Imposter syndrome = a little bit is healthy
Imposter syndrome is common for professionals who are continually growing.
Consultant's Mind
Consulting Blog
Latest posts
Essentialism: do less better
In a world where GenAI makes everything easier, the scarce resource is disciplined choice.
McKinsey: Reimagine who does the work
Fix the process first. Agents and robots will help us re-think the entire value stream.
McKinsey: Agents, robots, & us (part 1)
McKinsey wrote a great 60 pg report on how genAI is changing work.
Favorite verbs: ask, do, write, teach, enjoy
My advice varies a lot depend on where people are in their careers.
Trust is fast
Stephen Covey outlined 13 things that build trust. This is what all consultants, lawyers, banker, and professionals need.
Graduated, now what?
Some Q A from new hires. How to get into consulting?
Thinking about exams
Exams many things: necessary, unfun, rigorous, useful, empowering, difficult
Strategy is more like poker than chess
10 reasons that strategy is like poker, not chess
Time machine: giving myself job advice in 1993
Some advice on getting a job and hustling out a career.
MBE (Mastering Business Essentials)
What are the key things I need to know about business?
It’s okay to learn selfishly
Learning is lifelong and intentional. Let's feed our minds good stuff we want to really grok.
Create a podcast in 5 min, NotebookLM
NotebookLM from Google is a fascinating tool to study. It creates Q A and also podcasts between two robots on the topic you select. Crazy.
Your strategy for McDonald’s?
Emory GBS undergraduates have their 1st strategy presentation due. Here's the key takeaways.
With Fixed costs, “Run the factory full”
Fixed costs are everywhere What do airplanes, hospital equipment, and full-time employees have in common? They are all fixed costs. These are costs that a business incurs, regardless of how many passengers you carry, patients you treat, or products you sell. Buildings, equipment, airplanes Perhaps the easiest example are big, physical, expensive things: Sports stadium = expensive. Expensive…
Strategy crossword puzzle
Learning is fun This is something I learned quite late in life; probably my junior year in college. Basically, I learned it 10 years later than most. . . but I am making up for lost time quickly. I think learning is the best; after all, what else is there? As a teacher, so many OKR A teacher s platform is hallowed ground. Somehow, I got, earned, snuck my way into a situation where 260+ students…
Q&A on strategy: 2 hours with executives
Six questions on strategy.
Elon Musk: “The best part is no part”
Elon Musk has ambitious goals. Aggressive use of Lean to ask 5 Whys and delete unnecessary parts and process.
Longevity: we are all living longer, healthier lives
Longevity has been a massive achievement over the last 100 years. We - humans - should be proud of ourselves
GenAI: It’s a terrible time to be average
GenAI - ChatGPT - are such useful tools. They will also commoditize low-skilled, white-collar work. Don't be average.
Green cap, blue ladder, red airplane
Who wants to learn consulting skills, tools, tips?
100+ non-fiction books
100 books worth your time
Wise words from friends and readers
What advice do you often give? This is one of my favorite questions. It s interesting to learn from others. The advice is usually pithy and to the point (no book purchase needed). It usually says a LOT about the person, where they are in life, and what s important. It also gauges the level of engagement, intimacy, and vulnerability. Is it a mucho, macho, let s go get them pep rally? Is it…
Learning is tough (e.g., golf)
We started golfing a few years ago and it's fun for many reasons.
Think like a surgeon, who is apprenticing you?
Think of it like a surgical residency, see one, do one, teach one.
Productive, not procrastinating
Here are 9 productivity tips from readers.
Clients have 1 thing in common = you
Your clients probably vary a lot. What's a one similarity that they all share? You.
Strategy: Direction, decisions, work, time, luck
This blog started in 2011, but the seed of "consulting training" started in 2003.
Graduation, congrats
This time of the year, we are thankful, hopeful, and excited.
Got questions on strategy; my answers
When I did a session with senior managers, here are some of the strategy questions they asked
Psychology of Money (Housel, 2020)
No nonsense advice about getting and staying wealthy
Podcast interviews: learn from everyone
Spotify playlist of 40+ interviews with smart, wise, and generous people to learn from. Learn from everyone.
Self discipline: write down key takeaways
At the end of every class, I ask students to write down their key takeaways.
Using strategy to think about our careers
Strategy is about sustainable competitive advantage. What would that mean for our careers? Here are 21 questions to ask ourselves.
Be strategic: Work smart and lazy; think 80/20 rule
We need to work strategically. Think about what work will be helpful long-term.
True professionalism (1997)
What does professionalism mean? Read on. . .
How to improve US healthcare?
US healthcare is 1/5 of the US economy and has areas of improvement. See my 50 topics.
Get inspired with 1000+ amazing quotes
Many smart people have said many smart, pithy things in the past. Here are some of my favorites.
15 ways to find your unfair advantage
The world does not reward generalities. With ChatGPT, a lot of the "basic analyst, report-writing stuff" has been commoditized. Find your flow, your jam, your work.
ChatGPT answers consulting questions
ChatGPT is powerful because it does hours of boring work in seconds. It's also a lot of fun.
One pager: McKinsey argues industry boundaries are disappearing
Whenever we learn frameworks like PESTEL or Porter's 5 Forces, we also need to think of their limitations.
Why clients don’t implement
Clients pay millions of dollars to consulting firms for great, thoughtful advice. Many put the recommendations on a shelf, why?
One Powerpoint PPT a day
Crafting succinct and useful PowerPoints is difficult and requires practice.
One pager: US copyright protection for 95 years, trademarks forever
What's the difference between US copyright and trademark protection? Here's a one page powerpoint.
One Pager: The 15 year evolution of Amazon’s forecasting model
Amazon needs to forecast 400 million SKU. How do they do it, without "breaking the computer?"
One Pager: Big Tech hires lots of economists
Did you know that Uber hired 1/5 of Harvard's Economics PhD class?
One pager: US states have a revenue surplus
The Economist had a simple article about the revenue surplus that the 50 US states (and DC) had in 2021. How did they spend it?
Jack Welch in his own words: Winning
Jack Welch was the iconic CEO of GE, grew the company market cap from $14B to $400B. Straight shooter, kinda controversial.
McKinsey argues for STP (segment, target, positioning) in recruiting
STP = segmentation, targeting, positioning is a key tool in marketing. Why not apply it to recruiting?
One page PPT: CFOs 3 jobs
CFOs have to manage their balance sheets well. However, interest rates are not the top concern for US CFO in 2022.