by Consultant's Mind | Learning
Consultants are very visual people, because our clients are. Executives like to see complex ideas and data simplified, so it is easy to understand and act upon. Clients pay to see simplicity. Simplicity is difficult to do well. Infographics are fun. Honestly, this is...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
Case competitions are great fun I did 9 of them during my MBA days. It’s a chance for you to compete with students and see how good you are at ‘cracking the case’. The format differs considerably: Some competitions last 3-4 hours, while others can...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
I wrote this blog post in 2017, new comments in 2023 (6 years later) written in red font. In 2017, US stocks doubled in last 5 years The S&P index is up 16%+ year-to-date. A good thing right? One fund manager recently commented that investors have never been so...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
I wrote this blog post in 2017, after the Sandy Hook mass shooting of school children. Remember that? Horror. Additional comments in red color, but the sad fact remains that America has the same senseless gun violence as it had then. Just in the last month, shooting...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
This 21 letter hyphenated-phrase generates $billions of management consulting work. With M&A booming the last few years, it’s no surprise that companies need lots of post-deal support. Whether a company hire outsiders to help or not, post-merger integration...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
Thought-provoking I first read about the “elephant chart” in Edward Luce’s The Retreat of Western Liberalism (affiliate link), where the author explained how income inequality was a key factor in the global rise of protectionism and angry populism....
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
Wrote this blog post in 2013 (yes, when I was 20% younger). New comments in red color. Key takeaway (TLDR), focus on getting really good at your craft (read: expertise, professionalism) and relationships. Three kinds of power: positional, relational, and expertise...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
The BCG 2017 M&A report has a great subtitle here (3Mb pdf) called the Technology Takeover. BCG notes that 30% of 2016 M&A involved the acquisition of technology companies (no surprise), of which 70% were from outside the technology sector (surprise). In sum,...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
Death of expertise I saw this book at the library and was intrigued by the cryptic title: Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why it Matters (affiliate link), by Tom Nichols. I flipped through the book and landed on this high-powered...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
Richard Thaler Yes, professor from University of Chicago, won the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. Most people know him for writing the 2008 best-seller Nudge (affiliate link) with Cass Sunstein. Super enjoyed the book and was...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
It’s case interview season Seems like students just got to school. Moving in, meeting a few people, and getting into an academic groove. Then, BBAM it’s late September and time for case interviews. There is one huge upside. You may have a job offer before...
by Consultant's Mind | Fun
This post is from many years ago, but more relevant than ever. Consultants are likable. If you are not likable, uh, you have a problem. New comments in red color. Eager to hear your comments on this one. Being likable is a characteristic of all successful...
by Consultant's Mind | Fun
What business books have you read recently? When I ask this of friends and colleagues, I usually get this guilty look of someone who hasn’t read a book in year. Honestly, who has time to read? After 45 hours of billable work + 15 hours of non-billable work + 15...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
Some people get stuff done You know people like this. Doers. Winners. People who are not just efficient, but they are also effective. When they say they will get it done, #$@!, you might as well consider it done. Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
Love this expression I first heard this in a Tim Ferris interview of Marc Andreessen here (min 6:10). Andreessen created the Netscape Mosaic browser (making the internet easy to navigate), sold it to AOL for $2B, then spent last 15+ years investing and running a...
by Consultant's Mind | Fun
Mondays 440am wake up. My wife and I have a love/hate relationship with Mondays and Wednesdays because they start with a 440am alarm. Massive coffee. 515am we are at the gym with a physical trainer. Planks, V-ups, Goblet squats, push-ups, dead-lifts, lunges, you get...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
Career is not a straight line So much is changing. Interest rates, geopolitics, hybrid work, expectations of work/life balance. After so many years of continued specialization (yes, do one thing well), we are finding that we all need generalist skills too. Swing like...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
It’s easy to say YES. Perhaps too easy. When the client asks for something – new research, some ad-hoc analysis, an extra workshop – it usually seems like a reasonable request. After all, they pay the bills and shouldn’t they get the most out...
by Consultant's Mind | Fun
In 1983, Amy Trask USC (So Cal) law student makes a cold-call to the LA Raiders looking for an internship. Dialogue goes like this: LA Raiders switchboard operator: “What’s an internship?” Trask quickly replies “I work for you, and you don’t pay me.” The response:...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
I first read this catchy acronym in the Harvard Business Review here. It’s not a subtle metaphor, but very easy to understand. Apt. Vivid. In the United States, we have a huge obesity problem, and frankly, the same thing exists in corporations. This is not...
