The Pink Mouse – Keeping Your Soul in Consulting

Early in my career, a mentee left consulting after less than two years.

She told me something that stayed with me ever since.

“I feel like I have to change too much. If I stay here, I will lose myself.”

I remember feeling sad when she said that. She was talented, thoughtful, and clearly capable of building a long career in consulting. At the same time, I wasn’t entirely sure what she meant.

Did she mean consulting itself?

Or did she mean the quiet, male-tailored behavior that – at least back then – often seemed required to reach leadership roles?

I never found out. She left, and I let her go. But the idea stayed with me.

Because in my own way, something similar had happened to me.

In my first year in consulting, I bought myself a computer mouse. It was pink and had a tiny golden crown on it. I loved it. It made me smile every time I sat down to work.

One day, an older family member- someone about twenty years ahead of me in business – looked at it and said something along the lines of:

“Well, that’s not how we do business.”

So I quietly put the mouse away.

At the time, I didn’t argue. But I remember thinking something very clearly:

But I have a pink soul.

And I wondered whether that part of me would slowly disappear if I stayed in this world.

Fast forward to 2024.

I stayed in consulting. I stayed in business. And I made Managing Director.

Recently I had to buy a new computer mouse. A colleague recommended a great model from Logitech. It came in the usual corporate colors—black, gray… and also pink.

So of course I bought the pink one.

A few weeks later, I had a board meeting where I needed to bring my laptop and mouse. I placed the pink mouse on the table next to my computer.

And in that moment I felt something unexpected.

Pride.

Not only because I had become a Managing Director.

But because I had become one without losing my pink soul.

For the next generation entering consulting – and especially the young women stepping into these rooms – I think this matters.

Leadership will change you. It will stretch you. It will teach you new skills and perspectives.

But growth should never mean losing the parts of you that make you unique.

Your perspective.

Your personality.

Your voice.

Sometimes even your pink mouse.

Today my pink mouse is a small reminder on my desk that we don’t have to leave ourselves behind when we enter the boardroom.

We can bring our whole selves with us.

And the room is better when we do.