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The Mckinsey Way Book Summary by Dr.N.Asokan

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Dr. N. Asokan
Dr. N. Asokan

This document summarizes key concepts from the book "The McKinsey Way" about how McKinsey Consulting approaches problem solving. Some of the main ideas discussed include developing an initial hypothesis to structure problem solving, testing hypotheses with facts, leveraging past solutions but tailoring approaches to individual clients, and assembling effective teams. The document also provides tips for managing hierarchy by making one's boss look good through high quality work.

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THE McKINSEY WAY ETHAN M. RASIEL Book Summary by Dr.N.Asokan
THE McKINSEY WAY • Why is something done this way? • Is this the best way it can be done? • You have to be fundamentally skeptical about everything.
BUILDING THE SOLUTION • FEEL FREE TO BE MECE • MECE structures your thinking with maximum clarity and maximum completeness. • Is each one a separate and distinct issue? • If so, then your issue list is mutually exclusive. • Does every aspect of the problem come under one of these issues-that is, have you thought of everything? • If so, then your issues are collectively exhaustive. • You have to check that it also includes every issue or item relevant to the problem.
BUILDING THE SOLUTION • DEFINING THE INITIAL HYPOTHESIS • Figure out the solution to the problem before you start. • Down to another level or two of detail. • GENERATING THE INITIAL HYPOTHESIS • To structure your IH begin by breaking the problem. • Make an actionable recommendation. • You must take each top-line recommendation and break it down to the level of issues. • What issues does it raise?
BUILDING THE SOLUTION • TESTING THE INITIAL HYPOTHESIS • Are all your recommendations actionable and provable? • IHs produced by teams are much stronger than those produced by individuals. • What if we change this?
DEVELOPING AN APPROACH • No two business problems are identical; you must figure out how to approach each problem in order to devise the best solution for it. • THE PROBLEM IS NOT ALWAYS THE PROBLEM • Make sure you’re solving the right problem. • Doctor’s patients. • To dig deeper, Get facts, Ask questions, Poke around.
DEVELOPING AN APPROACH • DON’T REINVENT THE WHEEL • Most business problems resemble each other more than they differ. • This means that with a small number of problem- solving techniques. • You can answer a broad range of questions. • Forces at work. • The technique involves identifying the client’s suppliers, customers, competitors, and possible substitute products.
DEVELOPING AN APPROACH • BUT EVERY CLIENT IS UNIQUE • Business problems does not mean that similar problems have similar solutions. • If all you have is a hammer, then every problem looks like a nail. • Requires hard proof. • Hint from former President Reagan: “Trust and verify.”
DEVELOPING AN APPROACH • Is useless if your client or business can’t implement it. • Know the organization’s strengths, weaknesses, and capabilities. • If I can do only three things, I’ll do the three biggest. • Academic ideals meet business realities, business realities usually win.
DEVELOPING AN APPROACH • Businesses are full of real people, with real strengths and weaknesses and limitations. • These people can do only so much with the finite resources available in their organizations. • Lack of resources or inability. • Limitations of your client; if your client is your own employer.
DEVELOPING AN APPROACH • SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO LET THE SOLUTION COME TO YOU • The client will not know what the problem is. • If you get your facts together and do your analyses, the solution will come to you.
DEVELOPING AN APPROACH • SOME PROBLEMS YOU JUST CAN’T SOLVE….. SOLVE THEM ANYWAY • The biggest obstacle-the troll guarding the bridge. • Sometimes change management means just that changing management. • Did not want us to come up with a real answer.
DEVELOPING AN APPROACH • Have to deal with the personnel resources. • Expand your time horizon. • People leave the organization, you can “tweak” your way to your optimum over time. • Politics is just people acting in their own interests.
80/20 and Other Rules to Live By • Where do your profits come from? • They you know the right questions to ask. • Play with the numbers. • You will begin to see patterns, clumps that stand out. • They may mean problems. • They also mean opportunities. • Find the opportunities and make the most of them.
80/20 and Other Rules to Live By • DON’T BOIL THE OCEAN • Only enough facts. • Anything more is a waste of time and effort. • “Don’t boil the ocean” means don’t try to analyze everything. • Be selective; figure out the priorities of what you are doing. • Know when you have done enough, then stop. • Otherwise, you will spend a lot of time and effort for very return, like boiling the ocean to get a handful of salt.
80/20 and Other Rules to Live By • FIND THE KEY DRIVERS • Square Law of Computation. • Focusing on the key drivers means drilling down to the core of the problem. • It saves you time. It saves you effort. • It keeps you from boiling the ocean.
80/20 and Other Rules to Live By • THE ELEVATOR TEST • You can explain it clearly and precisely to your client in 30 seconds. • Jason Klein instituted the elevated test when he took over as president of Field & Stream: • The client wants to know the recommendations for each issue and the pay off.
80/20 and Other Rules to Live By • PLUCK THE LOW-HANGING FRUIT • Satisfying your customer in a long-term relationship. • Whoever it is, it pays to keep him happy and let him know that he is your top priority. • Those little wins help you and your customers.
80/20 and Other Rules to Live By • MAKE A CHART EVERY DAY • It is anal-retentive. • What are the three most important things I learned today? • Write them down as bullet points. • Results someplace where they won’t get lost.
80/20 and Other Rules to Live By • HIT SINGLES • You can’t do everything, so don’t try. • Don’t try to knock the ball out of the park. • Hit singles. Get your job done-don’t try to do the work of the whole team. • It’s impossible to do everything yourself all the time. • If you manage it once, you raise unrealistic expectations from those around you. • Once you fail to meet expectations, it is very difficult to regain credibility.
80/20 and Other Rules to Live By • You are only as good as your last study. • If you fail, to fail gloriously. • LOOK AT THE BIG PICTURE • Ask yourself some basic questions; • Haven’t come up with any end products. • Does this really matter?
80/20 and Other Rules to Live By • DON’T ACCEPT “I HAVE NO IDEA” • People always have an idea if you probe just a bit. • “ I have no idea” is a code; • Don’t accept “I have no idea” – treat it as a challenge. • You shouldn’t accept if from yourself, or expect others to accept it from you.
SELLLING A STUDY • HOW TO SELL WITHOUT SELLING • Just be there, at the right time, and make sure the right people know you are. • But because McKinsey markets. • The Firm produces a steady stream of books and articles, some of them extremely influential. • McKinsey also publishes its own scholarly journal.
SELLLING A STUDY • Which it sends gratis to its clients, as well as to its former consultants. • McKinsey maintains a vast network of informal contacts. • Firm encourages its partners to participate in “extracurricular activities” • That the right people know the Firm is there.
SELLLING A STUDY • You can still find ways to network with existing and potential clients and customers. • Write a good article and you will get your name. • Who would otherwise never have heard of you. • Meet your competitors. • Make sure he knows you.
SELLLING A STUDY • BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU PROMISE: STRUCTURING AN ENGAGEMENT • A lot of pressure to deliver the maximum results in the minimum time. • A project that a team of four to six consultants. • That will produce tangible results. • simultaneously making the client feel that he is getting value for money and exceeding his expectations.
SELLLING A STUDY • Don’t bite off more than you can chew and know what your end product is going to be. • Get a feel for the scope of the problem. • A recommendation, an implementation plan, a new product design, and so forth. • To reach your goal and get a commitment from your boss that you will have them. • Structuring your project properly at the beginning may not guarantee your success, but it at least gets you off to the right start.
