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...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
Birthday coming up again and honestly, my 50s > my 40s > my 30s > my 20s. When people say, “Aw, I wish I were ____ years old again”, I honestly, don’t get that. Enjoying the journey too much for that kind of romanticism. That said, I do...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
Recently co-facilitated workshops for 2 days Lots of coffee, sticky notes, talking, listening, and filtering of ideas. We walked away with a list of prioritized recommendations and lots of action items – so I give it two thumbs up as an effective workshop. They...
by Consultant's Mind | Team
This is my least favorite expression in all of consulting. “Are you sure?” Built into the question is a lack of trust, glibness, superficial concern with accuracy over meaning, and honestly, a bit of disdain. It’s a superficial question It’s...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
Surprisingly, people use email poorly They write long-winded email essays that are ambiguous, and often copy too many people. These sloppy people create more confusion, frustration and rework. In this case, more communication is actually worse. Take 15 seconds to...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
Lean. Toyota Production System These are words and concepts that any business person should readily know and understand – even if you are not an operations consultant. Process improvement initiatives built on these concepts take out billions of dollars of waste...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
Yes, this morning I did 4 hours of data entry Yes, data entry. Our project was in a time crunch and we had major issues getting good operational data, so we begrudgingly took some print outs and manually typed them into excel. Yikes. Yes, we did look at other OCR...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
What’s going on in Brazil in 2016? Yes, the Olympics. But also an economic recession/depression. According to the Economist, this is the biggest economic slump since the 1930s here. This is a problem. GDP falling Look at the GDP growth rate over the last few...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
The Effective Executive The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker is a a classic. Written 40+ years ago, and still enormously relevant. You can find pdf online for free or buy it used at Amazon for $2 (affiliate link). A steal. Great quotes from Drucker (shown in...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
Deloitte 2016 Global Human Capital Trends was released here (5.6Mb). It is a 124 page manifesto of well-organized thinking on how the workplace is changing, what employees want, and how the old way of thinking about human resource (read: people) just does not work. In...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
The title of the BCG report sounds serious, but its a bit of a gem – easy to read and understand – here. Boils down to three points: Successful CEOs need to plan the transformation before they start work Transformation is expensive, need to fund the...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
Consultants should use surveys more often They are cost-effective, seemingly impartial, easy to use, and provide data in the “touchy and feel-y” areas where data might be hard to find, collect, or quantify. Bain, PWC, BCG, Deloitte all use surveys; see the...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
Takes more than 10,000 hours. Malcolm Gladwell popularized the idea that people have to practice for 10,000+ hours before becoming experts. At the time, this dispelled the idea that it is just raw talent or genius at work. No, he concluded, it takes lots and lots of...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
What do McKinsey presentations looks like? Please find links to 20+ 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 | Learning
April 15 is tax day This is the day for individuals to file taxes. There are other tax days (e.g., March 15 for corporations), but yesterday was the day most people know – and loathe. People take off work, look for receipts, download bank statements, and answer...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
My of my friends have school-age children and they worry about their kid’s education. Sadly, they have a lot of reasons to be worried. For all the recent innovation, changing business models, and dedication of some teachers. . US public education is a mess Every...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
One brutal week Was glad to just make it through the days without disappointing people or making too many mistakes. I had 32 different conference calls, a boat-load of work, a dentist appointment and planning for my mom’s 70th birthday. Apparently, the military...
by Consultant's Mind | Fun
am moving My wife and I lived in the current house for 11 years, and we are moving closer to her work. The new house will be 30% larger, and a whole lot nicer. The big difference is that we are building it from the ground up. So we choose the floor plan, exterior...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
Written 07/08/2016 Looks like 8 airlines were given clearance to fly to Cuba here. Cuba Glasnost This is HUGE news for the US, Cuba, and the world. The United States severed diplomatic ties with Cuba and had a trade embargo for 50+ years. While only symbolic,...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
Stay curious, hunt for the answer yourself Over the last two weeks, this scenario has repeated itself a few times. A junior consultant I am working with hits a simple roadblock and instead of reflecting on the problem and hunting out an answer, they pull the brakes...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
This blog post is from 2016. You can tell, because I don’t listen to Pandora anymore. I listen to Spotify. How times can change. Capitalism is real. Competition is real. I listen to Pandora every day. On my computer, on my Roku, on my Amazon Echo, in my car,...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
McKinsey & Company do great work. On this blog, I have written about McKinsey’s leader, culture, high-visibility assignments at the CIA, and Department of Corrections. Overall, have enormous respect for the work they do, and the way they have built their...
