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Basics and Mindset of a Winning Case Interviewer (Part 2 of 12) | caseinterview — Transcript

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0:00all right so let's talk about um case
0:02interview
0:04basics like I mentioned earlier two
0:06classes of cases business situations and
0:09uh the estimation questions and again I
0:10won't cover estimation questions today
0:12but they are important they are worth
0:14studying and those are really easy to
0:15practice because you don't need any help
0:16you don't need a partner uh and I would
0:18sort of do those all day long I mean we
0:20Prov my girlfriend the time nuts because
0:22I'm like oh wow look we're having like
0:24mashed potatoes today I wonder how many
0:26gallons of mashed potatoes would it take
0:27to sort of Feed the entire campus you
0:28know what are you take that over SP of a
0:30year how many potatoes are in America
0:32you know how many shoes are you so I
0:34just do this all day long and try to get
0:35good numbers um um so it's easy to
0:39practice and you can get good at them
0:40because it's just it's it's less about
0:43Talent it's more about practice for that
0:45one uh business situations which is what
0:47we'll focus on most today is um is
0:50literally that you know CEO comes to you
0:52and says um should I buy this company
0:54should should I lay off half my staff
0:56should I enter this Market should I shut
0:59down this business and these are just
1:00sort of everyday business life questions
1:02and we'll talk mostly about
1:05that and uh finally um what talked about
1:08the HBS cases um I want to teach you how
1:10to be an interviewer and an interviewee
1:12and we'll start with the interviewer uh
1:14because that makes life a lot easier to
1:19understand all right so the mindset it's
1:21very important I'm very big on
1:23principles um if you understand the
1:26mentality of some of of the firms when
1:28they start changing what they do do it
1:30all sort of still makes sense okay um
1:33let me how many uh see room is a little
1:34bit bigger now how many have worked in
1:36Consulting okay the rest have not okay
1:38so the majority have not
1:42um let me tell you what it's
1:45like
1:48it's it's very busy
1:51um here's the tension with consultants
1:54and clients um consulting firms charge
1:56very high fees clients don't like paying
1:58high fees Okay so they try to get you to
2:01pay less or usually what they do is they
2:02say well does it really take eight weeks
2:04why don't you do it in six weeks does it
2:05really take four people why don't you do
2:06it with three people okay and what
2:08happens is your resources sort of always
2:10get pushed down um or it's a new client
2:12and you're trying to impress them so you
2:14have three people but you're trying to
2:15do the work of five okay so that's sort
2:17of like I know McKenzie we never
2:19discounted we did with we overd
2:20delivered so we would do extra stuff for
2:23them for you know for free essentially
2:25um they wouldn't have people to do it by
2:27the way they would just have the
2:27existing team work harder and so happens
2:30is you have this constant pressure to
2:32get more done with less resources and
2:34that's just daily life just just the way
2:36it is so the first thing is uh when
2:39you're someone new let me bring that
2:40down a little
2:42bit when they bring a new person onto
2:45the team I don't know if you guys know
2:47this but um at least in McKenzie maybe
2:49at some of the other firms um everyone
2:52has sort of a billing rate internally
2:54they don't always publish what that is
2:55so they have a per DM of how much the
2:57analyst is worth how much an associate
2:58is worth how much a partner is worth
3:00and um and what's interesting is is for
3:03your first for your first case your
3:05first assignment like your worth is like
3:08Negative they like have to push you on
3:10and like give you a way to for free to
3:12the case teams um and because no one
3:15wants to break in the first year
3:16associate right uh or anal or whatnot
3:19and and the reason is they don't you're
3:21not proven yet and most importantly it's
3:24unclear whether you can be independent
3:26okay now on my third month I was 21 at
3:28the time my third month I was dropped
3:30off uh by myself in Cleveland we had a
3:33new york-based team there this one
3:35little subsidiary in Cleveland all the
3:36other guys on team G on team were
3:38married when I had kids I was a single
3:39guy I'm like send Victor right so I
3:41spent the next 18 months in Cleveland by
3:43myself lived at Ritz Carlton um they
3:45knew me really well thought it was
