563: The hidden meaning behind failure (Suneel Gupta)

Welcome to an interview with the author of Inside the Competitor's Mindset, John Horn, where he shares proven techniques to help businesses think like the competition and understand why they act the way they do. Inside the Competitor's Mindset presents a systematic approach to competitive intelligence that starts with three frameworks to get inside the competitor's mindset, predict their reactions to your moves, and assess whether the competition is getting ready for a spontaneous move of their own. John Horn is a professor of practice in economics at the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis. He teaches MBA students microeconomics, macroeconomics, and global business. John was a Senior Expert in the Strategy Practice of McKinsey & Company for 9 years, working with clients on competitive strategy, war gaming workshops, and corporate and business unit strategy across a variety of industries and geographies. He helped over 100 clients with war game workshops and developed a set of simulation exercises to help companies understand the challenges of reallocating resources. He continues to consult through his LLC: Gateway Competitive Insights. John has published nine papers in the McKinsey Quarterly and three in the Harvard Business Review, mostly on the application of behavioral economics and competitive insight to business strategy. John has a PhD in economics from Harvard University, where he also received a Masters degree in economics. Get John's book here: Inside the Competitor's Mindset: How to Predict Their Next Move and Position Yourself for Success. John Horn https://rb.gy/ahn1x Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

3 Jul 202359min

Welcome to an interview with Ryan McAnnally-Linz, coauthor of Life Worth Living: A Guide to What Matters Most. This book provides readers with jumping-off points, road maps, and habits of reflection for figuring out where their lives hold meaning and where things need to change. The book draws from major world religions and from impressively truthful and courageous figures such as Jesus, Muhammad, the Buddha, Aristotle, Socrates, Martin Luther King, Jr., the Dalai Lama, Ida B. Wells, James Baldwin, Mary Wollstonecraft, Confucius, and Nietzsche, to name a few. The authors' goal is for readers to define and create a flourishing life, and answer one of life's most pressing questions: how are we to live? Ryan McAnnally-Linz is the associate director of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture. He is a coauthor with Volf of The Home of God and Public Faith in Action (Brazos), a 2016 Publishers Weekly Best Book in religion, and has written for The Washington Post's Acts of Faith, Sojourners, and The Christian Century. Get Ryan's book here: Life Worth Living: A Guide to What Matters Most. Miroslav Volf, Matthew Croasmun, Ryan McAnnally-Linz. https://www.amazon.com/Life-Worth-Living-Guide-Matters-ebook/dp/B0B5CZ6YM3/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1C3TO2I7SIO5M&keywords=life+worth+living&qid=1681712806&s=digital-text&sprefix=life+worth+livin%2Cdigital-text%2C311&sr=1-1 Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

28 Jun 202353min

For this episode, let's revisit a Case Interview & Management Consulting classic where we speak about how to treat your case partner. Your case practice partner is the most important ally you have as you prepare. The problem is that most people completely squander this advantage. They tend to be unclear about their level of preparation and commitment they are willing to make. Many arrive late to practice sessions, prepare poorly and fail to keep track of their partners performance. When a practice partners breaks contact, you are left in the position of having to transfer all that important insight about yourself to a new practice partner and that is just inefficient even if it could be done. This podcast discusses ways to manage the problem. Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

26 Jun 20236min

Welcome to an interview with Sandeep Chennakeshu, the author of Your Company Is Your Castle: Proven Methods for Building a Resilient Business, where he describes how to assess and systematically build a company's business model, financial health, strategy, culture, products, sales channels, execution, and stakeholder confidence to make the company formidable. Your Company Is Your Castle equips you with critical insights and principles to build strong businesses and in turn build yourself into a strong leader. Sandeep Chennakeshu is a lifelong student and aspiring teacher whose heart is in technology and mind is in business. He earned a postgraduate diploma in industrial management from the Indian Institute of Science and a PhD in electrical engineering from Southern Methodist University. He then entered the electronics industry and led the development and launches of technology that billions use every day via cell phones, laptops, wearables, satellites, medical equipment, and cars. He is a Fellow of IEEE and a named inventor on 180 patents. After two decades in corporate roles as CTO of Ericsson Mobile Phones and Sony Ericsson, president of Ericsson Mobile Platforms, SVP at Freescale, president of BlackBerry Technology Solutions, and EVP of AMD, Sandeep returned to consulting and the start-up world. He is currently COO at Uhnder Inc., a pioneer in digital-imaging radar, and sits on the advisory boards of exciting tech start-ups. Managing operations in fourteen different countries over the span of his career gave Sandeep a deep appreciation for global businesses. Along this rich cultural journey, he led the transformation of three underperforming businesses using the principles outlined in his new book. Sandeep lives and works in Austin, Texas and plans to spend the next chapter of his life sharing his learnings through writing and mentoring. Get Sandeep's book here: Your Company Is Your Castle: Proven Methods for Building a Resilient Business. Sandeep Chennakeshu. https://www.amazon.com/Your-Company-Castle-Building-Resilient/dp/1957616040 Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

21 Jun 202354min

For this episode, let's revisit a Case Interview & Management Consulting classic where we speak about productivity. In brainstorming the interviewer is looking for your approach to define an objective function, understand the direct drivers of the function, prioritize the drivers and explain how to manipulate them. There is only one definition for productivity and that is formally used in all studies. Productivity is the total value of outputs over the total cost to deliver those outputs. Other definitions are derivations which assess narrow areas only. A candidate will struggle to understand operations cases unless they understand the concept of productivity. Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

19 Jun 20235min

For this episode, let's revisit a Case Interview & Management Consulting classic where we speak about BCG and McKinsey approaches. Merging the BCG and McKinsey approach, elegantly. This is a simple discussion on how to merge both approaches so you do not need to worry about learning different techniques. One caveat, as explained in latter podcasts is to assume there is just a simple BCG and simple McKinsey style. It is dangerous to make this assumption. About 50% to 60% of McKinsey cases cannot be solved with any framework at all. Most McKinsey cases require an hypotheses upfront, but not all, and they almost all interviewer led. It is crucial to understand the different ways a case can be done and listen carefully to the interviewer to figure out which is best for you. Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

14 Jun 20236min

For this episode, let's revisit a Case Interview & Management Consulting classic where we speak about career rotation vs. progression. Candidates always want to show improvement on their resumes in the months leading up to their applications. For those working in industry or rival consulting firms, showing leadership and career development is crucial. This podcast explains that career rotation, a lateral move at the same pay grade, is rarely a good idea unless it takes you to a part of the business where you can show leadership in solving a major problem. Career progression, a promotion to a new pay grade, always looks good on a resume because it demonstrates you are mastering your functional domain. It is better to stay in a role and achieve results than rotating for a better title. Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

12 Jun 20234min

For this episode, let's revisit a Case Interview & Management Consulting classic where we speak about the three core technical concepts around cases. We always teach clients estimation technique first, followed by brainstorming technique and finally full case technique. There is a simple reason for this, which is explained in this podcast. Estimations tend to be, but not always, a brainstorm with very few or just one branch. A brainstorm is therefore an estimation equation with multiple branches. A full case structure is a very large brainstorm with mini-brainstorms at each new branch. We want candidates to see this evolution so they can understand how crucial brainstorming is to the entire case interview approach. Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

7 Jun 20236min