by Consultant's Mind | Fun
The Defiant Ones For those who (like me) signed up for HBO Now for just 2 months to watch Game of Thrones season 7 (affiliate link), please spend the 4 hours to watch The Defiant Ones (affiliate link). Amazing documentary on Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre. A short list of...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
Consulting is a big tent Consulting comes in many flavors. Or in other words, it spans all industries + non profit + governmental. Whatever story you read about in the WSJ, there is a consultant and an attorney who can help (or at least say they can help). M&A,...
by Consultant's Mind | Fun
Swen Nater While reading Coach Wooden and Me (affiliate link), by Kareem Abdul Jabbar, I ran across the story of Swen Nater, who was a first round NBA/ABA draft pick even though he never started, and only play 2 minutes on average per game while at UCLA. Deliberate...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
Check the quality of the fruit When you are buying a banana at the grocery store, do you blindly pick up anything? No way. A green banana and yellow banana means something completely different. Depending on your taste preference, when you plan to eat it, and you want...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
Good strategy is rare Richard Rumelt, UCLA professor, argues that good strategy is rare. He outlines the 4 common ways that companies often fool themselves into a bad strategy in a McKinsey Quarterly article here. Based on his book Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The...
by Consultant's Mind | Fun
Projects have ups / downs As someone commented on the last post (hat tip: DS), there are definitely low points on any project. The life of a project is not a straight line. If it involves people and expectations, there will be drama. that’s okay. . . As Seth...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
Hypothe – what? Yes, I know it sounds like jargon, but actually it’s part of the secret sauce of management consulting. It’s more than educated guessing; this is how consultants smartly break down complex or ambiguous problems, and quickly start...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?” This is a common question in interviews and I don’t like it. Yes, it serves as a proxy to gauge the candidate’s motivation. Yes, it tests to see if the candidate understands the corporate ladder and title...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
It’s a provocative title, but BCG argues the case. Digital is more important than ever; it’s where people spend their attention and advertisers place their dollars. Money is abundant. Attention is in short supply. This digital conversation gives marketers...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
This was a phrase coined in 1969 by Dr. Laurence Peters – an educator who wrote a 100+ page satire called The Peter Principle (affiliate link) replete with fake data and everything. Apparently, it was a NY Times best seller for 1 year, and is still in print...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
It’s Father’s Day in the US. For those who have/had good fathers, let’s be a little thankful. My dad immigrated to the US in 1968 – made a great life for my family, now lives 4-5 miles from me. Lots of love and guidance over the years. Thanks...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
After reading Switch (affiliate link) by the Heath brothers, I am convinced that successful consulting projects must appeal to the head, the heart and the hand. It’s a simple way to think about change management, but it also makes a lot of sense. We all want to...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
Great advice from the HBR editors If you have ever thought (or dreamed) of writing for the Harvard Business Review, then you should read the guidelines from HBR here. As an educator, there are so many things to take away from this blurb on their website. Only 900...
by Consultant's Mind | Fun
Podcasts are a win-win-win. 1) Great use of your time when you are running errands or mindlessly driving to/from work. 2) Free to download. 3) Access to hugely successful people giving you practical, fun, real advice. 4) Share with clients, friends, and family....
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
3 Types of CEO Listened to a podcast interview here of Reid Hoffman sometime ago, but most distinctly remember his comment about the 3 types of CEOs. As the founder of Linkedin, he enjoyed the CEO role at first, but as the company grew, he enjoyed it less and less....
by Consultant's Mind | Fun
Jigsaw puzzles are fun, meditative, mindless, and dopamine-filled. It’s a good way to stop scrolling. Listen to some music, have some coffee, and puzzle with your spouse. The good life. I have 10 reasons why this is a useful metaphor for problem solving. Some...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
Gap analysis sounds fancy. . . Gap analysis is exactly what is sounds like – figuring out how far you are from a particular goal or target. Consulting firms do this all differently. It takes many forms, but is super common. In fact, I can’t think of any...
by Consultant's Mind | Team
Talking with clients A reader asked me for tips on talking to clients. On the surface, this seemed so basic – but for those who aren’t client-facing or doing BD (business development) all day, here are some thoughts. As with anything, take what is useful...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
The Financial Times wrote a short scathing article on the management consulting industry here. Some valid points, but clearly a quickly assembled article with a Warren Buffett quote and visual used as a wrapper. If you are going to argue that a $133 billion industry...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
Everyone understands inventory It’s the stuff sitting on Walmart’s shelves. It’s the frozen pizzas in the freezer. The unsold house in the neighborhood. The empty hotel rooms and empty movie seats. Non-billable consultants are no different....