ASSEMBLING A TEAM • ABOUT TEAMS AT McKINSEY • More people mean more hands to gather and analyze data and, more important, more minds to figure out what the data really mean. • GETTING THE MIX RIGHT • The first theory states that intellectual horsepower is everything-find the smartest people for your team regardless of their experience or personal hygiene.
ASSEMBLING A TEAM • GETTING THE MIX RIGHT • The second theory says that what really matters is specific experience and skills; intelligence is a given within the firm. • The biggest mistake in team selection comes from taking those ratings at face value. • Never just accept people who are supposed to be good. Meet them face to face.
ASSEMBLING A TEAM • A LITTLE TEAM BONDING GOES A LONG WAY • If a team is going to bond, it will mostly bond through work. • Try to get your team’s “significant other” involved; this will help them understand what their loved ones-your teammates-are doing, and it will help you understand your teammates. • Above all, respect you teammates’ time.
ASSEMBLING A TEAM • TAKE YOUR TEAM’S TEMPERATURE TO MAINTAIN MORALE • Maintaining your team’s morale is an on-going responsibility. • If you don’t do it, your team will not perform well. • Make sure you know how your team feels.
ASSEMBLING A TEAM • The secret to maintaining team morale? • Take your team’s temperature. • Steer a steady course. • Let your teammates know why they are doing what they’re doing. • Treat your teammates with respect. • Get to know your teammates as people. • When the going gets tough, take the Bill Clinton approach.
MANAGING HIERARCHY • MAKE YOUR BOSS LOOK GOOD • If you make your boss look good, your boss will make you look good. • That’s the quid pro quo of hierarchy. • The most important person in your world, day in and day out, is your boss. • Making your boss look good means two things. • Firstly, it means doing your job to the best of your ability. • Clearly, if you produce high-quality work, it will make your boss’s job easier.
MANAGING HIERARCHY • MAKE YOUR BOSS LOOK GOOD • Second, make sure your boss knows everything you know when she needs to know it. • Keep the information flowing. • Make sure your boss knows where you are, what your are doing, and what problems you may be having. • At the same time, don’t overload her with information. Think about what your boss needs or wants to know. • If your boss looks good, you look good.
DOING RESEARCH • DON’T REINVENT THE WHEEL • Whatever the problem, chances are that someone, somewhere, has worked on something similar. • Your time is valuable, so don’t waste it by reinventing the wheel! • Many business people will share some information on the principle that “what goes around, comes around.” • Whatever you’re doing, chances are someone, somewhere has done something similar. • Learn from others’ successes and mistakes. • Leverage your valuable time and don’t reinvent the wheel!
DOING RESEARCH • SPECIFIC RESEARCH TIPS • Start with the annual report. • Look for outliers. • Look for best practice. • Figure out how to implement the top performer’s secrets throughout your organization.
CONDUCTING INTERVIEWS • ABOUT INTERVIEWING AT McKINSEY • Interviewing is the way McKinsey consultants fill the gaps in their knowledge base and tap into the experience and knowledge of their clients. • If you read no other chapter of the book from start to finish, read this one. • I think you’ll learn something very valuable that you won’t find elsewhere.
CONDUCTING INTERVIEWS • BE PREPARED: WRITE AN INTERVIEW GUIDE • You must think on two levels when constructing your guide. • First, and obviously, what are the questions to which you need answers? Write them all down in any order. • Second, and more important, what do you really need from this interview? • What are you trying to achieve? • Why are you talking to this person?
CONDUCTING INTERVIEWS • Defining your purpose will help you put your questions in the right order and phrase them correctly. • An interview should start with general questions and move on to specific ones. • When deciding on which questions to ask, you might want to include some to which you know the answer. • What are the three things I most want to know by the end of the interview
CONDUCTING INTERVIEWS • WHEN CONDUCTING INTERVIEWS, LISTEN AND GUIDE • Ask questions and then let them do the talking. • Most people like to talk, especially if you let them know you’re interested in what they’re saying. • The main thing to remember when trying to get information from other is that they need to feel you are listening and you’re interested in what they have to say.
CONDUCTING INTERVIEWS • SEVEN TIPS FOR SUCCESSFUL INTERVIEWING • 1. Have the interviewee’s boss set up the meeting. • 2. Interview in pairs. • 3. Listen; don’t lead. Ask open-ended questions. • 4. Paraphrase, paraphrase, paraphrase. • Most people do not think or speak in a completely structured way. • If you repeat their own words back to them.
CONDUCTING INTERVIEWS • SEVEN TIPS FOR SUCCESSFUL INTERVIEWING • 5. Use the indirect approach. • 6. Don’t ask for too much. First you might get it. • Second, you want to stop short of the straw that breaks the camel’s back. • 7. Adopt the Columbo tactic. • There’s something I forgot to ask. • “Super – Columbo” remembered a question you forgot to ask.
CONDUCTING INTERVIEWS • DON’T LEAVE THE INTERVIEWEE NAKED • Don’t be afraid to offer a quid pro quo. Along with power comes the responsibility to use it wisely. • DIFFICULT INTERVIEWS • The limits to this strategy are the limits of your authority in the organization. No one ever said life was fair. • ALWAYS WRITE A THANK-YOU NOTE • Sometimes a thank you note can yield an unexpected pay off.
BRAINSTORMING • ABOUT BRAINSTORMING AT McKINSEY • McKinsey offer a new mindset, an outsider’s view that is not locked into “the company way” of doing things. • There’s no point calling a meeting if you’re just going to look at the data in the same old way. • Shuffling a pack of cards. Each fact is a card.
BRAINSTORMING • PROPER PRIOR PREPARATION • Make sure that everyone on the team knows what you know. • It doesn’t require a detailed structure, just a little thought about what is important and how to show it. • You’ll all have the same knowledge base when it comes time to generate ideas. • The first group says, “Familiarize yourself with the outlines of the problem and the data. • Don’t try to come up with an answer before the session starts. • Always come in with a hypothesis. • Be prepared.
BRAINSTORMING • IN A WHITE ROOM • Brainstorming is about generating new ideas. • “Rules of the road” for successful brainstorming. • There are no bad ideas. • Debating ideas is part of the brainstorming process. • There are no dumb questions • Never discount the benefits of working through seemingly obvious or simple questions. • Be prepared to kill your babies • Look upon your hypothesis as just one more datum to throw into the brainstorming mix. • Don’t invest a lot of your ego in your hypothesis; don’t come to the meeting prepared to die in a ditch defending it.
BRAINSTORMING • Know when to say when • Brainstorming takes time, but if you stay at it too long, you’ll hit the point of rapidly diminishing returns. • It’s a great opportunity for people to gather their thoughts and stretch their legs.
BRAINSTORMING • SOME BRAINSTORMING EXERCISES • The Post-it exercise • The flipchart exercise • Bellyaches up front • It yielded some excellent ideas that we would not have otherwise come up with; and it helped a previously skeptical, if not outright hostile, management team buy into McKinsey’s solution.
