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One of the most important ideas in consulting problemsolving is MECE. If you’ve been around current or former strategy consultants, you probably heard someone say this. It’s typically pronounced, mee-see. MECE is an acronym for the phrase Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive. MECE is made up of two parts.
It comes from the classic business book: The Pyramid Principle by Barbara Minto. Identify a project or problem and sketch a pyramid. One of the most powerful frameworks for clear thinking is the Pyramid Principle. The core concept is simple: structure your thinking in the shape of a pyramid. Try it out this week.
Example 6: Organizational Structure Analysis Original Breakdown: Functional Structure Divisional Structure Matrix Structure Why it is MECE: These categories are distinct ways to organize a company; a business typically adopts one primary structure, and together these options encompass most organizational designs.
Do you have a toolkit for businessproblemsolving? Tip: Write down a one-sentence objective that summarizes your desired outcome. For example, Demonstrate why our proposed market entry strategy will drive 20% revenue growth over the next three years. The way we teach it at StrategyU, has two core parts.
” This is the overarching aim of most businesses and this broad, general goal provides a way for company leaders to look at this framework and have an entry point where they can find agreement. Do you have a toolkit for businessproblemsolving? We’ve all sat through these presentations. 3 Storytelling.
A client, General Instruments, was having trouble matching competitors’ prices in its television-components business. The Experience Curve relies on the underlying assumption that the more experience a business has in producing a particular product or rendering a service, the lower its cost. Wishful Thinking? ” Damn.
Firms have had to recalibrate their business models in response to evolving client expectations and global economic conditions. Business Insider ). McKinsey & Company McKinsey, founded in 1926 and now with an estimated workforce of around 45,000 employees, continues to set industry standards.
By the end, youll have a clear picture of the work consultants perform, the skills they bring to the table, and why their work is so crucial for businesses around the globe. An Introduction to Consulting At its core, consulting is all about problem-solving. Do you have a toolkit for businessproblemsolving?
Like many clients, I don’t have a good idea of what I’m really solving for. Do you have a toolkit for businessproblemsolving? The most important question in modern knowledge work to ask yourself is “So what?” ” The job of a great consultant is not just to repackage information. So remember.
Beyond proactively planning for dependencies, Gantt charts can solve numerous other project problems including coordinating handoffs and offering visibility into the entire project workflow. . Problem: Everything feels like a pressing priority. Use this problem-solving tool: Eisenhower Matrix. postbanner].
The biggest problem with this is that people know about the feedback sandwich. The Problems With Most Feedback There are many issues with traditional feedback. As much as we accept that feedback and coaching are good things, most people still feel awkward when giving and receiving feedback. You just got a meal of useless information.
Issue trees are a useful approach to breaking down a problem statement into component parts that can more easily be acted upon. We might frame this “problem” in the form of a question, “Company profitability is declining, what are the ways to improve it?” You’ll also want to try to use MECE.
Do you have a toolkit for businessproblemsolving? In my several years in strategy consulting, I learned about the many ways data, information and charts could be used to fit with an existing storyline. Most of the time this is done in good faith but other times it enters into a grey area.
It’s not just any test; it’s a game designed to challenge your thinking, and your problem-solving abilities, right from the start—every click you make counts on how you will be perceived. What is the McKinsey ProblemSolve Game? As you prepare to take on this challenge, the weight of its importance bears down on you.
These kinds of things are also included in most companies’ annual reports or 10-K documents. Here is a page from a recent conference presentation Pepsi made to consumer equity analysts in New York: It includes a high-level mission, vision, and then what they call the “PepsiCo Way.” ” This is essentially the strategy.
Do you have a toolkit for businessproblemsolving? To demonstrate this, I asked Bard , googles AI chat tool, the following question: “What are three ways someone might use a tool like Bard that would help them work like a strategy consultant?” But it still required work. You hired me and my team to cut 10% costs.
I remember the first time I heard the term MECE. I asked a friend who worked at Bain at the time to give feedback on my resume. She suggested, of course, specific changes to ensure it was MECE. I thought, “What the heck is MECE? And does it even matter outside of consulting?” Funnily enough, I’d soon use that resume to get a job at McKinsey.
Most clients approach consultants with a problem, or more accurately, what they think is a problem. It’s up to the consultant to find the real issue and solve it. This is why consulting can feel more like therapy than businessproblem-solving. “What time do you have your last cup of coffee?” “Are
I think it just ups your level of expectation for the kind of business you want to work with. It taught me how to think of the problem in micro terms but also to zoom out and put the problem in the context of its broader environment and then zoom back in to solve the problem” Jason Wright, President Washington Football Team.
