Tom SpencerTHIS post was initially going to be called “finding your competitive advantage”, but I think it goes further than that. Here are 8 factors to get you thinking, and to help find what you’re looking for: Why do you do what you do every day? What makes you tick? What do you believe in? These […]
Whether your goals are personal or professional, setting SMART goals is the first step to actually achieving them “A goal properly set is halfway reached.” ~ Zig Ziglar 1. Background ALTHOUGH its origins are unclear, SMART goal setting appears to have been first used by Peter Drucker in his 1954 book “The Practice of Management”. […]
“One of the deep secrets of life is that all that is really worth doing is what we do for others.” ~ Lewis Carol IF THE GOAL in life (and business) is to help others, then a good first step would be to try to understand the people we are aiming to help so that […]
WHETHER you are entering a new market, launching a new product, growing market share, developing a pricing strategy or managing costs, you will want to understand the products that you are dealing with. Here are 9 things to think about when trying to understand a product. 1. Identify the product What is the product? What […]
Loyal customers provide repeat business. Do something remarkable, and they will spread the word CUSTOMER loyalty is an important asset for any business for two reasons. Firstly, loyal customers will give you repeat business, to quote Tom Peters “all business success rests on something labelled a sale”. Secondly, and more importantly, loyal customers are the people who […]
HERE is a short list of quality consultancies in Spain: 1. Everis Website: www.everis.com Founded in Madrid in 1996, Everis operates in 26 locations across 13 countries (Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, France, Italy, Mexico, Peru, Portugal, Spain, UK, USA). In Spain, Everis has offices in A Coruña, Alicante, Barcelona, Bilbao, Las Palmas, Madrid, Murcia, […]
OVER the last 3 years we have witnessed the birth of student run management consulting firms in Australia. Student run management consulting firms harness the energy and enthusiasm of capable students to help non-profits enhance their social impact, and provide a platform to foster mutually beneficial relationships between students and the non-profit sector. Students benefit because […]
NOTHING exists which is permanent. Your current success is the result of your past efforts and good fortune, and how well you have responded to changing circumstances along the way by seizing new opportunities and avoiding threats. An interesting example of a company that failed to respond to changing times is General Motors. GM was […]
You will be more likely to succeed if you can clearly articulate why you are getting into the consulting industry BEFORE applying for interviews, one question that you will want to ask yourself is “why consulting?” Relevance of the question The question is important for at least two reasons: You will be asked this question […]
Good presentations are clear, relevant, structured and provide the audience with a takeaway message YOU have probably seen a presentation at school, university or at work that you would describe as “less than successful”. The presentation was probably unsuccessful because it failed to meet your expectations. You may have found yourself asking one of the following questions: […]
THERE is a term that consultants use which is called “boiling the ocean” (I borrowed this idea from Victor Chang). If you want one cup of hot water, there are two ways you can do it: go and collect one cup of water, and heat it up; or try and boil the entire ocean. As […]
IN A RECENT post we learnt 12 tips for nailing the Guesstimate Question, which is a usual type of question that you can expect to be asked when interviewing for a position at a consulting firm. We now consider how to approach the Guesstimate Question. There are at least three ways to answer a guesstimate […]
THE only way to do well in the consulting case interview is to do lots of practice. Here is the most current list of free online case interview questions: Ace the Case Bain & Company Booz & Co Boston Consulting Group Capital One Job Search Online MBA Case McKinsey MIT Oliver Wyman
PEOPLE are motivated to succeed in business for different reasons. Some people want to change the world and some just want to make money. If you go to business school or listen to CEOs speak at annual meetings you’ll hear a lot of talk about money: how much money, made by whom, from which activities, […]
AS WE found out in the previous post, the guesstimate question is a usual type of question that you can expect to be asked when interviewing for a position at a consulting firm. Here are 12 tips to help you nail the guesstimate question: Practice: We live in a world where most of us use a […]
THE guesstimate question is a usual type of question that you can expect to be asked when interviewing for a position at a consulting firm. What will you be asked to do A typical guesstimate question will require you to estimate a number by doing a rough “back of the beer coaster” calculation. You are […]
A PERSON who wants to work on their leadership ability should work on their self-esteem. The job of a leader is to persuade and inspire. A leader needs to develop and persuasively convey a clear vision of what their organisation plans to do, and to inspire and empower the people who work for that organisation […]
WORLD GDP is growing at 4% per year, how long will it take for world GDP to double? Your company’s revenue is growing at 10% per month, how long will it take for your company’s revenue to double? There is a simple rule of thumb that you can use to figure out roughly how long […]
An elevator pitch needs to be clear, concise, provide a solution and generate interest in order to just get the conversation started AS WE discovered in the previous post, an elevator pitch is a high-level overview of whatever it is that you are selling and is designed to just get the conversation started (Elevator Pitch […]
An elevator pitch is a high-level overview of whatever it is that you are selling and is designed to just get the conversation started.