THE McKINSEY WAY OF SELLING SOLUTIONS • The best solution, no matter how well researched, how thoroughly analyzed, how glitteringly, flawlessly structured, is worth exactly nothing if your clients don’t buy into it. • To get your clients to buy into your solution, you have to sell it to them. • You’ll learn how to put together a presentation that conveys your ideas to your audience. • You’ll discover how to manage internal communications so everyone on your team can stay “on message.”
THE McKINSEY WAY OF SELLING SOLUTIONS • You’ll find out how to work with and manage your client organizations and the people who work in them-the good ones and the bad ones. • And you’ll learn how to take your brilliant solution from paper to real life-how to make change happen.
MAKING PRESENTATIONS • BE STRUCTURED • If your presentation is sloppy and muddled, your audience will assume that your thinking is also sloppy and muddled-regardless of whether that is the case. • Your thought process is structured and logical. • “Tell ’em what you’re going to tell ‘em, tell ‘em what you told ‘em.”
MAKING PRESENTATIONS • REMEMBER THAT THERE ARE DIMINISHING MARGINAL RETURNS TO EFFORT • Don’t let the best be the enemy of the good. • Many business people and many organizations will accept nothing less than perfection. • At some point, usually well before the actual presentation, nitpicking changes no longer add value. • Learn to recognize that point and draw the line on changes well in advance of the meeting.
MAKING PRESENTATIONS • On rare occasions, that typo may have to be corrected, but only rarely. • Drawing the line on changes requires discipline. If yours is the final say on the presentation, you just have to discipline yourself. • Tell yourself and your team that you want the documents printed, copied, bound, or transferred on to slides- whatever it is that you need-at least 24 hours before the big moment. • Spend the time between then and the presentation rehearsing, discussing possible questions that may arise, or just taking a relaxed day at the office, if you can.
MAKING PRESENTATIONS • PREWIRE EVERYTHING • McKinsey consultants engage in “prewiring.” • Before they hold a presentation or progress review, a McKinsey team will take all the relevant players in the client organization through their findings in private. • When prewiring, you must remember the cardinal rule of being a successful consultant or corporate troubleshooter: Not only do you have to come up with the “right” answer; you also have to sell that answer to your client.
DISPLAYING DATA WITH CHARTS • ABOUT CHARTS AT McKINSEY • Charts, graphical representations of information. • Firm’s guru of charts and presentations, entitled Say It With Charts. • KEEP IT SIMPLE-ONE MESSAGE PER CHART • Charts as a means of expressing information in a readily understandable form. • The simple things are, the easier they are to understand.
DISPLAYING DATA WITH CHARTS • McKinsey prints its charts in black and white, it avoids three-dimensional graphics unless absolutely necessary to convey the message, and it adheres to the cardinal rule of one message per chart. • The rule of one message per chart affects the way information is interpreted for the audience. • “Lead,” the caption at the top of the chart. • A good lead expresses the point of the chart in one simple sentence. • Source attribution. • Too many will bore your audience. • Use the absolute minimum necessary to make your point.
DISPLAYING DATA WITH CHARTS • USE A WATERFALL CHART TO SHOW THE FLOW • The waterfall chart is an excellent method of illustrating how you get from number A to number B. • Whatever data you use, the waterfall chart is a versatile way to convey a lot of information in a clear, concise manner. • So go with flow.
MANAGING INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS • KEEP THE INFORMATION FLOWING • Meetings form the glue that holds your team together. • Team meetings allow excellent information flow, in all directions, and provide a certain amount of social bonding. • They help remind those present that they are part of a team. • A successful meeting is making sure everyone attends. • Learning by walking around.
MANAGING INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS • You can gain a lot just by wandering around and talking to people, and they can learn a lot from you. • Never under-estimate the value of the random fact. • However you choose to communicate with your team, make sure that you do so frequently and openly. • You will boost your team’s efficiency and morale, as well as your boss’s peace of mind. • Turn on the lights and clear out the manure!
MANAGING INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS • THE THREE KEYS TO AN EFFECTIVE MESSAGE • It is brief, covering only the points the audience needs to know; it is thorough, covering all the points the audience needs to know; and it has a structure that conveys those points clearly to its audience. • 1. Brevity • To join that select group, think before you speak.
MANAGING INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS • 2. Thoroughness • Tell her not only what you are doing, but what the issues are and what your thoughts are on them. • Don’t just check in; it’s a waste of your boss’s time. • If you don’t have anything useful to say, wait until you do. • 3. Structure
MANAGING INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS • ALWAYS LOOK OVER YOUR SHOULDER • You cannot be an effective consultant if you don’t maintain confidentiality. • Know when you can talk and when you can’t. • Be just a bit paranoid. • McKinsey’s corporate culture continually reinforces confidentiality. • We always kept it in the back of our minds. • If you’re working on something sensitive, take a few basic precautions. • Don’t leave important papers lying around.
WORKING WITH CLIENTS • ABOUT WORKING WITH CLIENT TEAMS • There was one true hierarchy at McKinsey: client, firm, you (in descending order). • KEEP THE CLIENT TEAM ON YOUR SIDE • We learned that the key to keeping the client teams on our side was to turn their goals into our goals. • They have to remember that if their mission fails, the McKinsey mission fails and if the McKinsey mission fails, their mission fails.
WORKING WITH CLIENTS • Working with McKinsey will be positive experience for them. • They must be made to understand that, at a minimum, they’ll learn things that they would never otherwise know and that will help them in their careers. • To make real change happen in their organization- a rare experience in most people’s working lives. • When people put away their “office faces” the members of each team realize that the others are real people too.
WORKING WITH CLIENTS • HOW TO DEAL WITH “LIABILITY” CLIENT TEAM MEMBERS • There are two kinds of “liability” members on a client team: the merely useless and the actively hostile. • As a first tactic, you can try to trade the liability out of your team and get somebody better. • You have to deal with Hank. Work around him. • Give him a discrete section of the work that he can do; make sure it is neither critical to the project nor impossible for anyone else on the team to do.
WORKING WITH CLIENTS • You’ll have to rely on the other members of the team pick up the slack. • He was also a saboteur. • The next best solution is to work around spies and saboteurs. • Make use of their talents where you can and keep sensitive information out of their hands when possible. • May be you can use that to your advantage when it comes time to sell your solution. • Liability clients needn’t be a disaster. • Sometimes, you can even
WORKING WITH CLIENTS • ENGAGE THE CLIENT IN THE PROCESS • Being engaged in the process means supporting your efforts, providing resources as needed, and caring about the outcome. • The first step in keeping your clients engaged is to understand their agenda. • Clients will support you only if they think your efforts contribute to their interests. • Remember that their interests may change over time.
WORKING WITH CLIENTS • Frequent contact and regular updates even if it’s just by memo will help you keep in touch with your clients and keep your projects “top of mind” for them. • Get on a client’s calendar up front. • Schedule progress meetings with tentative topics; if you need to reschedule, do it later. • Early “wins” will generate enthusiasm for your project the bigger, the better. • They give your clients something to sink their teeth into and make them feel included in the problem- solving process.
WORKING WITH CLIENTS • The long-run returns on your work will be much greater if your clients feel that they were involved in reaching the solution and that they understood it, rather than being handed the solution neatly wrapped and tied with pink ribbon. • This brings us to one of the ironies of consulting. • If you are an outside consultant, you will never get credit for your best work. • If your solution is truly effective, the client organization will claim it for its own.