Last week, McKinsey and Company launched their generative AI tool, Lilli. Here’s how they described it : If you could ask the totality of McKinsey’s knowledge a question, and [an AI] could answer back, what would that do for the company? McKinsey had also invested heavily in making this a competitive advantage. It was really good.
Do you have a toolkit for businessproblemsolving? Listening to the first answer is frustrating. After you figure it out it’s a strawberry you might say something like “why the hell didn’t you just tell me it was a strawberry?!” You can’t just tell them the answer briefly. Or can you?!!
In 1976 the founder of Boston Consulting Group, Bruce Henderson published a strategy memo with a bold claim : “ a stable competitive market never has more than three significant competitors, the largest of which has no more than four times the market share of the smallest.”. It is not subject to rigorous proof. This is a mistake. The Framework.
It underpins all great communication and problem-solving. The 7 S’s are: Strategy Structure Systems Shared Values Style Staff Skills Now I know that you might be thinking, “That’s just a list of business jargon.” MECE is every consultant’s favorite framework or principle.
Dewey added that critical thinking is “suspended judgment, and the essence of this suspense is inquiry to determine the nature of the problem before proceeding to attempts at its solution.”. The problem with defining critical thinking in a more detailed way is that it sends one in a circular loop. What Is Critical Thinking?
People who were excellent at executing struggled to take a step back and be a thought partner with the client, helping design a longer more strategic approach to a problem. #7 Do you have a toolkit for businessproblemsolving? hot” areas include data analytics, digital marketing, and pharmaceuticals.
It sounds crazy, but many people end up using an approach analogous to cutting down the entire tree when faced with a problem. They focus on actions like analyzing data or building Excel models instead of thinking about how they are going to solve it. But what is problem-solving? It is asking, “What should we do next?”
If you’d like to go to the previous section you can find the following links to each: Logic In Writing Logic In Thinking Logic in Problem-Solving Logic In Presentation. In my opinion, this part is not as epic as part I, which stands on its own in a remarkable way.
Instead, the jargon machine of modern business has given us “downsizing,” “right-sizing” or “made redundant.” The concept of a business school was historically more about learning how to become a bookkeeper than the analysis of data and the application of strategy frameworks to increase profits and gain market share away from competitors.
Who wouldn’t want to test a candidate’s problem-solving abilities (rather than hear about them in the traditional behavioral interview)? Who wouldn’t want to test a candidate’s problem-solving abilities (rather than hear about them in the traditional behavioral interview)? “You did how many case studies?”
If you really wanted to jump from Business Analyst to Associate at McKinsey for example, that is definitely a possible path if you are a top performer. In this case, you likely would have to spend an additional six months or year in the BA role and it might come with the title “Senior Business Analyst.”
Managing this delicate balance is vital to ensure you lay the groundwork to building a lasting freelance business. I’ve been freelancing for four years. In the past two years, I’ve hired several freelancers and have found that many of them struggle with these things I learned in the early days of working on my own.
This is normal, and something that makes sense because you need a steady state of operations that is consistent and reliable to keep the business running. To do great work, you need to put information in context and to put your tasks in context, you need to have an understanding of what your business actually does.
Phase 2: Setup Your Business Platform 1. Get a Business Credit Card: My accountant’s advice was to either use an existing personal card solely for business expenses or to apply for a new one. I decided to use a no-fee chase credit card I already had and only use it for business expenses.
The history of strategy consulting starts with Frederick Taylor and the Scientific Management movement but took many twists and turns as it evolved into its current state, an industry looking inward and pondering where it fits in the new technology-powered business world. Chapter 2 (1880s? This title undoubtedly influenced James O.
Barbara Minto’s The Pyramid Principle has been one of the most influential books for business writing. It has sold millions of copies and shaped the nature of work done at the top consulting firms, especially McKinsey & Company, where she first popularized her ideas. Overall I find both Minto and her ideas compelling. Barbara Minto.
Analytical mindsets allow problem solvers to navigate through complexity and arrive at data-driven solutions as efficiently as possible. Resilience and Adaptability Problem-solving is rarely a linear process. The best problem solvers recognize the value of diverse perspectives and know how to leverage collective expertise.
per year Example Project: A leading retail chain is struggling to adapt to the rise of e-commerce and wants to shift part of its business online. “Consulting” is a broad term in today’s world. Globally, the overall market is hard to assess but it is likely worth somewhere between half a trillion and a trillion dollars.
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