Assigning direct responsibility for productivity improvement makes it much more likely that action will be taken to improve productivity PRODUCTIVITY is important. Every organisation wants to produce more with less. The difficulty is though, that “productivity” is a nebulous term. Who is responsible for this “productivity” you speak of? Assigning direct responsibility for productivity improvement […]
If 30% of your people’s effort is focused on internal affairs and you can redirect it so that only 10% of people’s effort is focused internally, then that is a major boost in productivity.
TEN years ago, what were you doing? For me, I was just entering my final year of high school and gearing up to sit the final exams called the Higher School Certificate. Expectations were high! Our teachers told us that these were the most important set of exams that we would ever take because “a […]
A résumé is a sales document which presents a factual account of your skills, knowledge and experience in the best possible light to help you win an interview 1. The importance of a résumé A résumé is a factual presentation of your skills, knowledge, experience and proven abilities and an indication of your potential. The […]
Consultants can help an organisation by supporting organisational change, accelerating information gathering and ensuring rigorous analysis FOLLOWING on from the previous post which considered whether consultants are just highly paid scapegoats, let’s consider a common consulting stereotype which sheds some light on where consultants add value. Consultants are people who borrow your watch, tell you what time it is, and then walk off with the watch. Attributed to Robert Townsend, this well known […]
Consultants charge huge sums for superficial but well “powerpointed” presentations in return for the company executives’ right to take full credit for any successful outcomes MANAGEMENT consultants are often loudly criticised. Why is this so? A large part of the reason is that consultants are paid a lot of money to provide recommendations which may […]
FORMER McKinsey consultant Victor Cheng provides us with an interesting insight. The skills that get you hired as a consultant are not the same skills that get you promoted, and the skills that get you promoted are not the same skills that take you to the top. You get hired for your analytical skills, you […]
EXECUTIVES often rely on the advice of expert management consultants. Was it always this way? Where did it all begin? The very first management consulting firm was Arthur D. Little, founded all the way back in 1886 by a professor at MIT whose name was (funnily enough) Arthur D. Little. Almost 30 years later, Booz […]
In order to maximize your chances during the interviewing process, it’s important to prepare carefully. This article provides 5 tips to help you ace the interview.
FOLLOWING on from the theme of my last post, which highlighted Alain de Botton’s kinder and gentler philosophy of success, I think it would be valuable to consider why we do what we do. In an attempt to become “successful” many of us work long hours and sacrifice time that could be spent with friends and […]
LAST night I attended my first independently organised TED event, TEDx EmeraldCity. The event was organised by the ever dynamic and always delightful Melissa O’Young. The name of the event sounds pretty random, and it is, but it is also quite clever. Since this was an Australian TED event the thinking was as follows: Australia – […]
There are six strategic principles which are relevant to any company that wants to be profitable online IN AN article entitled “Strategy and the Internet” published in the March 2001 edition of the Harvard Business Review, Michael Porter outlined six principles that he believes companies need to […]
ON 1 August 2009, at the opening of its new global headquarters in Yokohama, Nissan launched its first fully electric vehicle, the Nissan Leaf EV. Nissan appears to have made a long term strategic commitment to electric vehicles. According to one source, Nissan has been busy developing electric vehicles since 1992. Nissan, with alliance partner […]
The GE-McKinsey 9-Box Matrix offers any decentralised corporation with multiple business units a systematic approach to help it decide where to invest its cash IN SEPTEMBER 2008, the McKinsey Quarterly published an interactive audio presentation on the GE-McKinsey 9-Box Matrix. An outline of this framework is provided below. 1. Background The 9-Box Matrix follows in […]
IT would be easy to forget that there are many fine people out there who have never heard of this “CFA Program”. What is the CFA Program? The CFA Institute describes the CFA Program as a graduate-level course for investment professionals. The course covers an extremely broad range of topics including: ethics, quantitative methods (read: […]