WORKING WITH CLIENTS • GET BUY-IN THROUGHOUT THE ORGANIZATION • Wrong! If you want to create real change that has lasting impact, you must get acceptance for your solution from everyone in the organization that it affects. • If they don’t like your ideas, if they put up a fight, then your solution will not be implemented. • To avoid this dire fate, you must sell your solution to every level of the organization, from the board on down. • Present to middle-level managers.
WORKING WITH CLIENTS • Let them know what’s going on. • The changes you recommend may have the greatest effect. • In is vital to a successful implementation. • Presentations give the junior members of your team a good opportunity to hone their presentation skills. • Don’t make the same presentation. • Explain what is being done and why. • Show people the entire picture. • Their jobs fit into the organization as a whole. • Treat them with respect. • They will respond positively most of the time.
WORKING WITH CLIENTS • BE RIGOROUS ABOUT IMPLEMENTATION • State what needs to be done, and when it needs to be done by, at such a level of detail and clarity that a fool can understand it. • Make specific people responsible for implementing the solution. • Be careful about whom you pick. • Make sure people have the skills necessary to get the job done. • Enforce your deadlines and don’t allow exceptions unless absolutely necessary.
FIND YOUR OWN MENTOR • We had a good relationship-call it chemistry. • Find someone senior to you whose abilities and opinion you respect; seek out the mentor’s advice. • Advice and are happy to dispense it when asked. • If you get along well too. • Work with the mentor, if possible, and learn all you can. • Don’t go to the well too often.
SURVIVING ON THE ROAD • Remember that travel is an opportunity to do things outside your normal realm of experience. • Proper planning. • Learn what you need to have with you on the road, rather that what you think you need. • Find a reliable cab company. • Don’t let the travel and the work become all- consuming, especially if you’re out of town for a long time.
SURVIVING ON THE ROAD • Find a way to entertain yourself outside of work. • Find colleagues, client team members, or maybe old friends from business school or college. • Don’t let being on the road become an uninterrupted cycle of working, eating and sleeping. • Treat everyone with tremendous respect. • Sometimes McKinsey people can be demanding and impatient; then they fail to understand why they don’t get what they want.
SURVIVING ON THE ROAD • Some of my colleagues were amazed at how I would get a bag on after the plane was full-things like that. • Flight attendants, concierges, assistants at clients- these people have more authority that you realize and want to help those who show respect for them. • If also keeps your stress level down-it’s easier to be friendly that frustrated so it’s a win/win. • That’s possibly the best advice in this book.
TAKE THESE THREE THINGS WITH YOU WHEREVER YOU GO • PTM: passport, tickets, money. • A copy of my itinerary, a list of the names and numbers of everyone I’m going to see, and a good book. • Clothing • An extra shirt or blouse • Spare ties for the men • Spare pair of comfortable flat shoes for the women • Casual clothes • Workout clothes • A cashmere sweater for keeping warm and comfy on overnight flights.
TAKE THESE THREE THINGS WITH YOU WHEREVER YOU GO • Tools • A writing pad • A pad of graph paper • A copy of whatever you sent to the client • An HP 12C calculator
TAKE THESE THREE THINGS WITH YOU WHEREVER YOU GO • Personal Care Items • A toothbrush • A shaving kit for the men • A mini-makeup kit for the women • Antacid tablets • A bottle of Tylenol • A big bottle of Tylenol
TAKE THESE THREE THINGS WITH YOU WHEREVER YOU GO • Things to Keep you Organized and in Touch • A personal organizer • Credit cards • The OAG • A cell phone • Directions to the client
TAKE THESE THREE THINGS WITH YOU WHEREVER YOU GO • Diversions • A good book • Press clippings to read on the plane • Books on tape, especially if your travel includes long stretches of driving • Video games on a laptop computer • “be prepared” • Make sure you’re never caught short without something you really need.
A GOOD ASSISTANT IS A LIFELINE • Secretaries are the lifeline that ties them to the rest of the Firm. • The principle remains: Treat them well, be clear about what you want, and give them room to grow.
RECRUITING McKINSEY STYLE: HOW TO DO IT • Mission statement is “to build a firm that is able to attract, develop, excite, motivate, and retain exceptional people. • The firm hunts first and foremost for analytical ability. • In a case interview, the interviewer wants to see how well the interviewee can think about a problem, rather than how correctly she answers it. • As with most business problems, there is no one true answer. • Rather, succeeding in a case interview requires questions, and making reasonable assumptions when necessary.
RECRUITING McKINSEY STYLE: HOW TO DO IT • What matters is not the numbers, but the method you use to reach them. • McKinsey consultants work in teams, so personality counts too. • No doubt, many of you want to know how to get a job at McKinsey. • The answer is simple: Be of above average intelligence, posses a record of academic achievement at a good college and a top business school, show evidence of achievement in all previous jobs, and demonstrate extraordinary analytical ability. • Simple to say, but not simple to do.
IF YOU WANT A LIFE, LAY DOWN SOME RULES • I didn’t do a good job of it because I didn’t make enough rules. • If you want a life when you work crazy hours, then you have to lay down some rules. • Make one day a week off-limits. • Don’t take work home. • Plan ahead. • When your priorities are “client, Firm, you,” some times you have to let your life take a backseat to your career. • What all else fails, have a doorman. • Then, at least, you’ll come home to clean laundry.
THE MOST VALUABLE LESSON • What was the most valuable lesson you learned at the Firm? • Others describe lessons that cannot be taught- only learned. • Preserve your integrity at all times. • Professionally, I learned to structure problems so that they can be solved. • Every problem has a solution; it may not be perfect, but it will allow me to take actions that are directionally correct.
THE MOST VALUABLE LESSON • There is nothing new under the sun. • Whatever you’re doing, someone else has done it before-find that person. • Execution and implementation are the key. • Getting things done is the most important thing. • Don’t fear end products. • They go a long way. • Generate end products. • I would rather be surrounded by smart people than have a huge budget. • Smart people will get you there faster.
THE MOST VALUABLE LESSON • Anything that gets in the way of efficient communication is anathema to a strong organization. • Fuzzy thinking, obfuscatory jargon, impenetrable hierarchy, and playing the “yes-man” get in the way of adding value for customers or clients. • Structured thinking, clear language, a meritocracy with the obligation to dissent, and professional objectivity allow an organization and its people to reach their maximum potential. • Of course, McKinsey has its own word for this it’s called “professionalism.”
MEMORIES OF McKINSEY • What stays with me is the rigorous standard of information and analysis, the proving and double- proving of every recommendation, combined with the high standard of communication both no clients and within the Firm. • “If there’s a problem, give us the resources and we’ll just go out and do it.” • It can’t be done. • I enjoyed the power of thinking in a small group of very smart people.
MEMORIES OF McKINSEY • The average mental capacity of the staff. • Teach me the Law while I stand on one foot. • Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. • The rest derives from that. Go and learn. • fact-based, structured thinking combined with professional integrity will get you on the road to your business goals. • The rest derives from that. Go and learn.

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The Mckinsey Way Book Summary by Dr.N.Asokan

  • 1. THE McKINSEY WAY ETHAN M. RASIEL Book Summary by Dr.N.Asokan
  • 2. THE McKINSEY WAY • Why is something done this way? • Is this the best way it can be done? • You have to be fundamentally skeptical about everything.
