414: Startups and their Wrong Decisions (with Tom Eisenmann)

This podcast addresses a major misunderstanding about billable hours. The concept is not bad at all, but works only in certain circumstances. This podcast carefully explains those circumstances, and crucially examines how billable hours hurts consulting assignments. It has nothing to do with the focus on profits, but rather who has the focus on profits.

28 Apr 201512min

In September 2013 we published the inspiring story of Irina who worked her way from a Ukraine vocational school into McKinsey. This podcast tracks her progress since joining McKinsey and explains the mistakes she made which ultimately led to her leaving McKinsey.

22 Apr 201518min

This is a short podcast offering subscribers advice on how to best use the enormous amount of information in both seasons. In particular, the podcast offers some important reminders and explains how the watch cases will allow you to write the strategy MBA exam at any major business school.

16 Apr 20156min

In Season 2 of The Consulting Offer, you will regularly see Alice breaking down the case problem into the correct logical components. She is impressive at doing this. However, you will also see Kevin pushing her to offer more. This podcast explains what Kevin was looking for. In other words, being logical in a case interview is insufficient to impress a partner in the final round interviews.

10 Apr 20159min

We insist candidates read extensively to improve their business judgement. However, we find candidates really struggle to demonstrate they have indeed read the article, and more importantly, have improved their thinking in some way as a result of reading the article. This counter-intuitive piece demonstrates how to generate 2nd, 3rd and 4th order insights when communicating with partners.

4 Apr 201511min

Candidates approach Merger and Acquisition cases with a very generic framework where Merger and Acquisition and JV's tend to be lumped together. This podcast demonstrates the power of effectively framing the case problem and introduces candidates to a very elegant / effective technique to develop strategies to capture the profits from a market. In fact, this technique demonstrates why an Merger and Acquisition is the absolute last resort to enter a market.

29 Mars 201515min

This podcast teaches readers how to extract up to 80% of the useful information about an article before you even read the article. The podcast first explains the difference between news, facts and opinions, before showing you the steps to analyze an article. Finally, the podcast uses the recent New York Times article about McKinsey and Dominic Barton to apply these very same concepts. You will see that what McKinsey what you to read from this article is very different from the information you should have extracted.

23 Mars 201526min

Between 17 January 2013 and 30 January 2013 we will be rolling out some significant and exciting changes to the website. Many of these changes coincide with the premier of Season Two of the Consulting Offer, and are useful because they make the material easier to watch, interact with and learn from. We will also be making changes to the way club members and clients access the material. We spent a long time thinking about these changes and while they will impact many members, remain completely aligned with our core values of treating all clients fairly.

17 Mars 201513min