by Consultant's Mind | Fun
I travel a lot Like most management consultants, I am a road warrior. According to Marriott.com, I have stayed 152 nights last year. Perhaps 10% of that is from my wife who also uses my rewards number, but needless to say, lots of hotel, plane, car. Funny sidebar...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
McKinsey 120 page report on the digitization of America Some critics might argue the two main arguments are a bit obvious: 1) digitization drives productivity and 2) those gains are shared uneven across industries, companies, and people. It is a story of the digital...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
Dave Ramsey This is a famous radio host from the United States who I listen to regularly. He only talks about financial planning and money management – but he can be just a polarizing and crazy as the other “shock-jock” radio personalities. He has...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
In 2016, Deloitte surveyed of 7,700 millennials globally The respondents were folks born after 1982 with college degrees, working in large organizations (100+) across 29 different countries. You work with millennials everyday – anyone under 33 years. As I have...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
This is a quote first attributed to Dan Montano in the Economist, but was popularized by Thomas Friedman in The World is Flat. Here is the full quotation here: Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
McKinsey & Company is a premiere management consulting firm with a long legacy of influential alumni, thought-provoking research, top-shelf billing rates, and legions of ivy-league smarties. They get called in to solve difficult problems – everything from...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
From 2016, as a FYI, US tax laws keep changing. . . In my mind, depreciation has two meanings – the common sense definition most people know intuitively, and the financial accounting definition which dictates how costs of fixed assets are spread out over many...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
Wrote this in 2016, so it’s fun to look back and reflect on this attitude, my investments, and my time. I look forward to retirement Who doesn’t? I recently went on a road trip to Key West and Sarasota Florida. Seriously, 80 degrees in December with a...
by Consultant's Mind | Fun
For those who know me, I am a huge fan of podcasts. Great story-telling and content, delivered for free, wonderful use of your time. If you intellectually curious, travel a lot, and don’t listen to podcasts or audiobooks, uh, I don’t understand you. Made a...
by Consultant's Mind | Fun
Written in 2016 I am a huge fan of Waze For those who have not used it, it’s a basic map app which tells you the most efficient route to your destination, which factors in traffic and construction. This simple 45 second video will give you a good taste for it...
by Consultant's Mind | Fun
Boarding a plan at midnight. . . This image tells a story. Red eye. Business class. The good with the bad. Welcome to consulting. Strange life. UBER driver #1 On the ride to the airport, I struck up a conversation with my UBER driver, who works at a local casino....
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
I read Fast Company It is a iconoclastic magazine which is easy to read, fun, and honestly, pretty cheap at $1 per month per magazine at discount mags. It is their 20th anniversary, this editorial here talks about their predictions for the next 20 years. Lots of to...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
“Do you like the work you did?” When I run consulting projects, this is my go-to question. When a junior consultant presents an analysis, work product, presentation, or most anything, I ask, “What do you think?” “How do you like...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
Use PowerPoint daily Is that possible? Yes. Over the last 20 years, there are very few days when I have not worked in PowerPoint. Sad, but true. Even when I am not creating one, I am often reading investor relations presentations or analyst reports. Pay attention to...
by Consultant's Mind | Fun
Blog post from 2015 Uber the taxi-technology company started in 2009 as a novelty for its co-founders and friends. Now it has a market valuation of $51 billion, has 1M active drivers, and operates in 330 cities. Read a Fast Company article here which is focused on the...
by Consultant's Mind | Fun
Been blogging for 3 years and 6 months. Super enjoyed it. As I look back, over 270 blog posts, it’s interesting to see how things turned out. . . Candy Crush – Blogged about the addictive game and its profitable parent company – King Entertainment...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
Routine work is going away It always has been. Technology as old as the wheel, letter typeset, and the cotton gin have freed people from mundane and repetitive tasks. The market has a wonderful way of arbitraging work (thank you Adam Smith) to the least expensive...
