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What does consulting teach you that working in-house cannot, and when does it make sense to leave agency life and return to an internal Marketing Operations role?
In this episode of the Society of Marketing Technology Consulting Podcast, Courtney Makara and Grant Gregorian sit down with Mike Rizzo of WeWork to talk about his journey from in-house Marketing Operations to consulting at Digital Pi, then back into an internal enterprise role.
Mike shares why agency life appealed to him in the first place, how working across different clients and projects changed his confidence as a consultant, and why realizing that consultants do not need to know every answer was such an important lesson.
He also reflects on the skills he developed through consulting, from project management and stakeholder communication to emotional intelligence and relationship building.
In this episode, we discuss:
- Why Mike moved from an in-house Marketing Operations role into agency consulting
- The initial hesitation he felt about calling himself a consultant
- Why consultants do not need to know every answer to provide value
- How agency support helped Mike build confidence in client-facing situations
- What working across multiple clients taught him about common Marketing Operations challenges
- How consulting improved his project management, communication, and people skills
- Why emotional intelligence matters as much as technical expertise
- The difference between building a system for a client and owning that system long term
Mike also explains why his time in consulting became a career-changing experience. Working with different clients, teams, and business problems gave him a broader perspective that he later carried back into an internal role.
For Marketing Operations professionals deciding between agency consulting, independent consulting, and in-house work, this episode offers a practical look at the benefits and tradeoffs of each path, and how moving between them can help build a stronger, more versatile career.
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