by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
Yes, consulting = PowerPoint One colleague joked that he gets to the client sites, turns on the computer and just opens up PowerPoint – even before opening email or anything else. Like a baker who turns on the oven as soon as he enters the kitchen. It’s a...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
Consultants spend hours making slides It’s a common sight to see consultants pouring over their PowerPoint slides – moving pages around, adjusting the colors on graphs, mulling over wording, checking verb agreement and proof-reading. Presentations are also...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
Yes, management consulting firms go bankrupt The Monitor Group filed for bankruptcy and will be acquired by Deloitte Consulting. Monitor was a top-shelf strategy consulting firm often mentioned in the same league as the big 3 (McKinsey, Bain, BCG) and other boutique...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
Bain & Co conducts a survey every few years on how executives use management tools. Unsurprisingly, these are the management tool that management consultants often use when coaching, prodding, and helping executive think about their business. If you want to learn...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
Oye Vey, Presidential Elections Tomorrow is election day in the United States. The two candidates (and their super-PACs) have spent an estimated $6 billion in political ads. What a waste of money. I suppose that these ads can sway some voters, but that is too bad....
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
This week my team interviewed more than 20 people, everyone from VPs down to the analysts and clerks. The interviews were a gold mine of insights – especially since we were still in the early days of the project collecting data. My throat was killing me, but...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting, Learning
Consultants know better than to use the word “average” too loosely. It is certainly useful, but too general and sometimes misleading. It’s a good first step, but it is analogous to a chef using pre-cut vegetables or day-old bread. It’s easy, a...
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 is a simple way to think about change and also makes a lot of sense. Head: The logic of the analysis and...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
Hypothesis-based consulting Yes, this sounds fancy, but some cynics might call it educated guessing. Either way, it is a smart way to break down complex or ambiguous problems, and quickly start driving towards an answer. At its heart is the scientific method –...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
It’s easy to say YES 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 of their...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
Stephen Covey passed away recently His most famous book, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (affiliate link), sold 15+ million copies and has been on Amazon’s top 100 best seller list for almost 5 years. It is worth buying if you don’t have a copy....
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
Management consultants are always looking for ugly problems and broken things to fix. After all, we only get paid when we uncover difficult problems and fix them. Clients do not always know what is wrong What really surprises me is that many clients have trouble...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
Structure your thinking This is the only way to present your ideas clearly to clients. One excellent tool is the pyramid principle by an ex-McKinsey consultant by the name of Barbara Minto. She authored a book called The Minto Pyramid Principle here (affiliate link)...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
Magical phrase, “best practices” Management consultants use the phrase “best practices” often. Perhaps too often. You will see that magical phrase mentioned numerous times in white papers and research on these websites: Boston Consulting Group,...
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 | 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...
