Partners: I am currently at a big Tier-3 Strategy shop (think Accenture Strategy, KPMG Strategy, etc.) and have a great track record at my firm and strong relationships with our Partner group....

👏👍

So I am a Tier 2 as you would say and a few thoughts for you: Make sure you have good evidence that you can actually make the move you suggest. Moving up a tier and a level is a lot. I generally am not a fan of moving firms just to get a promotion. Your long term success depends much more on being in a role you are good at and love to do. A quicker promotion into a place you do not fit will cost you over the long term. You will need to rebuild your network - both within the firm and with clients. This takes years to do in most cases and may negate any short term lift from a quicker promotion. So overall, my advice is don’t move for a promotion. Move if you think the new firm and role is a better long term place for you to do work you are good at and like to do - this will lead to as much success as you want

Fair enough question and apologies for being a smart ass. If you are working for KPMG strategy as a Manager and have been offered a job as an Oliver Wyman Principal then bite their hand off for it very quickly. There’s not really such a thing here as a Principal who isn’t on the Partner track, we don’t have a well established expert track. But path to Partner from OW Principal versus KPMG Manager is light years different. I spent 2 years as a Principal before being made a Partner

What i saw that was really common, managers jumped to SM to a new firm, then 3 years later, came back to their old firm at partner/MD. You could always do that!

I second partner 3 - I would not move just for promotion or money. I would move for the right opportunity. If you think this is the right opportunity, then I don’t think you’re in a bad time to move. It will take you a couple of years to rebuild at SM level but that’s doable. Some unsolicited advice - making partner is a great goal. Making partner as fast as possible is not. Do the right thing for your clients, your practice and our people, and you’ll get there. Focus too much on making partner and lose tack of the above and it will derail you. Good luck!

P1 sorry, got hit by the character limit, didn’t think someone would respond that quickly 😊

....I have the ability to move to a Tier-2 Strategy shop (think OW, Deloitte S&O) with a title bump to Sr. Manager / Principal and placement in a group more aligned with my career goals. My goal is to make Partner ASAP. However, I’m worried that I’d be building my internal network from scratch and that this would delay my growth trajectory. Is lateraling to a new firm at this level a bad idea despite the title bump and a functional focus more aligned with my career interests? Will this make it harder to be seen as “on Partner track?"