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
Peter Drucker, the godfather of management Huge fan of Drucker, quite a few blog posts on this titan of thinking. Strategic decision making . . this is one of my favorite quotes of his “The question that faces the strategic decision maker is not ‘what his organization...
by Consultant's Mind | Fun
Great presentation It’s always good to look at consulting decks to see how they put together data in a coherent way to tell a story. It is a craft and an art form. Was reading through reddit, and they mentioned this odd presentation from 2016. BCG was giving the...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
What do McKinsey presentations looks like? Please find links to 30+ McKinsey presentations which are publicly available online. Many of these are from conferences, or governmental / non-profit organizations clients who have chosen to make them available online. Yes,...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
I wrote this post 6 years ago. It is still true today. Management consultants use the phrase “best practice” often. Perhaps too often. You will see that magical phrase mentioned numerous times in white papers and research on these websites: Boston Consulting...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
Generally speaking, I am pretty good under pressure. This can take the form of final revisions the night before the presentation, or conference calls lined up back-to-back. The endorphin gets going and you can ignore the pain. The dopamine gets going and you feel the...
by Consultant's Mind | Graphics
Consultants are in the business of taking ambiguous problems, structuring them, and telling cogent, actionable stories. This often involves charts – yes – charts and graphs. The older crew – like me – is used to Excel, but you will also see...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
Ray Dalio is a billionaire, a genius, a hedge-fund manager, and a “piece of work.” He is not your average guy in any sense. He is a super smart, opinionated “macro” investor who started Bridgewater Associates, one of the largest hedge funds at...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
Clearly, eloquence has many parts – content, structure, conviction, tone, pacing, empathy, and word choice. Ah, words. Let’s not forget the words. Word inflation. Seems like we are bombarded with words constantly – most of them advertising or loose...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
I recently read the 2017 Gates Foundation annual letter. It starts with this alarming and kitschy picture. Whoa – this caught my attention. Huge fan of Warren Buffett – for his intellect, quirkiness, and generosity. In 2006, Buffett donated $31B to the...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
Bain published its 2017 Global Private Equity Report here. For those interested in private equity (who isn’t?), this is a simple and easy read. The PE business continues to do well (fund-raising, exits, returns), with two big caveats: the NAV of funds is going...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
Read the prospectus If you have never read a prospectus, you should. First, it’s useful. With an initial public offering (IPO), it is often times the first time outside investors are given a chance to understand how the company makes money and how sustainable...
by Consultant's Mind | Fun
Yes, love blogging Over the past few weeks, I have recommended blogging to several people. (Yes, I know how cliche it is to write a blog post about blogging). In a way, this has been my short-hand way of telling them to 1) invest in their craft, 2) develop a point of...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
McKinsey’s advice McKinsey, in a 2011 article entitled Have you Tested Your Strategy Lately here, makes the very valid point that executives and leaders too often treat strategy as a ” procedural exercise or set of frameworks”, rather than a way of...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
Update: I’ve been using Calendly since 2017. So you can do the math $100 x years = great businesses for them. I was introduced to the Calendly website by a recruiter. After we emailed a few times, we agreed to have a 20 minutes live conversation by...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
Sample size This is a phrase every consultant should know and (kinda) understand. Consultants are in the business of 80/20 rule, and smartly deducing insights from a sample of structured data (read: excel), qualitative interviews, observations, benchmarks and other...
by Consultant's Mind | Graphics
I made 1,000+ presentations in my life That’s completely possible. 20 years + PPT application is open on my computer every day. Executive summaries, teaching lessons, or sometimes even 1 pagers. Some were financial and operational reviews. Some were full-scale...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
Geek out I have been using this slang a lot. Many of us who have heard this expression know that it means to become a little bit obsessive about something (usually a hobby). Applying this to business problems, my argument is that business consultants and students...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
Charles Aris Charles Aris is an executive recruiting firm based in N Carolina that specializes in placing top-tier consultants into industry. They are good at what they do. Take a look at their 2017 strategy consulting compensation study here. More recent studies...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
BCG recently published its 11th annual global survey of the most innovative companies here (PDF, 1.1Mb). It’s brief (20pg) and not controversial. It highlights a few case studies – J&J, Cisco, BASF and Under Armour. See the list of top 50 companies....
by Consultant's Mind | Fun
The Economist has a blog called Graphic Detail, which excels at showing complex ideas simply. Engaging, thoughtful, and often surprising. Some recent graphs: 1) High blood pressure globally, not just affluent countries Link here A recent study in Lancet largely...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
Who is Peter Thiel? On Wikipedia you will quickly find that Peter Thiel is the founder of Paypal, the first investor in Facebook, and has a net worth is $2.5B+. Oddly, those three facts are the least interesting parts of his story, point of view, and personna....