3:47really cool for about a month by month
3:4916 he was like rather be at home so I
3:52was paying New York rent while living in
3:53Cleveland and um and I sort of did all
3:56right there and I sort of had very
3:58little supervision and I would I would
4:00have one of my colleagues come in maybe
4:01once once a week for a day to sort of do
4:04the whole client relationship thing and
4:06I was on my own that was it okay and the
4:09problem was $200 million division
4:10forment company it's broken go
4:13fix that's it I mean that's all the
4:15information there is and go at it uh and
4:18I did and um and so when they interview
4:22you this is what they're thinking can I
4:24drop you off with a division of a
4:27Fortune Finder Company by yourself with
4:30little to no supervision and can you
4:32handle the client can you solve the
4:33problems can you do all those things and
4:35make the firm look good in the process I
4:37that's really what they're thinking
4:38because what happens is these are people
4:40who are working Consultants who are
4:41interviewing they're not professional
4:42interviewers and they're thinking do I
4:44want you on my team right or they want
4:46to stick you on my my colleagues teams
4:48or am I causing them a problem or myself
4:50a problem and that's really what they're
4:52after is am I going to get screwed in
4:53the process if I hire you okay and this
4:56is what it means it's it's about being
4:57independent and solving problems on your
4:58own
5:00um along the same lines there are a
5:03couple things that you should be aware
5:04of and they actually have implications
5:06for how you do cases um when you don't
5:09have enough resources you don't have the
5:11time the energy or the dollars to run
5:14every analysis you want okay and there's
5:16this term that that a lot of Consultants
5:17we use which is called uh boiling the
5:20ocean so if you want one cup of hot
5:22water there's two ways you can do it go
5:24get the one cup put on the stove heat it
5:25up or it can try to boil the entire
5:27ocean on planet Earth okay is a lot more
5:30efficient than the other okay and what
5:31that refers to is um you could as a
5:34consultant go in and request all the
5:36information okay I want your whole
5:38database you know all of it and so these
5:41big companies they have a lot of data um
5:43as opposed to being very selective at
5:45asking just for the things you need to
5:48get the answer that you require so being
5:50very deliberate about that and that's
5:52how happens in real life but also in
5:54cases okay in cases you could literally
5:56ask a million question literally ask a
5:58million questions okay they don't
6:00evaluate you on whether or not you can
6:02get through all million they evaluate
6:04whether or whether you can ask the right
6:05the minimum number of questions to get
6:07precisely the minimum amount of
6:08information needed to make an actionable
6:10decision okay so I'll give you an
6:12example
6:19um if a company has um a minimum
6:22standard of I don't know 50% gross
6:24margins for a product okay if you can't
6:26produce 50% margins we don't want to
6:28produce it we kick out theide idea okay
6:30and there's a new idea that comes along
6:32should we do create the new Super Widget
6:35what you can do is you can figure out in
6:36a few minutes whether you're even in the
6:38right ballpark or not is the product
6:40going to be close to 50% or is it more
6:41like 40% more like 20% or more like 80%
6:44and you don't need like a lot of
6:46computation to do that right you can
6:48ballpark costs you can ballpark Revenue
6:49ballpark price things that a premium
6:51price product low price product and sort
6:52of figure out if you're right in the
6:53right Ballpark and if you are you can
6:54sort of do more analysis if you're way
6:56off if it's going to be a 20% margin
6:58product there's no need to sort of spend
7:00time on it as a consultant putting
7:02dollars putting $1 $200,000 to get that
7:04answer so it's very important so to be
7:06very selective about that you'll see
7:08that as I demonstrate some of the
7:10cases so there's a there's a the sort of
7:12distinction between being precise so the
7:15margins on this new product are
7:1743.2% versus they're not even close to
7:2050 okay not even close to 50 is
7:23sufficient to make a decision okay so
7:26there's being precise and there's being
7:28good enough to make a decis decision and
7:30so there's this term called um I don't
7:32know what I called it uh is is basically
7:35actionable decision do we have enough
7:36information to make an acual decision or
7:38recommendation okay and and doesn't
7:40matter and what happens though is this