  • 3. BUILDING THE SOLUTION • FEEL FREE TO BE MECE • MECE structures your thinking with maximum clarity and maximum completeness. • Is each one a separate and distinct issue? • If so, then your issue list is mutually exclusive. • Does every aspect of the problem come under one of these issues-that is, have you thought of everything? • If so, then your issues are collectively exhaustive. • You have to check that it also includes every issue or item relevant to the problem.
  • 4. BUILDING THE SOLUTION • DEFINING THE INITIAL HYPOTHESIS • Figure out the solution to the problem before you start. • Down to another level or two of detail. • GENERATING THE INITIAL HYPOTHESIS • To structure your IH begin by breaking the problem. • Make an actionable recommendation. • You must take each top-line recommendation and break it down to the level of issues. • What issues does it raise?
  • 5. BUILDING THE SOLUTION • TESTING THE INITIAL HYPOTHESIS • Are all your recommendations actionable and provable? • IHs produced by teams are much stronger than those produced by individuals. • What if we change this?
  • 6. DEVELOPING AN APPROACH • No two business problems are identical; you must figure out how to approach each problem in order to devise the best solution for it. • THE PROBLEM IS NOT ALWAYS THE PROBLEM • Make sure you’re solving the right problem. • Doctor’s patients. • To dig deeper, Get facts, Ask questions, Poke around.
  • 7. DEVELOPING AN APPROACH • DON’T REINVENT THE WHEEL • Most business problems resemble each other more than they differ. • This means that with a small number of problem- solving techniques. • You can answer a broad range of questions. • Forces at work. • The technique involves identifying the client’s suppliers, customers, competitors, and possible substitute products.
  • 8. DEVELOPING AN APPROACH • BUT EVERY CLIENT IS UNIQUE • Business problems does not mean that similar problems have similar solutions. • If all you have is a hammer, then every problem looks like a nail. • Requires hard proof. • Hint from former President Reagan: “Trust and verify.”
  • 9. DEVELOPING AN APPROACH • Is useless if your client or business can’t implement it. • Know the organization’s strengths, weaknesses, and capabilities. • If I can do only three things, I’ll do the three biggest. • Academic ideals meet business realities, business realities usually win.
  • 10. DEVELOPING AN APPROACH • Businesses are full of real people, with real strengths and weaknesses and limitations. • These people can do only so much with the finite resources available in their organizations. • Lack of resources or inability. • Limitations of your client; if your client is your own employer.
  • 11. DEVELOPING AN APPROACH • SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO LET THE SOLUTION COME TO YOU • The client will not know what the problem is. • If you get your facts together and do your analyses, the solution will come to you.
  • 12. DEVELOPING AN APPROACH • SOME PROBLEMS YOU JUST CAN’T SOLVE….. SOLVE THEM ANYWAY • The biggest obstacle-the troll guarding the bridge. • Sometimes change management means just that changing management. • Did not want us to come up with a real answer.
  • 13. DEVELOPING AN APPROACH • Have to deal with the personnel resources. • Expand your time horizon. • People leave the organization, you can “tweak” your way to your optimum over time. • Politics is just people acting in their own interests.
  • 14. 80/20 and Other Rules to Live By • Where do your profits come from? • They you know the right questions to ask. • Play with the numbers. • You will begin to see patterns, clumps that stand out. • They may mean problems. • They also mean opportunities. • Find the opportunities and make the most of them.
  • 15. 80/20 and Other Rules to Live By • DON’T BOIL THE OCEAN • Only enough facts. • Anything more is a waste of time and effort. • “Don’t boil the ocean” means don’t try to analyze everything. • Be selective; figure out the priorities of what you are doing. • Know when you have done enough, then stop. • Otherwise, you will spend a lot of time and effort for very return, like boiling the ocean to get a handful of salt.
  • 16. 80/20 and Other Rules to Live By • FIND THE KEY DRIVERS • Square Law of Computation. • Focusing on the key drivers means drilling down to the core of the problem. • It saves you time. It saves you effort. • It keeps you from boiling the ocean.
  • 17. 80/20 and Other Rules to Live By • THE ELEVATOR TEST • You can explain it clearly and precisely to your client in 30 seconds. • Jason Klein instituted the elevated test when he took over as president of Field & Stream: • The client wants to know the recommendations for each issue and the pay off.
  • 18. 80/20 and Other Rules to Live By • PLUCK THE LOW-HANGING FRUIT • Satisfying your customer in a long-term relationship. • Whoever it is, it pays to keep him happy and let him know that he is your top priority. • Those little wins help you and your customers.
  • 19. 80/20 and Other Rules to Live By • MAKE A CHART EVERY DAY • It is anal-retentive. • What are the three most important things I learned today? • Write them down as bullet points. • Results someplace where they won’t get lost.
  • 20. 80/20 and Other Rules to Live By • HIT SINGLES • You can’t do everything, so don’t try. • Don’t try to knock the ball out of the park. • Hit singles. Get your job done-don’t try to do the work of the whole team. • It’s impossible to do everything yourself all the time. • If you manage it once, you raise unrealistic expectations from those around you. • Once you fail to meet expectations, it is very difficult to regain credibility.
  • 21. 80/20 and Other Rules to Live By • You are only as good as your last study. • If you fail, to fail gloriously. • LOOK AT THE BIG PICTURE • Ask yourself some basic questions; • Haven’t come up with any end products. • Does this really matter?
  • 22. 80/20 and Other Rules to Live By • DON’T ACCEPT “I HAVE NO IDEA” • People always have an idea if you probe just a bit. • “ I have no idea” is a code; • Don’t accept “I have no idea” – treat it as a challenge. • You shouldn’t accept if from yourself, or expect others to accept it from you.
  • 23. SELLLING A STUDY • HOW TO SELL WITHOUT SELLING • Just be there, at the right time, and make sure the right people know you are. • But because McKinsey markets. • The Firm produces a steady stream of books and articles, some of them extremely influential. • McKinsey also publishes its own scholarly journal.
  • 24. SELLLING A STUDY • Which it sends gratis to its clients, as well as to its former consultants. • McKinsey maintains a vast network of informal contacts. • Firm encourages its partners to participate in “extracurricular activities” • That the right people know the Firm is there.
  • 25. SELLLING A STUDY • You can still find ways to network with existing and potential clients and customers. • Write a good article and you will get your name. • Who would otherwise never have heard of you. • Meet your competitors. • Make sure he knows you.
  • 26. SELLLING A STUDY • BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU PROMISE: STRUCTURING AN ENGAGEMENT • A lot of pressure to deliver the maximum results in the minimum time. • A project that a team of four to six consultants. • That will produce tangible results. • simultaneously making the client feel that he is getting value for money and exceeding his expectations.
  • 27. SELLLING A STUDY • Don’t bite off more than you can chew and know what your end product is going to be. • Get a feel for the scope of the problem. • A recommendation, an implementation plan, a new product design, and so forth. • To reach your goal and get a commitment from your boss that you will have them. • Structuring your project properly at the beginning may not guarantee your success, but it at least gets you off to the right start.
  • 28. ASSEMBLING A TEAM • ABOUT TEAMS AT McKINSEY • More people mean more hands to gather and analyze data and, more important, more minds to figure out what the data really mean. • GETTING THE MIX RIGHT • The first theory states that intellectual horsepower is everything-find the smartest people for your team regardless of their experience or personal hygiene.
