Research and academic publication: a satisfaction after hard work but not only.

A little bit of self-gratification is due, considering that when I enrolled on the MBA in Management Consulting I was 54 years old. A lack of academic background was a real challenge for me, so I had to learn by doing.

the results are amazing and they were not expected, not because of lack of confidence but because of lack of benchmarks to how to conduct research based on a lot of gaps as you can see below.

As a domestic and international consultant, I have been working remotely since 2015. During the pandemic, in conversations with colleagues, I heard many concerns about MC's disruption due to the lack of F2F interaction. However, my experience has been positive so far even with different cultures. This is how my interest grew in investigating the significance of F2F engagement, the greater impact of virtualisation and the focus on the main element for

consultants: trust and virtualization. The results of the research show that the majority of the participants to the interviews and to the survey 1. agree that virtualisation will stay 2. that they will increase the level of it 3. that a hybrid model will be the best solution.

The quote “We do not learn from the experience, we learn from reflecting on the experience” (Dewey, 1933) let me revisit the journey with a deep critical reflection. This brings me to highlight the following points:

- about Management Consultants ( independent and niche companies) I found an unexpected bias about the idea that it is better to wait until we don't return to F2F, Bias that has excluded almost completely the investment in technology and an opportunity to innovate and mostly capitalising the experience.

- about the mindset: I was expecting to find more people with a grown mindset, however, I found a big number with a fixed one: almost 45%. It is expected that consultant brings innovation and knowledge transfer to keep the client at a cutting edge in their business.

- a lack of support from professional institutions and academia to the areas of new skills required, new approaches, trust and relationships.

To conclude: my satisfaction is related to the recognition of my work based on quality, but there are other elements of gratification. I discovered that I have increased my mindset, thanks to academia, increased my curiosity to become more innovation-oriented and getting more ability in discovering things, which could make a difference for our profession in the future.