineering background, you excel in sales and delivering Cyber services. Now, you eagerly showcase your expertise to enhance software consulting. They show interest and smoothly transition you into the Consulting Cloud Engineering team.
Transitioning into consulting without a network can the new leadership team may not actively seek your involvement, making connections and obtaining work more difficult.
Facing a challenging situation, you take charge of a less glamorous assignment outside your expertise. With confidence, you step up. But the project quickly becomes unexpectedly complex as personalities clash. It turns out to be a disastrous first assignment in Consulting. While the client’s responsible Partner acknowledges it’s not your fault, the Consulting Partner who assigned you disagrees.
The Consulting leadership team doubts your capabilities due to your departure announcement. Consequently, they won’t assign you any projects, heightening your desperation to secure a critical one. Meeting your annual targets depends on it. The situation grows more dire.
At some point, you face a tough choice: leave or risk being forced out. It’s disheartening, especially without a support system. Despite your experience, the leadership prioritizes only immediate outcomes. If you had faced a similar situation in the Cyber team, you would have received the necessary support to overcome this setback and transition to your next success.
Exercise caution and exercise prudence in thoroughly assessing new assignments before taking the leap. While you may possess confidence in your abilities, the unexpected can always occur. Your reputation counts and you don’t want to damage it with a misstep.
Click here for a post on moving from a corporate position to consulting.