by Consultant's Mind | Strategy
“Just be yourself” – Every Mom Yes, every mom ever said these same words to their pre-teen child, “Just be yourself.” Stop trying to be someone you are not. Stop copying XYZ, that is going to get you in trouble. We are different ...
by Consultant's Mind | Fun
Yes, I am currently staffed on the East Coast in February. #$^@#$ it’s #$%#$^ cold. A few words of wisdom for the newbie consultants traveling to into the cold: Staying warm (affiliate links) Buy some 180s. They are ear warmers that don’t mess up...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
For 80% of you, this is so basic that you just “rolled your eyes”. Completely understand. If one of my team asked me this, I would not be happy. I would be scared. In a quick survey from my last post, looks like 1/3 of us don’t feel that confident...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
Consultants are not accountants Yes, there are a lot of consultants who work at the big 4 (Deloitte, E&Y, KPMG, PWC), but they are not accountants. If you ask them to balance credits and debits on a ledger, they will look at you like a confused dog. Yes, we took...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
10,000 hours Malcolm Gladwell popularized this number in his book Outliers (affiliate link). Based on the research of Anders Ericsson, Gladwell notes that you don’t really start to excel at something until you put in the requisite blood, sweat and tears . . ....
by Consultant's Mind | Team
Some people over manage their careers They treat it like a classical piano recital piece where you can’t make a mistake. Massive FOMO. Yes, they think too much about the role they play, how they will position themselves for promotion, and what they deserve to...
by Consultant's Mind | Fun
23 consultants were in a restaurant. . . The leadership team of our consulting practice were enjoying wine and canapes. (Yes, consultants eat well). My buddy and I were talking and when we looked out the window into the January Chicago night, someone was staring...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
Frankly, good writing is rare All of us have suffered through obtuse, boring business brochure-ware. Lots of jargon that means nothing. Read and write a lot It helps to read a lot. Helps you to pattern-recognize good writing. In particular, the Economist is...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
UVA Darden is a strong business school known for its case study method. Like Harvard, UVA uses this method to teach everything from finance to ethics. Over the course of 2 years, the students have more than 600 cases. Yes, it’s rigorous. Darden is known for...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
Ever have writer’s block? Try using this simple process to breakdown your writing into the right process steps. It’s called madman, architect, carpenter, and judge. The idea is simple, but instructive. There are 4 different writing personas tugging at you...
by Consultant's Mind | Team
Consulting is an apprenticeship business Yes, this is where the master coaches the apprentice on the skills and methods of the craft. Same is true in law, accounting, other professional services. Yes, I am sure that many consulting skills can be taught in books,...
by Consultant's Mind | Fun
Fiverr.com I discovered this website just a few months ago. The concept is simple, if not remarkable. It is a market where people offer services starting at $5. It varies from proof-reading your resume, writing a jingle, sketching something on paper, or even...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
Performance reviews In management consulting, there are performance reviews going on constantly. No seriously. . . constantly. Consulting readers, please disagree. A review for every project. A mid-year review. A year-end review. To the optimist, this is an ideal...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
Industry and company lifecycles I was first introduced to the concept of company life-cycles in 1997. Working for a US manufacturer overseas, our President hired a consultant by the name of Adizes to take us through a 2 day workshop to understand the potential growing...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
Christmas morning and I am pretty comfortable at home. Warm, well-fed, and laughing. This is in stark contrast to many kids in the world. Pope Francis pointed out the plight of children in his Christmas address here: “. . children displaced due to war and...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
Ran across this article on the four chemicals that are responsible for our happiness. Sad to think that our happiness is just a bunch of chemicals – but science does a great job of de-constructing our world, for the good of our health, but the death of mystery....
by Consultant's Mind | Team
love coaching It is one of the most meaningful parts of this consulting job. Sometimes I am more focused on coaching the junior resources than the client. Probably not a good mindset, but that is the part of the job that I get excited about. I am not a certified...
by Consultant's Mind | Fun
Act like Europeans Team dinners are by-far one of the best parts of consulting. It is a combination of smart people, good food, wine, and story-telling. As I told a friend, if there were no team dinners. . not sure if it would really be worth it. It is the rare...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
In consulting, writing proposals and statements of work are the lifeblood of the firm. It is akin to fisherman throwing out nets, or farmers planting seeds. If you are not putting together proposals and pitching potential clients, you are dead. I’ve been...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
This week I coached a new consultant in creating an excel model. Here are some of the words of advice I gave him. I wish I knew these pointers 20 years ago. Excel model structure = easy to understand Put all the assumptions, drivers at the top of the page. This...
by Consultant's Mind | Team
Professional services is about people That should come as no surprise, of course. Clients pay our salary. There is no real “equipment” that we are operating. It’s just a lot of smart people, trusting each other, and working together. Simple. Yes, we...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
I know what success looks like I have been consulting executives for the last 15 years – as an external management consultant, as a strategic planner, or as a organization design project lead. Spent a fair amount of time with CEO, COO, CFO, VP of this, and...
