An Unusual Career Competitive Advantage

When you think of a career competitive advantage, you generally think of a skill you have, how you organize your life and even the school you attended. I received many emails on the previous post about competitive advantage being less important than comparative advantage in your career. In this piece I am focusing on how you fund your studies as a major point of building a career competitive advantage. While I refer to my undergraduate studies, this line of thinking applies to masters, doctoral and MBA candidates. How you fund your studies can be the largest career competitive advantage you can generate, which sets up this enormously strong foundation to help you in the future. So when you are thinking about funding your studies, realize that grants, school scholarships etc., are not always the best options. A lot of students, I would say the majority, worry most about getting so-called full-ride scholarships from their schools. They ignore corporate funding which can be a far bigger competitive advantage to have. Note, this piece is not about whether or not you get funding, it is about the type of funding you need to create this career competitive advantage. I went to a…

Corporate Finance Strategy Study

I personally find corporate finance strategy studies to be interesting. They tend to have a lot at stake and the consulting teams have to be more careful in showing value on the strategy side. That is, they are interesting not because of the supposedly scary analyses, but the thinking that is required to simplify the analyses. The reason for this is easy to explain. A corporate finance study that is awarded to McKinsey or BCG could just as easily have been awarded to a bank. So why is a firm like BCG doing it? There are different answers to this question. Sometimes the board wants an independent opinion, sometimes the relationship with the consulting partner leads to a study and at other times the client feels the consulting firm is better equipped for the work. However, irrespective of the reason, the consulting firm cannot simply replicate the work a bank could do. Some consulting firms do this, especially the audit firms, but it is path to limited differentiation in the market. McKinsey and BCG do not have the technical modeling and market understanding expertise that a bank would have. None of the elite consulting firms compete with banks for these…

Energy Strategy Study Proposal Win

It will surprise many that I led the firm to win a multi-million dollar signature energy strategy study for a potential crown jewel client when I was just a consultant. It certainly surprised me when it happened. And when I say led, I mean thinking through the approach, writing the letter of purpose, leading the teams and presenting to the client. I was not just part of the team. I was leading the entire effort from start to finish. Most consultants simply do the background research or write the letter of purpose/proposal. That kind of good fortune is a result of luck, persistence and being in the right place at the right time. In this piece, I want to talk about how I did this and possibly how you can replicate this in your career. I had been transferred to this office for just 3 months. I was not well known; one of the youngest consultants in the firm and this office was very operationally focused. Operations were not my area of expertise so consultants, partners and clients with operations work dominated the discussions. I also think I had previously made some disparaging remarks about operations work when I had…

Lessons from the Failure of a Consulting Partner

A McKinsey or BCG partner, or consulting partner of any other firm, must question and challenge a client in a professional manner. The basis of the relationship must be one where the client allows the partner to be candid about what he/she thinks. The best partners build relationships where this is expected of them. The worst partners pander to the client. There is no point claiming to be the advisor to a client when you are afraid to tell him/her the painful truth. External parties reading the phrase “the client always comes first” routinely misinterpret this to mean the client must be given whatever they want and must be always happy. That could not be further from the truth. Putting the client first routinely means putting the client needs first, even if that upsets the client. Sometimes, the client’s needs and the client’s wants do not sync, so while their needs are met they end up being bitter or angry from the process. That happens far more often than you would think. The best clients are mature and professional. They are seasoned and understand a consulting recommendation is just that - a recommendation that does not need to be followed. Therefore,…

Corporate Strategy for Power Utility

Corporate Strategy for Power Utility Corporate strategy is not like a business unit strategy whereby the corporate objectives of the parent are guiding the business unit/division. Understanding business unit strategy is much easier if you think of a lighthouse analogy. The direction and objectives of the parent company are the lighthouse, and the purpose of the business unit strategy engagement is to watch the lighthouse and build a plan to get there. So, the lighthouse may be, for example, insisting on no less than 30% market share and a return of 18% on all investments. In business unit strategy, the consultants need to build a path to these objectives. In corporate strategy, there is no lighthouse. The job of the corporate strategy engagement team is to develop that lighthouse. What should be the purpose, direction and objective of the parent? The canvas of options is blank and it is scary. The longer the team takes, the longer you have life rafts aka the operating divisions floundering around for direction. This is why corporate strategy is so complex. There are so few rules and boundaries and an inexperienced consultant can end up causing a lot of damage. A too conservative management…

Chief Strategy Officer: Promotion or Demotion?

From Emerging Markets Township to Consulting Partner

The path from emerging markets township to consulting partner is rarely traveled. Yet it is possible if you focus on what many others do not: do your job well. *** There is an interesting pattern to burgeoning new suburbs bearing glamorous names like “Bel Air Gardens” or “Pacific Palisades”. Are you thinking about palm trees, the perfect blue sky and gigantic mansions? Please adjust your mental picture to a place where the closest ocean is 150 miles away, there are no gardens anywhere, let alone parks or bicycle paths. The truth is they are usually the names given to ultra-low income housing projects in some of the most impoverished countries in the world. Growing up, I pondered the following questions: Do developers really think they need to market low-income housing to homeless people? Is there a segment of the homeless population actually debating the merits of sleeping in a tin house versus a proper home? Will the lives of the destitute really be brighter since the name is happier? I always wanted to meet one of these developers and understand the logic of their misplaced marketing budgets. I had plenty of time to think about these things because I was…

Women in consulting: 8 ideas to advance your career

Women in consulting are a minority, as management consulting is a male dominated field. Being the only female in the room is a common experience for almost all women in consulting. The discomfort that women in consulting experience ranges from simple things like men being slightly uncomfortable and apologizing every time they use a vulgar word to having your ideas completely ignored, only to see the very same ideas being accepted when a male colleague paraphrases exactly what you have just said a few minutes ago. To make things worse, not only men, but also some women treat other women worse than men. I have observed on several occasions female clients treating male consultants significantly better than female consultants on the same team. Think about the situation a female management consultant is in? She is in most cases the only female on the team and most likely is already being discriminated to some degree by her own colleagues. She is trying to do a great job on the project and satisfaction of the client as well as relationship with the client contribute significantly to her reputation and overall career in the management consulting firm. Yet, the client likes her less due…

1st Financial Services Strategy Study via Crowdsourcing

Crowdsourcing America's Renewal: Would you like to take part in a real, and live, financial services strategy study and contribute to renewing America as the world's greatest nation? In a first for a major strategy study, Firmsconsulting is going to work with our clients and members across the US to collect data on micro, small and medium-sized businesses run by immigrant and low-income entrepreneurs. We are going to conduct an important financial services study which could provide the vital clues to meaningfully reduce inequality, create a viable path to the American middle class and help generate a measurable improvement in America's competitiveness. The Firmsconsulting team will run the market entry strategy study but will use data-points, exhibits and questionnaires submitted by our readers from around the USA. Therefore, this will be the first strategy study ever done which applies the rigor of management consulting analyses while crowdsourcing the collective wisdom of our readers. Join our crowdsourcing strategy project by interviewing entrepreneurs who are immediately accessible to you. A study for the people and of the people, should be guided by the people. Download the questionnaire here. Who will you interview? Immigrant and low-income entrepreneurs who are running businesses generating revenue…