23: Consultant to Partner
Most people have a romanticized view of management consulting work. Usually wrong. I wanted to talk about my typically day/week as an associate (MBA level) consultant, and particularly how that changed as I moved up the ranks to the partnership. It will help you understand why mental math is so useful, as well as the extreme stresses of the job. Keep in mind that I was a very, very driven partner. It was very normal for me to work most of Saturday and Sunday and I typically traveled on a Saturday night so I could arrive in a new city the day before the week began. This allowed me to adjust and prepare adequately for the week ahead. Many partners could, and do travel less. I still maintain an aggressive work and travel schedule and have never formed a family. It all depends on priorities and client demands.
27 Jul 201125min
22: McKinsey's True Impact
Just about every potential candidate we screen talks about the impact management consulting has on major corporations and governments around the world. Indeed, that remains an alluring reason to join BBM. In this podcast, I wanted to discuss the true impact of management consulting, by reflecting on one of my own projects, and discussing the real power and responsibility of management consulting. This will help you understand why cases are so tough. When thinking about the role and impact of management consultants, you must always remember the law of scarcity. There is never ever enough investment and jobs to go around. Therefore, when we advise on a plant being built in Poland versus Romania or entering Brazil today and Indonesia later, there will be winning families and losing families. There is no way around it. In the short term, someone will suffer. Your job is to make sure the client benefits no matter the emotional fallout. And there is always emotional impact. It cannot be avoided, though junior consultants are almost always shielded from it.
21 Jul 201125min
21: A tough client's lessons and failures
Podcast: Day 0 with a tough candidate Early this year, we spent a week in Middle East helping a candidate prepare for his case interviews. The son of a former client, this series of podcasts outlines the difficulties of placing someone starting from a zero base of preparation. I mean zero. We have changed some details but all the insights and examples are real. We were brought in to spend an entire week taking this candidate through a crash course in case preparation. In this first podcast we clearly outline the challenges we would need to overcome.
15 Jul 201123min
20: The types of cases that exist
Many candidates are confused between the different types of cases: interviewer led, interviewee led, brainstorming, market entry, market sizing etc. In this podcast we will discuss the different types of cases you will face and where you will likely encounter them.
9 Jul 201111min
19: Types of cases between firms
McKinsey, BCG, Bain and Roland Berger use similar but not the same case styles. Within even one firm, styles may differ. Each firm uses a very different interview style. We discuss the different styles to expect and how to handle the questions you will encounter. We also rank the difficulty of the cases from each firm. Expect some counter-intuitive ordering.
3 Jul 201114min
18: Comparing Offers between firms
How do you pick the firm to build your career: prestige, ranking, salary, feedback from friends or friendliness of the interviewer? Actually none of these will help you. In this podcast we explain how outstanding consultants build their careers and what you need to consider when choosing a firm.
27 Jun 201113min
17: Arithmetic skills actually needed for cases
We were forced to prepare this podcast after realizing how poorly candidates prepare for the arithmetic rigor they need to display. For some reason candidates believe practicing hundreds of math problems make them better at math. This is not how to learn math in cases. This podcast gives you proper guidance on learning arithmetic for cases, and how to communicate this competency.
21 Jun 201112min
16: Advising a McKinsey Consultant
On Monday this week, we had an early lunch at Crush restaurant at King West in Toronto. We wanted to advise a recently placed McKinsey associate who was struggling to make the transition. The challenges he faced provide an interesting perspective on what skills you will need as a consultant, and related to this, what you need to show in an interview.
15 Jun 201117min
