504: A guide to difficult decision making (with Eric Pliner)

As a policy, we do not write much about our clients. However, I felt this story was worth sharing. A candidate from an unknown school, from one of the poorest developing countries in the world, lands an offer at BBM. In fact, the first from her country. I have heavily disguised her details to protect her identity. Note, this client was a Firmsconsulting Emerging Fellow, the very first and the reason we started this program, when she was admitted to our program and is part of the scholarship program we run to identify and groom outstanding individuals from the emerging markets and inner cities.

4 Feb 201231min

These are the 4 books we recommend for summer reading. Two, are among the most important books for management consulting that we recommend for all management consultants. "McKinsey's Marvin Bower" is a book we recommend to every single and aspiring consultant and is the foundation of understanding the values of management consulting.

29 Jan 20127min

This podcast discusses one of the most common problems for candidates. When consultants are indifferent, unwilling to give bad news or insufficiently informed, they can provide misleading information which costs time and money. The irony is that candidates place too much emphasis on this feedback and sometimes hurt their chances. We discuss the reasons why this happens, common phrases to be aware off and ignore and how to carefully read between the lines when accepting feedback.

23 Jan 201219min

Last week we attended a graduation dinner for a candidate, who insisted we prove to her that it is possible to speak authoritatively on any subject and with zero preparation. She introduced us to a doyen of health economics to test this theory. FYI – we were not prepped in advance and do not know anything about the field. We wanted to show her techniques to manage such situations. Listen to what happens.

17 Jan 201218min

Tackles some the recent problems we have seen with candidates. We have tried to stay away from conventional advice and address issues not commonly discussed. Since this is largely based on the tactics we advise our clients to follow, it is bound to be counter to the plethora of advice you find in many books and on many sites.

11 Jan 201219min

This long podcast (60 minutes) examines the common mistakes consultants make at each level of their career. I have gone into some detail to explain my own mistakes, and that of former and current colleagues. Some of the advice is counter-intuitive and I have stayed away from generic advice. This will be very useful to aspiring consultants who need to understand what it takes to succeed at each level.

5 Jan 201259min

We get this question more times than you can imagine. We also get a chorus of Accenture people telling us we are wrong, and they are "eating McKinsey's lunch." I think the question posed is incorrect and the defense of Accenture is incorrect. This podcast explains why. BBM are good at advising decision makers on general management issues. They excel at that. They are pretty much no-where in the implementation space. Accenture, Deloitte SO etc have their areas of strength, but it is not in the general management advisory space. They are both good at different things. Decide what you want to do and then pick the firm. However, don't assume a firm is good everything, and if you have never worked at BBM, don't believe everything your Accenture/Deloitte/[add your firms name here] partner says. Get first-hand information. FYI – Kennedy Research, the Economist and IDC Research are not first-hand information and neither is getting the opinion of a junior person or someone with just one or two years experience.

30 Dec 201113min

Not all BCG engagements begin via a call from the CEO or Chairman of the board. Many do, but life is not that simple. Some, unusually, begin with a call from a middle-manager who does not speak English well. What differentiates BCG, and McKinsey, from Tier-2 firms, however, is how we handle these calls, understand the deeper problems, and cascade the issues upwards until, when the time counts, we are in front of the board. Most Tier-2 firms receiving the same call would settle to try to sell the middle-manager a $100K project or simply dismiss him as unimportant. BCG uses it has an opportunity to learn.

24 Dec 201140min