7:42bothers a lot of people and it may not
7:44bother some of you or even most of you
7:46but this really bothers a lot of people
7:48and what who bothers the most people
7:50from like math and science backgrounds
7:52okay because there's like one right
7:54answer right and it's like to three
7:55significant digits because that's the
7:57way you know you were taught in
7:58engineering school right and because
8:00well in injury makes makes a difference
8:02if you're off by a few percentage points
8:03you know on an airplane design people
8:05die okay so that makes sense but it's a
8:08different skill here we're just trying
8:09to make a decision and it's interesting
8:11I I'll give you an example I I
8:12interviewed a guy who was um a graduate
8:14of it I forget what it stands for it's
8:17the big Technical University in India um
8:20and it's where they all it's like out of
8:21a billion people the smartest 100 are
8:23you know go into each of the things and
8:25I interviewed the guy who's number one
8:26in this class in physics okay so he had
8:28like you know Uber brain right and and I
8:31asked him a question like um I foret the
8:34exact question but something along the
8:35lines of how do you figure out if how do
8:37you figure out what a customer wants
8:39okay and his idea was like well you
8:42would sort of track their movements
8:43using sort of like you know radio
8:45technology you sort of map out GPS where
8:47they're going and then one this huge
8:48sort of Pon distribution analysis
8:50algorithm thing and you sort of figure
8:52out precisely what they want and I was
8:54looking for uh you jump on a plane you
8:56go ask me you come back that afternoon
8:58okay um so so so there's a practicality
9:01element to all of this and so um and so
9:04it bothers a lot of people that you're
9:05not precise and so it's important to
9:07sort of be aware of it's also why
9:10estimation questions are important we
9:11actually use that a lot I use that all
9:13the time probably at least once a week
9:15you know is it worth doing this analysis
9:17can we do it back of the are we even
9:18close do we need more Precision or we
9:20have enough information as it is so we
9:21would actually use that skill all the
9:23time so it's not meant to sort of just
9:24torture you in the interview process
9:26it's actually useful actually very
9:28useful and we would actually do it in
9:30front of clients and surprisingly we
9:31often times do it on the back of napkin
9:33or envelope which always sort of I find
9:34very
9:36ironic okay I'm going talk uh about the
9:38three rules of Consulting this sort of
9:40not sort of interview Consulting but
9:42being a consultant and I think you'll
9:43find this
9:48useful um there is this great book well
9:51actually I haven't read the book but
9:52it's a great title it's by Donnie D It's
9:55called often wrong never in doubt okay
9:58and it has to do with sort of going
10:00ahead and charging forign as an
10:02entrepreneur and getting things done the
10:03consultant's version would be a little
10:05bit different would have a different
10:06title and what it would be is often
10:10right but never without data driven
10:13justification never right never ever do
10:16you ever open your mouth without being
10:18sure you're either right or you have
10:20some sort of basis in fact to back you
10:22up okay and that's very important that's
10:25why there's always these jokes about
10:27Consultants right you know should I go
10:28left or should you go right well maybe
10:30you should it depends right that's
10:31always this kind of the joke answer and
10:33it does depend and and I remember plenty
10:36of times where I'm thinking to myself
10:38while on the job you know what should I
10:40say in this
10:41situation what should I say and and I
10:44choose words when I was I chose my words
10:47extremely carefully extremely carefully
10:50right if you had an idea and you weren't
10:53sure you said I'm not sure it's just
10:55brainstorming so we're always hedging
10:58okay um and you'll TOS some many what do
11:00you think about that test ideas um if
11:02you say something you have to be able to
11:04back it up okay and if you can't then
11:06you qualify it if you don't know the
11:08answer this is kind of interesting you
11:11confidently say I have no idea
11:14confidently am certain I do not know the
11:16answer to that question right and and I
11:19basis in fact my knowledge does not be
11:21able is not unable to answer that
11:22question so I'm not going to answer it
11:24um but we were always certain we was
11:25always data driven right and so it was
11:27very clear because if you sort of
