Almost everyone will agree that becoming a 21st century consultant can initially be a strenuous affair. First, coming from a PhD background, there can be warehouse-sized gaps in your knowledge of business. For me, it wasn't until I attended a 10 day global training session that I had an inkling of the wide range of problems, as well as their potential solutions, in strategy consulting. Second, business decisions are made based on imperfect knowledge, and it takes time to feel comfortable embracing that ambiguity. For example, in science I knew a journal's reputation and impact factor. In business, one analyst report at first looked as good as another, yet a seemingly straightforward number like a company's annual revenue differed from report to report. Thirdly, the high-performance culture and the on-going evaluation by clients and supervisors that is implied was initially unnerving. As one partner mentioned to me, "If you're not comfortable in this sort of environment, consulting isn't the right job for you."

How I dealt with the three major hurdles that stood between my entry point into the world of consulting and the comfort zone I hoped to achieve can be instructive.

First up: acquiring the technical aspects underpinning general business and finance. I knew that I had probably taught myself harder subjects in graduate school, and it turns out that the excellent, hands-on "Essentials of Accounting" workbook proved to be a great way to capture the basics. Combined with some intuitive skimming through a selection of other titles, my foundation began to take form.

Beyond the straight fundamentals, I found that there was a dense thicket of jargon to navigate. Exactly what did my manager mean when she asked me if "…I had the bandwidth to take the benchmarking analysis to a further level of granularity?" Wouldn't it have been simpler to just ask me if I had the time to refine the competitive analysis to a finer level of detail? This is the point where I took the two-pronged approach of reading "House of Lies: How Management Consultants Steal Your Watch and Then Tell You the Time," and immersing myself in our firm's culture to pick up business and consulting vocabulary. You'll be surprised to discover how eager the youngest folks at the firm, those who live and breathe the nuances of business-speak, are to share it with you.

Lastly, there was honing that sense of confidence that often escapes the brooding sensibilities of many PhDs. An MBA can walk into the room knowing the answers to dozens of yet-to-be-asked questions, but PhDs tend toward deliberation and discussion before proposing an answer. Problems in business are recurring and typically not as hard to diagnose as problems in the lab. (Solutions, however, especially when they involve people, are often trickier.) So, by applying rigorous examination of a situation from as many angles as possible, you, along with your teammates, can create the sense of poise and self-assurance (and not arrogance) that your clients will demand when you offer a recommendation.

What other tangible routes are there to surviving the transition from the bench into CAGRs and strategic business analysis? For one I took the advice of a colleague who recommended reading the Wall Street Journal and The Economist. These twin titans of respected journalism can be intimidating at first, but gradually I found myself migrating from their respective business and marketing sections to other areas of the periodicals. In fact, one of the better articles I've come across on MRI and NMR (the subject of my dissertation no less…) was found in the Economist's Technology Quarterly section. This sort of material helped to morph my personal enjoyment for staying on top of science and technology news into an invaluable tool I can use when advising my pharma or biotech clients. By reading what CEOs and other businesspeople read, you learn to speak their language and understand their most important concerns.

(To put things into perspective, when I started reading scientific journal articles, the only section I understood was Materials and Methods. Slowly, I expanded to the Results and Discussion, and eventually to more of Science or Nature than I would have ever thought even remotely interesting.)

And lastly, find a mentor - or several for that matter. Self-awareness is obviously a critical means of improving your standing in the field, but soliciting feedback on the areas where others perceive that you have a weakness is indispensable. Specific, action-oriented suggestions on how to become more proficient at the job, however, are often more difficult to obtain since strategy consultants are good at generating big picture, high-level ideas, but not as good at providing tactical, on-point advice. Mentoring is available at all levels – from asking those who you manage the sophomoric questions you might feel otherwise embarrassed to ask, to scheduling breakfast, lunch, or coffee chats with colleagues who can sympathize with your current situation. And don't forget to seek out mid-level managers who can coach you on areas of development, as well as the heavy-hitters in the senior-level arena who can go to bat for you in times of trouble. Remember, knowing your strengths is important; but as self-improving, change-oriented people, consultants should focus equally on their development opportunities as well as what they already do well.

At Bain & Company, we have access to world-class training, mentoring, and coaching. All consultants are assigned advisors – typically senior managers and partners – who provide both formal feedback through a biannual review process as well as informal feedback over meals or coffee. We also have peers with whom we can meet at least quarterly to discuss confidential matters. When I come to my advisor with problems, he always says, "Consulting is an apprenticeship-based business. It's an art, not a science. Don't try to force the learning, but you've got to believe that you can do this job in order to succeed."

Above all, having a great attitude toward the job is what really drives success. When I think back on how I survived the trials and tribulations of graduate school, I realize I can surmount the challenges of being a consultant. Then, as now, perspective, support, and a willingness towards keen investigation are all that are required.