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
Career is a long time After 20+ years in corporate America and working at 5 different Fortune 500, I will say that it’s easy to burnout if you’re not careful. Microsoft analyzed a bunch of MS Office data and showed that we spend about 8 hours a week doing...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
Today I was speaking with some friends about metacognition. Yes, I realize that is a $10 word, but the idea is fairly simple on the surface – being aware of your own thoughts. Essentially, thinking about your thinking. Whoa – deep, I know. Skills...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
Starting a new job, my tips and tricks A lot of people I know are changing jobs in the new year. For good or bad, I have also worked at 5 Fortunate 500 companies over the last 25 years, so I know what it is like to have a new job. Some transitions were smoother than...
by Consultant's Mind | Fun
We tend to be future oriented The majority people who read this blog – and folks I know – are future oriented. That’s a great thing. The are willing to put in sacrifice now for a better future. This is GREAT and what we’ve trained ourselves to...
by Consultant's Mind | Fun
Share food and make friends Everyone has some free time during the holidays. Recently, I have not been traveling which has opened up my schedule to share food with friends from my past. Folks from my MBA, previous work, and neighbors (hat tip: DB, CC, CO, PB, KL, JK,...
by Consultant's Mind | Fun
Took a 7 day cruise through the Eastern Caribbean. Highly recommend. So healthy to experience the wide-open ocean for several days. Great perspective – how big the world is, and how thankful we should all be. Enjoy your holidays. Related posts: Consultant’s long...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
So this morning there was a fantastical headline in the Washington Post here: Pentagon buries evidence of $125 billion in bureaucratic waste What the hay? Isn’t this a Ben Affleck movie about a government cover-up? No, it’s an internal report created by...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
What consultants talk about Was at a table tonight with 5 ex-management consultants from the Big 4. When discussing some slides we had seen from recent MBAs, one person smartly commented on his PowerPoint sniff test: Every page should be judged to see if it passes. ....
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
www.Finviz.com is awesome Finviz.com is a great way to filter stocks and generally get smart on specific industries. While there are multiple tools on the website, will focus on something call the screener. As you can see here and below, there are 60+ filters...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
It is called “rolling off” a project, not jumping Client service (and definitely management consulting) is a relationship business. Your long-term success depends on your quality work and awesome reputation. Basically, you need to navigate smartly among...
by Consultant's Mind | Fun
After writing 3 non-stop blog posts on presentations, here is an funny one. Want to see Consulting + Comedy? Apparently, some folks at Bain & Company put together a presentation and recommendation on how to get the most out of Thanksgiving here. You can find the...
by Consultant's Mind | Graphics
This is the final section review of Duarte’s Slideology (affiliate link). I am going to pick and choose what to share with readers. Consulting presentations (for good or bad) are fairly conservative and a bit regimented. As a result, the parts of the books about...
by Consultant's Mind | Graphics
This is the second section review of Duarte’s Slideology (affiliate link). This agency has become a sensation after they did Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth presentation and also a famous TED talk here. Chapter 2 – Create ideas, not slides I will...
by Consultant's Mind | Graphics
Slideology This is a book from 2008 about PowerPoint. It is well-structured, thoughtful, and a massively influential book in the “presentation business”. It makes a whole lot of sense to me and is quite easy-to-read. Nancy Duarte has been doing this for...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
I love listening to successful people tell their stories – for their confidence, ingenuity, fears, failures, heroism, goofiness, and ultimately success. We see a little of ourselves in them and experience the art of good story-telling. Boston Beer Company...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
The global asset management business is huge There are lots of billionaires and lots of people like you and me who have our wealth with pensions, 401K, and in stock/bond mutual funds. With the incredibly loose monetary policy (read: printing money), it is no surprise...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
McKinsey & Co published a very authoritative 148 page study (404 error as of 01/23) arguing a fairly simple (perhaps obvious) fact; the number of people freelancing is larger than you might think (20%+) and growing quickly. For those who already do...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
This book is all about focus It is like the Pareto Principle to the extreme. The authors argue that by narrowing your focus to ONE thing in each area of your life, you will be happier, more successful, and find things easier. It turns out that pseudo multi-tasking,...
