by Consultant's Mind | Graphics
These graphs from the Economist describe China’s economy, growth and influence. China certainly has issues (e.g., demographic imbalance, rich-poor disparity, censorship) but you have to admit, China has been putting up some incredible economic numbers. Chinese...
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 | Learning
Hubris That could easily be the sub-title of a book by Stanford Professor Bob Sutton called Good Boss, Bad Boss (affiliate link). He gives a talk at Stanford Business School here. Prior to this, this he wrote a best-selling book called: The No Asshole Rule (affiliate...
by Consultant's Mind | Fun
Did you read the 170 page Facebook prospectus? Me neither. The consultant’s short-cut is to watch the FB IPO video. It was created for retail investors. Unsurprisingly, it is quite bullish and does not really mention risks. You can find those details in the...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
Management consultants need to be quick learners. Junior analysts are routinely asked to support proposals and projects across different industries. The good ones are fast, and proficient with Excel and PowerPoint. The great ones get up-to-speed quickly on the...
by Consultant's Mind | Fun
Take a look at this cartoon about miscommunications. There are 12 unique pictures and each one shows a different interpretation of the same situation. The customer, analyst, consultant all see and hear things differently. Listening If you are married, you don’t...
by Consultant's Mind | Graphics, Learning
Consultants always appreciate visuals. Here are some great bar charts from the Economist showing the differences between countries.Note: not all countries are shown. All great bar charts. Meat Consumption by Country by Product Luxembourg, United States, and Australia...
by Consultant's Mind | Graphics
What’s the so what? You will hear this phrase used on projects a fair amount. It is not the best usage or even politely worded, but it’s critical: Your presentations need to have a point Since consultants are paid for insights, recommendations and...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
DMAIC Ask any consultant, and I mean ANY consultant (strategy, process, IT) and they will know what DMAIC stands for. It is an abbreviation for Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control. It is a tool often used in process improvement projects. I am not a fan of...
by Consultant's Mind | Fun
I am an iPad addict. Crazy convenient, and new apps everyday. Always inspired by the ingenuity of app developers. Useful, fun, powerful. Here is how I find awesome apps AppAdvice.com Excellent reviews of app by category. It is well-curated and gives you a real...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
In 2002, I read a book that compared business with poker. It had a very catchy title: MBA Poker: Winning in Business No Matter What Cards You’re Dealt, with a simple premise that business people could learn a lot from poker. (Affiliate link) poker = Business At...
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...
