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Health care is an enormous industry with a lot of dysfunction that provides plenty of opportunity for consultants, according to Mark Olson, managing partner at ChapterHouse, LLC .
“It’s currently a $1.8 trillion industry, and it’s growing 8 to 10 percent each year. It’s a huge industry with a lot broken,” Olson said. As a result, management consulting firms have found a niche providing strategic planning to the health care field, from providers to payers to tech companies.
Olson was among panelists at a health care management consulting conference at Gleacher November 12, an event cohosted by the Consulting Roundtable and the student-led Chicago Consulting Club and GSB BioPharma group, that drew a mix of students and alumni.
“You are facing the consulting market at a wonderful time,” said Kristine Mackey, ’94, associate dean for the Evening MBA and Weekend MBA Programs. In contrast to the early days of consulting, firms today want consultants with expertise, she said. “Linking business acumen with content expertise has tremendous power.”
Still, those coming from technical industries shouldn’t underestimate the value of building strong communication and interpersonal skills, Mackey cautioned. “Consulting is the art of sharing compelling ideas with clients,” she said. “It has to do with substance and form.”
Olson concurred. “You don’t have to be a consultant to get into consulting,” he said. “But must be able to build trust; you work in trust-based relationships.”
Consultants can be called in at all phases, from start-up to the final details, said Christopher S. Wright, office managing principle for ZS Associates . “Health care consultants live the life of a pharma executive at a fast pace,” he said. “You sample many elements of the industry, and you’re challenged by interesting problems and questions.”
An average consulting engagement with a company lasts four months, according to Erasmo Leon, engagement manager at McKinsey & Company.
—Carmen Marti