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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.
Strategy consulting isnt just about analyzing data and advising clientsits also about communicating complex ideas in a clear, persuasive, and compelling manner. In strategy consulting, clarity of purpose is paramount. Do you have a toolkit for businessproblemsolving?
In 2025, the world of strategy consulting continues to evolve rapidly. Over the past decade, the strategy consulting industry has weathered several transformational wavesfrom postpandemic recoveries and digital transformation booms to increased demand for sustainability and costoptimization strategies.
We define the problem, we gather data, we analyze, we synthesize, and we make recommendations. There are countless frameworks and methodologies out there DMAIC, the scientific method, the McKinsey 7-step problem-solving process , and many more. Do you have a toolkit for businessproblemsolving?
If youre ready to go deeper, consider enrolling in Think Like a Strategy Consultant. 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.
Alternative Approach: Consider combining social media and affiliate marketing into a single category if the strategies and metrics used overlap significantly, then add a separate category for emerging digital channels such as mobile app advertising. Want more examples?
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. Consulting can be divided into several kinds of work.
“Problem-solving” is one of the most overused and least understood phrases in the business world. When many people talk about solvingproblems, they are rarely talking about a problem-solving process. What I got wrong about problem-solving What are the most important skills you need to be successful?
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.
“Strategy” is a word that attracts a lot of excitement in the business world. People who work on strategy get paid more and senior executives like to use the word a lot to talk about their decisions. In consulting, I worked with many companies helping them to develop strategies.
Here is an excerpt from Lords of Strategy about how BCG helped to repackage this thinking: BCG devised the curve in 1966. A client, General Instruments, was having trouble matching competitors’ prices in its television-components business. If they are, then there is a clear problem. Wishful Thinking? ” Damn.
.” 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?
How Issue Trees Are Linked With ProblemSolving. At StrategyU we are fans of the SCQA process to define problems and develop hypotheses. This approach enables us to have a rigorous problem-solving approach to businessproblems instead of starting with the solution in mind from the beginning.
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.” At this point, I still use the Vivo Strategies for legal documents but rarely use it with anything else. Do you have a toolkit for businessproblemsolving?
These two things transform a team of consultants from a mere group of smart individuals into a cohesive problem-solving machine. Ansoff’s matrix for growth strategy). It underpins all great communication and problem-solving. use MECE not just for problem-solving, but also for structuring your communication.
Do you have a toolkit for businessproblemsolving? 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. Ask yourself while working on things: “So what?” ” “So what?”
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 businessproblemsolving? Most of the time this is done in good faith but other times it enters into a grey area.
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” businessproblem or scenario (e.g., There are a few problems with this. I had none of this.
But even if I hadn’t gone on to work in consulting, I now know that MECE is a valuable tool for anyone who wants to think more clearly and solveproblems more effectively. MECE (Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive) is a powerful problem-solving framework that is used in management consulting and various business functions.
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.
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. one that would focus on businessstrategy.
Companies hire consulting firms because of their ability to deploy a rigorous problem-solving process to a wide range of problems. The McKinsey problem-solving approach is one example and is been copied and altered by many companies in the business world. Do you have a toolkit for businessproblemsolving?
Do you have a toolkit for businessproblemsolving? 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. Is the feedback timely and specific? Have I made an offer to help them act on the feedback?
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.
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. For example, let’s say you are assessing a business. Do you have a toolkit for businessproblemsolving?
Related Essays And if you’d like to explore this thinking further, here are some resources you can spend time with: Critical Thinking Is Still Valuable How I’d use AI tools if I were still a consultant Do you have a toolkit for businessproblemsolving?
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. Do you have a toolkit for businessproblemsolving?
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.
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.”. Do you have a toolkit for businessproblemsolving?
Do you have a toolkit for businessproblemsolving? 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. So remember. Start from the top. Tell people why it matters.
This is why consulting can feel more like therapy than businessproblem-solving. This is the value of a consultant, the ability to continue to search for the problem behind the problem. Do you have a toolkit for businessproblemsolving? In consulting, things are always changing.
They might say yes initially but then I ask if they’ve read strategy reports, investor documents, done store visits (if appropriate), and done interviews to understand their clients better. We tend to glorify words like “Strategy,” but strategy isn’t that complex. If so, how much? They never thought of it.
The Analyst and Associate Levels: Early-Career In Strategy Consulting. Strategy Consulting Firms Hire Entry-Level Consultants, But Typically Less Than Grad School Hires. One weird thing about the strategy consulting industry is that many people join the industry with an intention to leave.
In 2012, I was first exposed to the world of freelance strategy consultants while working for a-connect. 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). At the time, I had a hunch that this was a path I wanted to explore.
I will cover each of the four sections of her book: Logic In Writing Logic In Thinking (coming soon) Logic in Problem-Solving (coming soon) Logic In Presentation (coming soon). Minto’s first job in the business world was working for Cyrus Eaton, who founded the Pugwash Conferences of nuclear scientists.
The most valuable professionals and leaders aren’t just smart – they consistently demonstrate an ability to solve complex problems. Truly effective problem solvers exhibit specific traits that enable them to tackle challenges systematically and creatively. Take climate change as an example of complex systems at work.
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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