  • 29. ASSEMBLING A TEAM • GETTING THE MIX RIGHT • The second theory says that what really matters is specific experience and skills; intelligence is a given within the firm. • The biggest mistake in team selection comes from taking those ratings at face value. • Never just accept people who are supposed to be good. Meet them face to face.
  • 30. ASSEMBLING A TEAM • A LITTLE TEAM BONDING GOES A LONG WAY • If a team is going to bond, it will mostly bond through work. • Try to get your team’s “significant other” involved; this will help them understand what their loved ones-your teammates-are doing, and it will help you understand your teammates. • Above all, respect you teammates’ time.
  • 31. ASSEMBLING A TEAM • TAKE YOUR TEAM’S TEMPERATURE TO MAINTAIN MORALE • Maintaining your team’s morale is an on-going responsibility. • If you don’t do it, your team will not perform well. • Make sure you know how your team feels.
  • 32. ASSEMBLING A TEAM • The secret to maintaining team morale? • Take your team’s temperature. • Steer a steady course. • Let your teammates know why they are doing what they’re doing. • Treat your teammates with respect. • Get to know your teammates as people. • When the going gets tough, take the Bill Clinton approach.
  • 33. MANAGING HIERARCHY • MAKE YOUR BOSS LOOK GOOD • If you make your boss look good, your boss will make you look good. • That’s the quid pro quo of hierarchy. • The most important person in your world, day in and day out, is your boss. • Making your boss look good means two things. • Firstly, it means doing your job to the best of your ability. • Clearly, if you produce high-quality work, it will make your boss’s job easier.
  • 34. MANAGING HIERARCHY • MAKE YOUR BOSS LOOK GOOD • Second, make sure your boss knows everything you know when she needs to know it. • Keep the information flowing. • Make sure your boss knows where you are, what your are doing, and what problems you may be having. • At the same time, don’t overload her with information. Think about what your boss needs or wants to know. • If your boss looks good, you look good.
  • 35. DOING RESEARCH • DON’T REINVENT THE WHEEL • Whatever the problem, chances are that someone, somewhere, has worked on something similar. • Your time is valuable, so don’t waste it by reinventing the wheel! • Many business people will share some information on the principle that “what goes around, comes around.” • Whatever you’re doing, chances are someone, somewhere has done something similar. • Learn from others’ successes and mistakes. • Leverage your valuable time and don’t reinvent the wheel!
  • 36. DOING RESEARCH • SPECIFIC RESEARCH TIPS • Start with the annual report. • Look for outliers. • Look for best practice. • Figure out how to implement the top performer’s secrets throughout your organization.
  • 37. CONDUCTING INTERVIEWS • ABOUT INTERVIEWING AT McKINSEY • Interviewing is the way McKinsey consultants fill the gaps in their knowledge base and tap into the experience and knowledge of their clients. • If you read no other chapter of the book from start to finish, read this one. • I think you’ll learn something very valuable that you won’t find elsewhere.
  • 38. CONDUCTING INTERVIEWS • BE PREPARED: WRITE AN INTERVIEW GUIDE • You must think on two levels when constructing your guide. • First, and obviously, what are the questions to which you need answers? Write them all down in any order. • Second, and more important, what do you really need from this interview? • What are you trying to achieve? • Why are you talking to this person?
  • 39. CONDUCTING INTERVIEWS • Defining your purpose will help you put your questions in the right order and phrase them correctly. • An interview should start with general questions and move on to specific ones. • When deciding on which questions to ask, you might want to include some to which you know the answer. • What are the three things I most want to know by the end of the interview
  • 40. CONDUCTING INTERVIEWS • WHEN CONDUCTING INTERVIEWS, LISTEN AND GUIDE • Ask questions and then let them do the talking. • Most people like to talk, especially if you let them know you’re interested in what they’re saying. • The main thing to remember when trying to get information from other is that they need to feel you are listening and you’re interested in what they have to say.
  • 41. CONDUCTING INTERVIEWS • SEVEN TIPS FOR SUCCESSFUL INTERVIEWING • 1. Have the interviewee’s boss set up the meeting. • 2. Interview in pairs. • 3. Listen; don’t lead. Ask open-ended questions. • 4. Paraphrase, paraphrase, paraphrase. • Most people do not think or speak in a completely structured way. • If you repeat their own words back to them.
  • 42. CONDUCTING INTERVIEWS • SEVEN TIPS FOR SUCCESSFUL INTERVIEWING • 5. Use the indirect approach. • 6. Don’t ask for too much. First you might get it. • Second, you want to stop short of the straw that breaks the camel’s back. • 7. Adopt the Columbo tactic. • There’s something I forgot to ask. • “Super – Columbo” remembered a question you forgot to ask.
  • 43. CONDUCTING INTERVIEWS • DON’T LEAVE THE INTERVIEWEE NAKED • Don’t be afraid to offer a quid pro quo. Along with power comes the responsibility to use it wisely. • DIFFICULT INTERVIEWS • The limits to this strategy are the limits of your authority in the organization. No one ever said life was fair. • ALWAYS WRITE A THANK-YOU NOTE • Sometimes a thank you note can yield an unexpected pay off.
  • 44. BRAINSTORMING • ABOUT BRAINSTORMING AT McKINSEY • McKinsey offer a new mindset, an outsider’s view that is not locked into “the company way” of doing things. • There’s no point calling a meeting if you’re just going to look at the data in the same old way. • Shuffling a pack of cards. Each fact is a card.
  • 45. BRAINSTORMING • PROPER PRIOR PREPARATION • Make sure that everyone on the team knows what you know. • It doesn’t require a detailed structure, just a little thought about what is important and how to show it. • You’ll all have the same knowledge base when it comes time to generate ideas. • The first group says, “Familiarize yourself with the outlines of the problem and the data. • Don’t try to come up with an answer before the session starts. • Always come in with a hypothesis. • Be prepared.
  • 46. BRAINSTORMING • IN A WHITE ROOM • Brainstorming is about generating new ideas. • “Rules of the road” for successful brainstorming. • There are no bad ideas. • Debating ideas is part of the brainstorming process. • There are no dumb questions • Never discount the benefits of working through seemingly obvious or simple questions. • Be prepared to kill your babies • Look upon your hypothesis as just one more datum to throw into the brainstorming mix. • Don’t invest a lot of your ego in your hypothesis; don’t come to the meeting prepared to die in a ditch defending it.
  • 47. BRAINSTORMING • Know when to say when • Brainstorming takes time, but if you stay at it too long, you’ll hit the point of rapidly diminishing returns. • It’s a great opportunity for people to gather their thoughts and stretch their legs.
  • 48. BRAINSTORMING • SOME BRAINSTORMING EXERCISES • The Post-it exercise • The flipchart exercise • Bellyaches up front • It yielded some excellent ideas that we would not have otherwise come up with; and it helped a previously skeptical, if not outright hostile, management team buy into McKinsey’s solution.
  • 49. THE McKINSEY WAY OF SELLING SOLUTIONS • The best solution, no matter how well researched, how thoroughly analyzed, how glitteringly, flawlessly structured, is worth exactly nothing if your clients don’t buy into it. • To get your clients to buy into your solution, you have to sell it to them. • You’ll learn how to put together a presentation that conveys your ideas to your audience. • You’ll discover how to manage internal communications so everyone on your team can stay “on message.”