by Consultant's Mind | Graphics
Consultants see patterns It’s a core part of our job to analyze data, separate the signal from the noise, and interpret the patterns. Some are better than others and it’s a talent that takes time to turn into a skill. Find good presentations and study...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) Yes, we all have it sometimes. Social anxiety. It’s that nagging fear you that you might be better off – somewhere else, with someone else, doing something more fun. It’s that high-school sense of peer pressure to not be...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
This is from 4 years ago and covers the Minto’s pyramid principle – one of the most important concepts in executive communication and logical structuring of arguments. This is really big at all the big 4 and big 3. It is the scaffolding of management...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
Trust, but verify. This is a Russian proverb that US President Ronald Reagan learned and used frequently when speaking about the Soviet Union and nuclear arms reduction verification in the 1980s. I use it quite a bit too – and when delivered with good comedic...
by Consultant's Mind | Team
Vince Lombardi For those who don’t know US football, Vince Lombardi is a legendary coach of the Green Bay Packers and one of the 4 horsemen of Notre Dame. Impressive guy. Old School. He had his flaws – all great people do – but when it comes to GRIT....
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
Grit Grit is a casual word which means “resolve” in English. Endurance with a mission. Doing something difficult and not giving up. It is the opposite of complacency or indecision. Clearly, people with grit are going to be more successful – because...
by Consultant's Mind | Team
Informational interview Of the many things I learned in MBA, the “informational interview” is one of those gems that remains relevant a decade later. Information interviews. They are simply low-expectation, business meetings with (relative) strangers to...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning, Real Estate
Note, this blog post was from 2016 in relates primarily to the Atlanta ex-burbs. This post is about rental properties – not about consulting. That said, all consultants and professionals making $$$, need to start putting money away to get yourself retired?...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
This is my favorite framework Yes, I know that is the geekiest thing I would ever say. This is a simple and elegant framework from Bain that describes how companies lose their way as they grow. The path from start-up to global juggernaut is not a straight line and...
by Consultant's Mind | Fun
Arizona photos Traveled to Arizona recently – God’s country. Beautiful. Great food, nice people, fun hotel, and lots to see. Enjoy the travel. Like they say, “It is a dry...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
A statement of work (SOW) is a phrase you will hear almost daily in your life as a consultant. It’s the contract with the client on what you will be done and how much they will pay. Basically, it’s the lifeblood of a firm’s utilization,...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
Corporate learning and development is a huge market Training magazine estimates here that it is approximately $70 billion annually for companies with more than 100 employees. While that is a huge number, it feels about right. All of this training takes the form of...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
It’s consulting interview season This means well-groomed MBAs are sitting across small tables with consulting firm partners and senior managers in something called a case interview. For those readers from consulting firms – you know this fire drill...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
2015 was a blockbuster M&A year. Lot of big name deals as companies re-position themselves and push for growth in a slow-growth, low-interest rate environment. Good times for investment bankers and due diligence big 4 firms. BCG 2016 M&A report here. 2016 has...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
Too many billionaires? That can be bad Ruchir Sharma is an investment strategist for Morgan Stanley who focuses on emerging markets. He uses a 10 point system to evaluate the investment-worthiness of countries, and the billionaire index is one of them. He makes a...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
Billionaires are more common than ever Ruchir Sharma – Morgan Stanley global strategist – notes in Rise and Fall of Nations (affiliate link) that the number of billionaires increased from 1,011 to 1,826 between 2009-2014. That is a 80% increase in...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
PWC released their 4th report on top 100 global software leaders here. Of course you will see the major bulge-bracket software companies (Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, EMC etc), but you will also see a lot of names that you may interact only tangentially. For example,...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
In sharp contrast from the last post about slow global growth, BCG writes in their 10th annual report about emerging market companies that are killing it. BCG notes that the top companies – i.e. highlighted in this report – are growing revenues at 3x the...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
Driving back from lunch today, listened to this podcast interview of Ruchir Sharma here, global strategist for Morgan Stanley, manager of $20 billion of assets. Well-spoken, very clear point of view about the world economy after the 2007 crisis: It is a new normal of...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
Yes, they are. Emotions are contagious. Lots of research on this topic and a great TEDx talk by Brandon Smith showing that, yes, emotions do exist at work and play a much larger role than you might think. I am a huge believer that culture trumps strategy and the...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
“Not enough time” When is the last time you said that? Yesterday? Maybe even today. We definitely live in a culture of distraction, consumption and crazy good Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, HBO Max, and YouTube Premium. where should I invest my time? Time is...
