by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
Good speakers pause After they finish one thought, they don’t rush to the next sentence. They don’t rattle off useless verbal fillers (uh, ah, um, well, so, right, hmm). Instead, they embrace that millisecond of silence, harness the awkwardness, and force...
by Consultant's Mind | Fun
All television is not created equal. Some of it is interesting, some of it is tepid and inane. The good news is that some TV is like eating vitamins or high fiber. I am talking about documentaries and the stations that show high-quality, narrated non-fiction such as...
by Consultant's Mind | Fun
$1M for a recommendation they did not use In 2006, Netflix offered a $1 million prize to anyone who could improve the algorithms used to recommend movies to customers. Essentially, the solution had to beat the in-house software by 10%. It was a close battle among more...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
Management consultants are always on the prowl for good data. After all, it is the stuff that client recommendations are made of. To a cynic, it might seem obvious. The title of this post would be a kin to: “Why chefs love ingredients” or “Why district attorneys like...
by Consultant's Mind | Graphics
Death by PowerPoint Presentations can be boring. We have all sat in large conference rooms held captive by a speaker wielding a poorly thought-out PowerPoint. To misquote a bumper sticker, “PowerPoints don’t kill, people do.” Don’t put lipstick on a pig Some people...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
Management consultants love analytical tools and www.FinViz.com is amazing. Take a look. It’s intuitive, fun, and gives you a macro-view of the US-based financial markets. I imagine this set-up would have cost $20,000+, twenty years ago, and now, it’s...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
I read a NY Times story (2012) about a a Boston University professor who asks for student feedback every class. Most professors might be satisfied with a student evaluation once a semester, but not this professor. Dr. Muhammad Zaman gets feedback daily from his...
by Consultant's Mind | Fun
What’s a fun way to loosen up a stiff executive audience? It might be the Marshmallow Tower Challenge. I’ve conducted this a half dozen times with executives, students, and consultants. Detailed instructions here. How does it work? Teams of four are given...