  • 50. THE McKINSEY WAY OF SELLING SOLUTIONS • You’ll find out how to work with and manage your client organizations and the people who work in them-the good ones and the bad ones. • And you’ll learn how to take your brilliant solution from paper to real life-how to make change happen.
  • 51. MAKING PRESENTATIONS • BE STRUCTURED • If your presentation is sloppy and muddled, your audience will assume that your thinking is also sloppy and muddled-regardless of whether that is the case. • Your thought process is structured and logical. • “Tell ’em what you’re going to tell ‘em, tell ‘em what you told ‘em.”
  • 52. MAKING PRESENTATIONS • REMEMBER THAT THERE ARE DIMINISHING MARGINAL RETURNS TO EFFORT • Don’t let the best be the enemy of the good. • Many business people and many organizations will accept nothing less than perfection. • At some point, usually well before the actual presentation, nitpicking changes no longer add value. • Learn to recognize that point and draw the line on changes well in advance of the meeting.
  • 53. MAKING PRESENTATIONS • On rare occasions, that typo may have to be corrected, but only rarely. • Drawing the line on changes requires discipline. If yours is the final say on the presentation, you just have to discipline yourself. • Tell yourself and your team that you want the documents printed, copied, bound, or transferred on to slides- whatever it is that you need-at least 24 hours before the big moment. • Spend the time between then and the presentation rehearsing, discussing possible questions that may arise, or just taking a relaxed day at the office, if you can.
  • 54. MAKING PRESENTATIONS • PREWIRE EVERYTHING • McKinsey consultants engage in “prewiring.” • Before they hold a presentation or progress review, a McKinsey team will take all the relevant players in the client organization through their findings in private. • When prewiring, you must remember the cardinal rule of being a successful consultant or corporate troubleshooter: Not only do you have to come up with the “right” answer; you also have to sell that answer to your client.
  • 55. DISPLAYING DATA WITH CHARTS • ABOUT CHARTS AT McKINSEY • Charts, graphical representations of information. • Firm’s guru of charts and presentations, entitled Say It With Charts. • KEEP IT SIMPLE-ONE MESSAGE PER CHART • Charts as a means of expressing information in a readily understandable form. • The simple things are, the easier they are to understand.
  • 56. DISPLAYING DATA WITH CHARTS • McKinsey prints its charts in black and white, it avoids three-dimensional graphics unless absolutely necessary to convey the message, and it adheres to the cardinal rule of one message per chart. • The rule of one message per chart affects the way information is interpreted for the audience. • “Lead,” the caption at the top of the chart. • A good lead expresses the point of the chart in one simple sentence. • Source attribution. • Too many will bore your audience. • Use the absolute minimum necessary to make your point.
  • 57. DISPLAYING DATA WITH CHARTS • USE A WATERFALL CHART TO SHOW THE FLOW • The waterfall chart is an excellent method of illustrating how you get from number A to number B. • Whatever data you use, the waterfall chart is a versatile way to convey a lot of information in a clear, concise manner. • So go with flow.
  • 58. MANAGING INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS • KEEP THE INFORMATION FLOWING • Meetings form the glue that holds your team together. • Team meetings allow excellent information flow, in all directions, and provide a certain amount of social bonding. • They help remind those present that they are part of a team. • A successful meeting is making sure everyone attends. • Learning by walking around.
  • 59. MANAGING INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS • You can gain a lot just by wandering around and talking to people, and they can learn a lot from you. • Never under-estimate the value of the random fact. • However you choose to communicate with your team, make sure that you do so frequently and openly. • You will boost your team’s efficiency and morale, as well as your boss’s peace of mind. • Turn on the lights and clear out the manure!
  • 60. MANAGING INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS • THE THREE KEYS TO AN EFFECTIVE MESSAGE • It is brief, covering only the points the audience needs to know; it is thorough, covering all the points the audience needs to know; and it has a structure that conveys those points clearly to its audience. • 1. Brevity • To join that select group, think before you speak.
  • 61. MANAGING INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS • 2. Thoroughness • Tell her not only what you are doing, but what the issues are and what your thoughts are on them. • Don’t just check in; it’s a waste of your boss’s time. • If you don’t have anything useful to say, wait until you do. • 3. Structure
  • 62. MANAGING INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS • ALWAYS LOOK OVER YOUR SHOULDER • You cannot be an effective consultant if you don’t maintain confidentiality. • Know when you can talk and when you can’t. • Be just a bit paranoid. • McKinsey’s corporate culture continually reinforces confidentiality. • We always kept it in the back of our minds. • If you’re working on something sensitive, take a few basic precautions. • Don’t leave important papers lying around.
  • 63. WORKING WITH CLIENTS • ABOUT WORKING WITH CLIENT TEAMS • There was one true hierarchy at McKinsey: client, firm, you (in descending order). • KEEP THE CLIENT TEAM ON YOUR SIDE • We learned that the key to keeping the client teams on our side was to turn their goals into our goals. • They have to remember that if their mission fails, the McKinsey mission fails and if the McKinsey mission fails, their mission fails.
  • 64. WORKING WITH CLIENTS • Working with McKinsey will be positive experience for them. • They must be made to understand that, at a minimum, they’ll learn things that they would never otherwise know and that will help them in their careers. • To make real change happen in their organization- a rare experience in most people’s working lives. • When people put away their “office faces” the members of each team realize that the others are real people too.
  • 65. WORKING WITH CLIENTS • HOW TO DEAL WITH “LIABILITY” CLIENT TEAM MEMBERS • There are two kinds of “liability” members on a client team: the merely useless and the actively hostile. • As a first tactic, you can try to trade the liability out of your team and get somebody better. • You have to deal with Hank. Work around him. • Give him a discrete section of the work that he can do; make sure it is neither critical to the project nor impossible for anyone else on the team to do.
  • 66. WORKING WITH CLIENTS • You’ll have to rely on the other members of the team pick up the slack. • He was also a saboteur. • The next best solution is to work around spies and saboteurs. • Make use of their talents where you can and keep sensitive information out of their hands when possible. • May be you can use that to your advantage when it comes time to sell your solution. • Liability clients needn’t be a disaster. • Sometimes, you can even
  • 67. WORKING WITH CLIENTS • ENGAGE THE CLIENT IN THE PROCESS • Being engaged in the process means supporting your efforts, providing resources as needed, and caring about the outcome. • The first step in keeping your clients engaged is to understand their agenda. • Clients will support you only if they think your efforts contribute to their interests. • Remember that their interests may change over time.
  • 68. WORKING WITH CLIENTS • Frequent contact and regular updates even if it’s just by memo will help you keep in touch with your clients and keep your projects “top of mind” for them. • Get on a client’s calendar up front. • Schedule progress meetings with tentative topics; if you need to reschedule, do it later. • Early “wins” will generate enthusiasm for your project the bigger, the better. • They give your clients something to sink their teeth into and make them feel included in the problem- solving process.
  • 69. WORKING WITH CLIENTS • The long-run returns on your work will be much greater if your clients feel that they were involved in reaching the solution and that they understood it, rather than being handed the solution neatly wrapped and tied with pink ribbon. • This brings us to one of the ironies of consulting. • If you are an outside consultant, you will never get credit for your best work. • If your solution is truly effective, the client organization will claim it for its own.
