Fourteen months ago, I changed careers. I had been an independent consultant for 17 years (I still do public speaking), built a good practice and then gave it all away to go back into the corporate world as a vice president of global continuous improvement and supplier development for a high-growth manufacturing company based in Chicago. It’s been quite a change.

Here are the somewhat humorous, tongue-in-cheek, differences between life as a consultant and life of an executive, at least from my experience:

1. As a consultant, the upper levels listen to you and want to learn. As a peer executive, the upper levels know it all and they don’t need to listen to you or request advice.

2. As a consultant, you can park in the visitors spot. As an executive, your designated spot is sometimes taken by visitors who can’t read.

3. As a consultant, you are paid to be openly critical. As an executive, you are paid to not rock the boat.

4. As a consultant you listen to people’s gripes about the company. As an executive, you are the source of people’s gripes.

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