IN THESE troubled economic times it may be difficult to obtain an offer of employment. There are lots of skilled people competing for a small number of jobs. Be bold, stand up for yourself, and don’t take no for an answer! Dear Employer, Thank you for your letter rejecting my application for employment with your […]
THE ability to find and retain talented employees is vital to sustained business success. Attractive remuneration, stock options plans, medical benefits, and other incentives are attractive enticements for any employee. But what factors are important in attracting, focusing and retaining the most productive and talented workers? Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman, in their international bestselling […]
Business Mutualism MUTUALISM, a concept from biology, refers to a relationship between two species or organisms in which both benefit from the association. Following on from the ideas put forward in a recent talk by Robert Full, we can apply this idea to the world of business by considering the idea of “Business Mutualism”. We […]
ONE of the take away lessons from the CFA curriculum is that the conventional method of valuing an investment is to determine the present value of expected future cashflows. One way of doing this would be to use the constant growth dividend discount model, which estimates the value of a stock by assuming that dividends […]
An exam day overview I did the CFA Level 1 Exam yesterday. If you haven’t heard of the CFA Exam before, see the article “CFA Exam – What is it? Why do it? How to prepare.” It is definitely one of the most exhausting tests I have undertaken, a gruelling six hour 240 question multiple […]
WHEN posed with a business problem, there is always a temptation to accept the first solution that adequately addresses the problem. However, the “adequate” solution is usually not the only solution, and often not the best one. Adopting the first solution that “works” may get us from A to B and, once we have a […]
GIVEN my lack of time lately, I thought that writing a short post on worker productivity would be amusingly appropriate. I am working 10/11 hour days, studying for the CFA, and writing this blog, among other things. Fun times! I recently stumbled across an idea called the “Hawthorne Effect”, which I thought it would be […]
1. The golden ratio THE golden ratio is believed to have aesthetically pleasing properties. The golden ratio is a naturally occurring number that has been the subject of interest since ancient Greek times, and has been used in architecture, art, books and music since at least the time of the Renaissance. For example, artists have […]
The Product Life Cycle Model can be used to analyse the maturity stage of products and industries 1. Background THE idea of the Product Life Cycle was first developed in 1965 by Theodore Levitt in an article entitled “Exploit the Product Life Cycle” published in the Harvard Business Review on 1 November 1965. 2. Benefit […]
1. The importance of a cover letter A COVER letter is a short one page sales letter that accompanies your resume as part of your job application. The cover letter is important because it creates a first impression of you with your potential employer. The main purpose of a cover letter is to obtain an […]
When a company is trying to borrow money, executives, entrepreneurs and consultants should be aware that there are five criteria that most lenders care about What are lenders looking for? IT IS important to understand what lenders look for when they lend money because companies often need to borrow money for various reasons: increase cash […]
PREVIOUSLY I created a list of certain consulting firms in Australia and America. I have decided to do the same thing for India. This list provides quick access to a list of the top consulting firms in India and provides a short description of each. I hope you find it useful. The list of consulting […]
THIS list of strategy and general business consulting firms forms part of the full list of consulting firms in India: McKinsey & Company Boston Consulting Group Bain Consulting India Pvt Ltd AT Kearney Accenture Tata Strategic Management Group A. F. Ferguson & Co. Arshiya International Ltd Deloitte KVP Business Solutions PRTM Management Consultants Madras Consultancy […]
THE list of IT consulting firms forms part of the full list of consulting firms in India: Diamond Management & Technology Consultants Capgemini Binary Semantics ISHIR Digital ProcessLOGIX Consulting Pvt Ltd RADIX Corbus 1. Diamond Management & Technology Consultants Website: www.diamondconsultants.com Diamond has headquarters in Chicago and offices in Hartford, New York, Washington D.C., London […]
THE list of HR consulting firms forms part of the full list of consulting firms in India: Mitcon Consultancy Services Ltd Vruksham Talent Group ALP Management Consultants Synergetics Omam Consultants Ma Foi Management Consultants Ltd ABC Consultants Pvt Ltd 1. Mitcon Consultancy Services Ltd Website: www.mitconindia.com Founded in 1982, MITCON is based in Pune and […]