  • 70. WORKING WITH CLIENTS • GET BUY-IN THROUGHOUT THE ORGANIZATION • Wrong! If you want to create real change that has lasting impact, you must get acceptance for your solution from everyone in the organization that it affects. • If they don’t like your ideas, if they put up a fight, then your solution will not be implemented. • To avoid this dire fate, you must sell your solution to every level of the organization, from the board on down. • Present to middle-level managers.
  • 71. WORKING WITH CLIENTS • Let them know what’s going on. • The changes you recommend may have the greatest effect. • In is vital to a successful implementation. • Presentations give the junior members of your team a good opportunity to hone their presentation skills. • Don’t make the same presentation. • Explain what is being done and why. • Show people the entire picture. • Their jobs fit into the organization as a whole. • Treat them with respect. • They will respond positively most of the time.
  • 72. WORKING WITH CLIENTS • BE RIGOROUS ABOUT IMPLEMENTATION • State what needs to be done, and when it needs to be done by, at such a level of detail and clarity that a fool can understand it. • Make specific people responsible for implementing the solution. • Be careful about whom you pick. • Make sure people have the skills necessary to get the job done. • Enforce your deadlines and don’t allow exceptions unless absolutely necessary.
  • 73. FIND YOUR OWN MENTOR • We had a good relationship-call it chemistry. • Find someone senior to you whose abilities and opinion you respect; seek out the mentor’s advice. • Advice and are happy to dispense it when asked. • If you get along well too. • Work with the mentor, if possible, and learn all you can. • Don’t go to the well too often.
  • 74. SURVIVING ON THE ROAD • Remember that travel is an opportunity to do things outside your normal realm of experience. • Proper planning. • Learn what you need to have with you on the road, rather that what you think you need. • Find a reliable cab company. • Don’t let the travel and the work become all- consuming, especially if you’re out of town for a long time.
  • 75. SURVIVING ON THE ROAD • Find a way to entertain yourself outside of work. • Find colleagues, client team members, or maybe old friends from business school or college. • Don’t let being on the road become an uninterrupted cycle of working, eating and sleeping. • Treat everyone with tremendous respect. • Sometimes McKinsey people can be demanding and impatient; then they fail to understand why they don’t get what they want.
  • 76. SURVIVING ON THE ROAD • Some of my colleagues were amazed at how I would get a bag on after the plane was full-things like that. • Flight attendants, concierges, assistants at clients- these people have more authority that you realize and want to help those who show respect for them. • If also keeps your stress level down-it’s easier to be friendly that frustrated so it’s a win/win. • That’s possibly the best advice in this book.
  • 77. TAKE THESE THREE THINGS WITH YOU WHEREVER YOU GO • PTM: passport, tickets, money. • A copy of my itinerary, a list of the names and numbers of everyone I’m going to see, and a good book. • Clothing • An extra shirt or blouse • Spare ties for the men • Spare pair of comfortable flat shoes for the women • Casual clothes • Workout clothes • A cashmere sweater for keeping warm and comfy on overnight flights.
  • 78. TAKE THESE THREE THINGS WITH YOU WHEREVER YOU GO • Tools • A writing pad • A pad of graph paper • A copy of whatever you sent to the client • An HP 12C calculator
  • 79. TAKE THESE THREE THINGS WITH YOU WHEREVER YOU GO • Personal Care Items • A toothbrush • A shaving kit for the men • A mini-makeup kit for the women • Antacid tablets • A bottle of Tylenol • A big bottle of Tylenol
  • 80. TAKE THESE THREE THINGS WITH YOU WHEREVER YOU GO • Things to Keep you Organized and in Touch • A personal organizer • Credit cards • The OAG • A cell phone • Directions to the client
  • 81. TAKE THESE THREE THINGS WITH YOU WHEREVER YOU GO • Diversions • A good book • Press clippings to read on the plane • Books on tape, especially if your travel includes long stretches of driving • Video games on a laptop computer • “be prepared” • Make sure you’re never caught short without something you really need.
  • 82. A GOOD ASSISTANT IS A LIFELINE • Secretaries are the lifeline that ties them to the rest of the Firm. • The principle remains: Treat them well, be clear about what you want, and give them room to grow.
  • 83. RECRUITING McKINSEY STYLE: HOW TO DO IT • Mission statement is “to build a firm that is able to attract, develop, excite, motivate, and retain exceptional people. • The firm hunts first and foremost for analytical ability. • In a case interview, the interviewer wants to see how well the interviewee can think about a problem, rather than how correctly she answers it. • As with most business problems, there is no one true answer. • Rather, succeeding in a case interview requires questions, and making reasonable assumptions when necessary.
  • 84. RECRUITING McKINSEY STYLE: HOW TO DO IT • What matters is not the numbers, but the method you use to reach them. • McKinsey consultants work in teams, so personality counts too. • No doubt, many of you want to know how to get a job at McKinsey. • The answer is simple: Be of above average intelligence, posses a record of academic achievement at a good college and a top business school, show evidence of achievement in all previous jobs, and demonstrate extraordinary analytical ability. • Simple to say, but not simple to do.
  • 85. IF YOU WANT A LIFE, LAY DOWN SOME RULES • I didn’t do a good job of it because I didn’t make enough rules. • If you want a life when you work crazy hours, then you have to lay down some rules. • Make one day a week off-limits. • Don’t take work home. • Plan ahead. • When your priorities are “client, Firm, you,” some times you have to let your life take a backseat to your career. • What all else fails, have a doorman. • Then, at least, you’ll come home to clean laundry.
  • 86. THE MOST VALUABLE LESSON • What was the most valuable lesson you learned at the Firm? • Others describe lessons that cannot be taught- only learned. • Preserve your integrity at all times. • Professionally, I learned to structure problems so that they can be solved. • Every problem has a solution; it may not be perfect, but it will allow me to take actions that are directionally correct.
  • 87. THE MOST VALUABLE LESSON • There is nothing new under the sun. • Whatever you’re doing, someone else has done it before-find that person. • Execution and implementation are the key. • Getting things done is the most important thing. • Don’t fear end products. • They go a long way. • Generate end products. • I would rather be surrounded by smart people than have a huge budget. • Smart people will get you there faster.
  • 88. THE MOST VALUABLE LESSON • Anything that gets in the way of efficient communication is anathema to a strong organization. • Fuzzy thinking, obfuscatory jargon, impenetrable hierarchy, and playing the “yes-man” get in the way of adding value for customers or clients. • Structured thinking, clear language, a meritocracy with the obligation to dissent, and professional objectivity allow an organization and its people to reach their maximum potential. • Of course, McKinsey has its own word for this it’s called “professionalism.”
  • 89. MEMORIES OF McKINSEY • What stays with me is the rigorous standard of information and analysis, the proving and double- proving of every recommendation, combined with the high standard of communication both no clients and within the Firm. • “If there’s a problem, give us the resources and we’ll just go out and do it.” • It can’t be done. • I enjoyed the power of thinking in a small group of very smart people.
  • 90. MEMORIES OF McKINSEY • The average mental capacity of the staff. • Teach me the Law while I stand on one foot. • Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. • The rest derives from that. Go and learn. • fact-based, structured thinking combined with professional integrity will get you on the road to your business goals. • The rest derives from that. Go and learn.