by Consultant's Mind | Fun
Share food and make friends Everyone has some free time during the holidays. Recently, I have not been traveling which has opened up my schedule to share food with friends from my past. Folks from my MBA, previous work, and neighbors (hat tip: DB, CC, CO, PB, KL, JK,...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
It is called “rolling off” a project, not jumping Client service (and definitely management consulting) is a relationship business. Your long-term success depends on your quality work and awesome reputation. Basically, you need to navigate smartly among...
by Consultant's Mind | Graphics
This is the second section review of Duarte’s Slideology (affiliate link). This agency has become a sensation after they did Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth presentation and also a famous TED talk here. Chapter 2 – Create ideas, not slides I will...
by Consultant's Mind | Graphics
Consultants see patterns It’s a core part of our job to analyze data, separate the signal from the noise, and interpret the patterns. Some are better than others and it’s a talent that takes time to turn into a skill. Find good presentations and study...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
Grit Grit is a casual word which means “resolve” in English. Endurance with a mission. Doing something difficult and not giving up. It is the opposite of complacency or indecision. Clearly, people with grit are going to be more successful – because...
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
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
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 | 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
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 | Team
Consulting is tribal Each of the partners (chieftains) typically have a group of “go-to” principals, senior managers, and network of consultants (tribe) who work on their projects. For even the unobservant person, these tribes become clear: He is one of...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
Reading PowerPoint = Painful to watch Last week I was a in a painful 1 hour meeting where the presenter kept reading his slides. Ouch. Each page was like a kick to my shins. Imagine, this is what clients see and feel when you read your PowerPoints. PowerPoint is the...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
“You have a typo on the 1st page” This was the low-light of my Friday. A partner was reviewing a proposal we had already printed out for the client. One typo was a missing helping verb “be” and the other typo was a verb in the wrong tense. It...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
Organizations have trouble talking to themselves Ask any consultant and she will tell you that a good portion of her job is helping one part of their client organization talk to the other part. Odd, I know. For those not working with Fortune 500-size companies, you...
by Consultant's Mind | Team
Had dinner with a good friend last night, and we talked about the two kinds of people you meet online: creators and critics. Think about all the titans of podcasting. 1. Creators There are people who give generously and want others to win. You can call them givers....
by Consultant's Mind
Consultants are a strange breed. We span all industries, but ultimately we are in the business of helping executives make difficult decisions and implement change. It is a combination of strategy (head), culture (heart), and operations (hand). Oddly, the most...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
It’s one person’s opinion, but here are 130 blog posts which I wrote over the last 3 years to describe my world-view of consulting. Hope you find it useful. Consultants are a strange breed We span all industries, but ultimately we are in the business of...
by Consultant's Mind | Team
“Idea fight club” I coined this idea in 2015, this was the scenario: The consulting team had an ambiguous client problem (no surprise there) and the team had not set on an approach yet. Differing ideas, pros vs. cons. It was all on the table in a smart...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
Accenture had a good week Their stock hit a 16 year high, as they boosted their forecast for both revenues and profits. Go A-C-N. While looking for their quarterly investor presentation, I stumbled on something entirely more interesting. Digital Business Era: Stretch...
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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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
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
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);...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
When you are on a large consulting project, it’s easy to get lost. Lost in the activities, status reports, client meetings, and project management mess. It’s easy to forget the basics. . . Get back to basics Think What a great job where clients pay you...
by Consultant's Mind | Team
“I do this” said the newbie manager I gave this advice to a newbie manager this week. The manager kept acting like an individual contributor, as if that was enough to succeed. He kept saying, “well, I do this” and “I do that”. Wrong...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
Be. Do. Say. I heard this for the first time 3 weeks ago. It makes so much sense. In the overly-marketed world we live in, there is incessant advertising noise, propositions, and promises. Through the clutter of insincerity and puffery, which brands and people can...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
I listened to a lot of whining this week It was partly sad, partly frustrating. New consultants – unaware of what consultants really do – had a list of reasons why it is hard: I can’t get the data, so that’s why I am behind I sent an email;...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
This is my calendar from a recent week. Granted some of these were client interviews, but needless to say, the real work and thinking was done between meetings, or at night at the hotel. The time before and after the meeting were also “wasted” because I...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
There is a famous TED talk by Simon Sinek called How Great Leaders Inspire Action. 57 million have watched it so far. If you have an interest in consulting, management and persuading people into action, you need to watch it here. The concept is basic, but powerful...
by Consultant's Mind | Learning
BCG has a new book They make the argument that companies have a bad habit of responding to complex business environments by simply getting more complicated. This is so true. For those of us who have worked with Fortune 500 clients, there seems to be an endless number...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
Over the last 15 years, I’ve interviewed lots of candidates. Beyond the resumes and case interviews, it comes down to fit. When I think about the most important characteristics of a consultant – or anyone I plan to work with – it gets narrowed down...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
Save face This is a simple concept that is critical for consultants and sales people to understand. Never put your client in a situation where you are directly and publicly disagreeing with them. Never box them into a corner where they might be ashamed of the...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
What does success look like? During a consulting interview, a candidate once asked me, “What are you looking for in a candidate?” No surprise, I answered “It Depends.” As I described in a previous post called Finders, Minders, and Grinders,...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
Consulting = Team Sport Consultants work in teams. Consultants work in packs. We are hired to work on messy problems which are often complex, ambiguous, political, and time-sensitive. Basically, it’s a lot of work that has to be done in a short(er) amount of...
by Consultant's Mind | Team
Consulting is a team sport One of the best things about consulting – and project work more generally – is that it’s a team sport. There is a goal. People have different roles. You don’t have to be good at everything, but you do need the right...
by Consultant's Mind | Fun
It’s a late night I am working at 2am, which is actually not that unusual with management consulting. Here are some of the many reasons why a consultant might be working this late: Some good reasons: Time zone change. You fly into NYC from the West Coast....
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
Have you seen a TED video? If not, you should stop reading this blog right now. Instead, go to www.TED.com and watch any of the 1,400+ videos. They are all less than 18 minutes long and completely worth your time. Very thought-provoking. For those who watch TED, we...
by Consultant's Mind | Consulting
Recently gave a talk on the topic of networking. It’s a vast topic that we universally agree is important, yet few of us really excel at. Books and books have been written on the topic, but here is my take: heart has to be the right place There are lots of...
by Consultant's Mind
Management consultants are successful largely because of their skills, tools, and know-how. How are they able to successful do work across industries, clients and functions? From the last 4 years of blog posts, please find the top 50 posts about consulting skills,...
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
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....
