How to respond to stakeholders and team mates when they say, "your approach is to academic". For context, conducted stakeholder interviews to theme data, and used initial codes, axial, emergent codes

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Tell them “that’s a big word for someone who hasn’t got a PhD”

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I’ve gotten this feedback as well. I’m a MD by background and all the MBAs prefer speaking in the simplest terms.

This will sound harsh, but I suspect there are large IQ differences between the typical MBA and the average PhD/MD. There are multiple MBAs at MBB with abysmal academic records (e.g. 2.x undergrad GPAs) and it shows in their preferred communication style.

It’s quite baffling. Why hire scientists, if you just want them to sound like idiots 😒

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Am PhD. Was also told this many times. Meant they wanted me to state things concretely (x should do y) and use small words (x to do y vs x to embody y) Now I talk like a kindergartener but get less feedback.

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PhD here. I was once mocked and told that if you understand this, then create a slide around it, or else not sure what good your PhD is.
I was shocked 😳 and eventually through my work let my work speak for itself
We are subjected to some pre conceived biases in the consulting world

Folks here just want to be directionally correct, they want to sell stars to the client even when as a whole picture it doesn’t make sense.

I being an academic has always been conflicted and the only devil’s advocate in the team saying “ahm I don’t think it will sail through “ and the one getting the most eye rolls.

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2of 2.
To derive at a overarching theme (grounded theory)

Lol one time I had an interview with a consulting firm. Didn’t move on to the next round and the feedback was you were approaching the problem like a scientist. What I did was merely following typical case interview suggestions and asked for some numbers. And they had no idea how scientists solve problems. Indeed big words for someone who doesn’t know and I was okay not working for them. In this case you cannot just walk away but I think this is just a typical case of confirmation bias. Maybe generic suggestions on how to deal with bias at work place could work well.

I have this problem as a JD. It feels like opting for a simpler concise answer is preferred to a thorough in depth and more correct answer. This 80/20 approach and directional answer with partial evidence is definitely not something we would do in law.

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