The One Skill That Separates Good Consultants

I’ve kept bees since I was a teenager, learning from my grandfather. If you visit my place, you’ll find a few hives tucked away on the property. It’s a hobby that rewards patience; you can’t rush a hive. However, if you watch and listen, you’ll see, they’re always telling a story. You just have to learn how to read it.

Consulting is the same.

Consulting Isn’t a Fix — It’s a Story, Waiting to Be Heard

It’s easy to think consulting is about big brains (there’s hope for me yet), featured frameworks, why workshops, distilled data, and masterful models. Those things help, but here’s the twist: at its heart, consulting is authentic storytelling — sharp, clear, human.

Every client is a hive — busy, complex, full of competing priorities, personalities, and pressures. People are doing their best, often beneath the surface, in ways that don’t show up on the org chart or in a project brief.

As a consultant, you can’t just “fix” the hive. You listen. You observe. You ask questions others haven’t asked. You stay curious. Because beneath all the noise, the real story is there, waiting to be understood, sometimes for the first time.

It’s not about “crafting a story”, which is probably considered marketing. It’s about uncovering the true story and telling it in a way that your audience can grasp, trust, and act upon.

And when you find it, when you help the client see it, that’s when real change starts to happen.

Your Essential Skills: Story Telling, Authentically and Sustainably

It’s hard to tell any story authentically when you’re burnt out. And it’s even harder to sustain a consulting career if you’re trying to play someone else’s game. Your strengths are your edge — recognise your consulting superpower and use it. Clients can tell when you’re not being real, and it’s exhausting to wear a mask every day.

Authenticity isn’t just about being yourself; it’s also about looking after yourself. Self-care and sustainability are part of the work.

In my experience, once you’ve found your authentic edge (more about that in future articles) and are taking care of yourself, these are the essential tools that help you uncover and tell the real story, and tell it in a way that lands.

• Hypothesis-driven thinking: to test what might be true, not just analyse what already is
• Structured problem solving: to cut through the noise and bring clarity
• Qualitative + quantitative analysis: to build a credible, evidence-based narrative
• Business acumen: to understand the business context behind the story
• Collaboration: because the best stories are rarely yours alone
• Client management: to build trust, momentum, and shared understanding
• Community connection: because the best stories always ripple beyond the client you're working with.

The Story That Matters Is the One No One’s Saying Out Loud

I'll discuss these skills further in future articles. In the meantime, know that consulting is not about having the answers. It’s about staying curious and paying attention. Like a hive, every client has its own rhythm, its own way of working, and its own unspoken signals. If you slow down enough to listen, I mean really listen, the story starts to emerge, sweet as honey. 

Remember, the best stories are the ones no one is saying out loud.