StrategyU

JULY 23, 2021

Managing this delicate balance is vital to ensure you lay the groundwork to building a lasting freelance business. A common strategy is to start with a brand and then shift to working under your name later. In my case, I started freelancing under the name “Vivo Strategies.” I’ve been freelancing for four years.

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StrategyU

MARCH 31, 2022

Here is an excerpt from Lords of Strategy about how BCG helped to repackage this thinking: BCG devised the curve in 1966. Here is an excerpt from Lords of Strategy about how BCG helped to repackage this thinking: BCG devised the curve in 1966. The Experience Curve is one of the most famous frameworks in consulting. Wishful Thinking?

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StrategyU

NOVEMBER 29, 2021

” 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 business problem solving? We’ve all sat through these presentations. 3 Storytelling.

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StrategyU

JULY 5, 2020

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?

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StrategyU

OCTOBER 2, 2023

Like many clients, I don’t have a good idea of what I’m really solving for. Do you have a toolkit for business problem solving? I created Think Like a Strategy Consultant as an online course to make the tools of strategy consultants accessible to driven professionals, executives, and consultants.

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StrategyU

SEPTEMBER 20, 2024

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 Problem Solve Game? As you prepare to take on this challenge, the weight of its importance bears down on you.

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StrategyU

SEPTEMBER 20, 2024

Ansoff’s matrix for growth strategy). 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.” The McKinsey 7-S Framework can help.

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StrategyU

JULY 7, 2021

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.

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StrategyU

AUGUST 22, 2023

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?” This information can then be analyzed to identify trends, patterns, and insights that would be helpful to a strategy consultant.

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StrategyU

NOVEMBER 28, 2020

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. Do you have a toolkit for business problem solving? Most of the time this is done in good faith but other times it enters into a grey area.

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StrategyU

SEPTEMBER 20, 2024

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.

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StrategyU

SEPTEMBER 10, 2024

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.

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StrategyU

MARCH 10, 2024

The mystique of strategy consulting has inspired films such as Office Space and Up In the Air and TV shows like House of Lies. While I generally agree with many of the criticisms of strategy consulting, I am more interested in demystifying what consultants do and how you can learn the same skills without having to work in the industry.

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StrategyU

JANUARY 27, 2021

I think it just ups your level of expectation for the kind of business you want to work with. She gives credit to her time in consulting for being able to become a CEO: “I don’t think I could have gotten here without a strategy consultant background because it taught me inductive thinking. Most Famous & Infamous Alumni.

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StrategyU

JUNE 28, 2022

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. Is It True?

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StrategyU

OCTOBER 6, 2024

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. If so, how much?

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StrategyU

SEPTEMBER 11, 2023

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.

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StrategyU

NOVEMBER 17, 2023

I started StrategyU with the intention of teaching knowledge workers the tools, frameworks, mindsets, and approaches that I learned in strategy consulting. When I started this, I thought that my audience would be people in big companies stuck inside strategy, finance, or analytics groups that didn’t have access to training.

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StrategyU

OCTOBER 2, 2023

Do you have a toolkit for business problem solving? I created Think Like a Strategy Consultant as an online course to make the tools of strategy consultants accessible to driven professionals, executives, and consultants. Listening to the first answer is frustrating. Or can you?!! So remember. Start from the top.

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StrategyU

NOVEMBER 15, 2023

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 business problem-solving. “What time do you have your last cup of coffee?” “Are

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StrategyU

APRIL 19, 2022

The Analyst and Associate Levels: Early-Career In Strategy Consulting. Strategy Consulting Firms Hire Entry-Level Consultants, But Typically Less Than Grad School Hires. In terms of responsibilities and time in role, the roles at the top three consulting firms (McKinsey, Bain, and BCG) are very similar.

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StrategyU

MAY 29, 2024

He detailed how he had decided in high school, after getting into Stanford, that he would work in strategy consulting. At the highest level, most cases are similar: The interviewer presents background on a “client’s” business problem or scenario (e.g., I downloaded the book in 2006 to prepare for my consulting interviews.

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StrategyU

SEPTEMBER 28, 2022

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. You might create a simple framework looking at things from a high-level: strategy, finance, operations, and talent.

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StrategyU

AUGUST 19, 2024

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?”

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StrategyU

JUNE 12, 2021

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?

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StrategyU

NOVEMBER 20, 2023

In 2012, I was first exposed to the world of freelance strategy consultants while working for a-connect. Phase 2: Setup Your Business Platform 1. I wanted something that signaled a firm and also allowed me some flexibility in the type of work I did (I landed on Vivo Strategies).

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StrategyU

SEPTEMBER 16, 2022

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.

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StrategyU

OCTOBER 29, 2024

The most valuable professionals and leaders aren’t just smart – they consistently demonstrate an ability to solve complex problems. Analytical mindsets allow problem solvers to navigate through complexity and arrive at data-driven solutions as efficiently as possible.

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StrategyU

OCTOBER 31, 2024

The most famous kinds of consulting The three biggest areas of consulting are strategy and operations, technology, and financial and transaction advisory. Here’s some examples of the “big three” industries: #1 Strategy and Operations Consulting At the top of the consulting world are firms like McKinsey, Bain, and BCG.

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