Building a distinctive personal brand within a top consulting firm can be a daunting challenge. It is easy to drift in the world of enormous and lengthy projects, sizable leadership teams, and elaborate firm hierarchies. Even with day-to-day successes, partners and staff can feel adrift and see their careers plateau.

To avoid being lost in the shuffle, it is tempting to focus inward and seek to grow a distinctive brand through promotional activities with bosses and peers. As a result, many consultants pursue non-client projects within their firms to raise their profile and gain an edge for new client assignments and promotions. However, this is precisely the wrong approach.

To keep careers flourishing, the most successful consultants focus their energies on serving clients and measure their performance not on internal metrics but with client successes. To build their professional brands, here are five things that outstanding consultants do on a regular basis.

1. Participate in high stakes client meetings
2. Get involved in the client’s knottiest problems
3. Pursue substantial, dynamic consulting opportunities
4. Generate creative ideas and innovatively “connect the dots”
5. Surround themselves with great people

Developing a master consultant brand through these impactful consulting activities will encourage colleagues and clients to include you on their most important projects. Being asked to help out in these areas is how consultants know they have created an inspirational brand.