by Consultant's Mind | Fun
I have been on vacation for 2 weeks. Family visiting from overseas. During that time I wrote a handful of emails, and took a few conference calls, but largely, I was on a break. See some photos from the cruise. Ah, a sampling of retired life. Consulting gives you...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
I recently read a 4,300 word article in the Harvard Crimson school newspaper that helps to explain why more than 14% of the Harvard graduating class goes into management consulting. If you are interested in understanding the psyche of young top talent that goes from...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
Feedback keeps you sharp All professionals should be thankful for authentic and well-meaning feedback. It’s a way to gauge our performance, impact, and influence. Good or bad feedback is useful, when it comes from someone we respect. Companies pay $millions to...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
I voted, I always do Today is an election day in the United States for Congress and Governors. I always vote, as it is one of my rights as an citizen. That said, very little gets done with state and national elections – it is largely marketing, divvying up of...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
Gender blind consulting? For any of us in management consulting, we are fairly blind to gender in the work place. You see men and women partners, principals, senior managers, managers, senior consultants, consultants, analysts, and interns. Yes, I do believe there...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning, Real Estate
am an real estate investor I have rental properties. Something on the side, something my wife and I do on the weekends. I am a firm believe in real estate as an asset class for many reasons: Everyone needs housing Real estate gives you leverage because banks will...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
When I was working overseas, I was on a competitive intelligence project. It might sound super-crafty, and Mission-Impossible, but it was not. It was actually quite boring. Lots of meetings to share information, and try to piece together the competition’s...
by Consultant's Mind | Fun
Was recruiting on Friday. This was on the wall of the business school’s career management center. All good advice I believe. Related Posts: Case interviews: Time to start practicing Why culture trumps strategy...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
Two workshops tomorrow: FedEx or print at the office? Tomorrow, we have 2 workshops, totaling 30 people. It amounts to 1,900 pages of color printing and binding. Since Fedex usually charges 69 cents per color printed page (retail), it comes out to approximately $1,300...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
Sometimes we are the bad guys People hire consultants for many reasons, one of which, is to be the bad guys. Look at this article about how Deloitte is helping some of Iowa’s public universities cut costs here. Consultants usually stay behind the scenes This is...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
I do a fair amount of work in the hotel concierge lounge. Lots of snacks, stimulus, and a nice large marble table to spread-out and work. Last night, I was the last to leave at 10pm, and this morning I was one of the first in the door at 630am. The concierge person...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
After reading some news this morning, I wanted to re-post this from 2 years ago about US foreign aid. For my non-American readers, hope you find this not-too-boring. Consultants make tables and graphs That is a large part of what we do. Please see some visualization...
by Consultant's Mind | Team
Tonight I told a client that I believe there are really only 3 things that distinguish high-performing organizations from losers. Direction, leadership, and trust. Direction: Where are we headed? Who are we? Too many companies do not know what they are trying to...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
MOOCs are not new Massively Open Online Courses (MOOC) have been around in their current form for about six years. They continue their march to democratize education. If you are not familiar with these free online courses taught by some of the best professors in the...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
Consultants are in the business of taking messy, unorganized data and turning it into information, and hopefully, some insights. Here is a simple example of excel clean up, and the steps to copy, paste, filter, sort, and cleanse data. For most consultants, the data...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
Written 03/15/2018 Humble pie part 2. Elizabeth Holmes charged by the SEC for fraud. So apparently, the deception was deliberate – saying they had $100M in revenue, when they had $100K. Claiming that their blood testers were working, when in reality they were...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
Boston Consulting Group (BCG) just released a report called 2014 BCG Global Challengers which lists the top 100 fast-growing and formidable companies from emerging markets. It’s their 6th study and argues these companies are not only growing, but reaching a new...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
This week I went out to dinner with team mates twice. On each night, I heard inspirational stories from my team mates – 1 personal and 1 professional – that really made me think deeply about how I am living my life. One story was about friendship; staying...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
Meeting minutes are not boring Most people see this as a bureaucratic habit straight out of Mad Men, where Joan is typing notes at an old typewriter. I disagree completely. Meeting minutes are a way to shape the conversation, improve your professional brand, and add...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
Client executives are busy Sometimes it takes weeks to get on a client’s calendar. Yes, that’s even AFTER they’ve hired you to do work. Get time when you can Some of the best conversations you have with clients are the ones on the way back from...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
When I speak with eager MBAs on what they should do to prepare for management consulting, I often fall back on this basic idea: reading. We don’t read enough I really started enjoying reading when I turned 25 years old. Obviously, that is a fail because my brain...
by Consultant's Mind | Graphics
Tableau Yes, this is french for Table. It is also the most user-friendly, powerful, and amazing desktop visualization tool for consultants. Tableau is a company based out of Seattle Washington, founded in 2003 to commercialize work out of Stanford. Fast-forward 10...
by Consultant's Mind | Fun
Today was a holiday in the United States. Went to the beach. This is all that was on my mind . . . basically, nothing. ...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
Consulting Mailman This is a phrase that I have used many times this week. It has come to be a short-hand way for me to say “overhead.” Like the post I wrote about not supervising others here, if you find yourself sitting in meetings where you are only...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
This is what consultants should be thinking. This is what consultants should be demonstrating through their work. When you have earned the right, say these words: I am here to make you successful There are all kinds of people in this world – selfish, petty,...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
Everyone who reads this blog, knows that I am a huge Drucker fan. This quote from The Effective Executive here (affiliate link), published in 1967, sums up how good consultancies run. Consultants are knowledge workers The knowledge worker cannot be supervised...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
So my blood pressure was WAY high this week. Lots going on with work – some good, a lot bad. A big part of consulting is knowing how to deal with stress, lean on team mates, and get grace when you make mistakes. As a friend says, “we are in the business...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
This is my favorite expression. Do you have what you need? I usually ask it of at least 3-4 people a day. It’s simple, but clear. I don’t know the entirety of your situation, but I am here to help. It can be small (proof reading) or big (career advice);...