11:29screwed up once it reflected on the
11:31entire case team particularly if it was
11:33in front of like the leag client that
11:35was I'll tell you a little bit about
11:36that in a second so often write never
11:38without data driven justification
11:46okay uh let me tell you about one of the
11:48uh some of the early experiences I had
11:50and that sort of shows some of these
11:51sort of three rules uh I remember the
11:54first time I was in a fortune I think
11:55now 25 boardroom very fascinating I know
11:58if you guys have been in one um but I
12:00went to the board where they actually
12:00have the board of directors meeting and
12:02I was maybe May six months into McKenzie
12:05and um first thing I notied was this is
12:07like a really cool room it's like huge
12:10they have a table that seats about 70
12:12people and it was like mahogany all nice
12:16beautiful wood and uh it was so large
12:19that every every at every seat there was
12:21a microphone because you couldn't hear
12:23the person at the other end of the room
12:24it was that big and and I remember my
12:27first meeting there um and I'm like wow
12:29this is just amazing we're sort of
12:30meeting the lead client
12:31there and my my first reaction was gez I
12:35I hope I don't say something stupid okay
12:38and and I remember um my my my manager
12:40at the time looking over me and I'm I'm
12:42guessing that he was thinking geez I
12:44hope Victor doesn't say anything stupid
12:46right and in Consulting stupid means um
12:52saying something that's not client
12:53friendly okay I'm going tell you what
12:54what that means um and I'll talk about
12:56the first of all it's it's rule number
12:57two is it's not about just being right
12:59it's about being right in a client
13:01friendly way okay if you have the right
13:03answer like they should divest they
13:06should cut margins they should increase
13:08prices it doesn't matter if it's right
13:10if it's you say that in a way that's not
13:12friendly to the client it's very
13:14important um and there are a lot of
13:16entrepreneurs and business people who
13:17are very right in their judgments and
13:19their decision- making but would make
13:20lousy Consultants okay a lot of them are
13:23billionaires by the way but they would
13:24make lousy
13:26Consultants so how you write matter a
13:30lot and let me explain what being client
13:33friendly
13:38means here are some things that are not
13:40client
13:43friendly making conclusions or stating
13:45conclusion that showing you work
13:48simplest way to illustrate this
13:49principle is let's say you go into the
13:51doctor's office you haven't seen them
13:52before they've never run any test it's
13:54the first time you're seeing this doctor
13:55and this doctor is like a a brain
13:57surgeon um takes look at you and says I
14:01have bad news you know you're dying I
14:03need to do emergency brain surgery in
14:05the next two hours or you won't live to
14:07see tomorrow morning let's go how do you
14:10feel okay most people would say no way
14:14no way there's no way you're drilling
14:15into my head having never run any test
14:17run any analysis or having ever seen me
14:19before okay now your reaction is
14:22completely independent of whether or not
14:24he's right or not he could be
14:26right okay maybe he saw something
14:30you know a symptom maybe he saw sort of
14:32the early signs of a stroke right
14:34because sometimes that's visual but it
14:36doesn't matter if he's right if he can't
14:39explain why he's right in a way that's
14:41client friendly okay consultant same
14:43thing you come into the business you
14:45know if you can recommend sort of
14:47business surgery without having done any
14:49analysis it's going to be completely
14:51rejected by the client and his or her
14:52staff okay so it's very important to
14:55remember and so in Cas interviews they
14:57look for this they look for whether or
14:59not your answer and your approach is
15:00client friendly if it's not even if it's
15:03right if it's not client friendly they
15:05can't hire you doesn't mean you're not
15:07smart doesn't mean you're not good in
15:08business doesn't mean you're not going
15:09to be extremely successful even a
15:11billionaire but you just can't be
15:12consultant if you don't do things in a
15:14client friendly
15:15way other things that are client
15:17friendly being
15:18scatterbrained okay Consultants think
15:21extremely linearly sometimes often to a
15:23fault in certain situations okay but a
15:25leaves the B to C period not a to Z to D
15:29to F to not you know to Y and jumping
15:31all around when you jump around clients
15:33can't
15:34follow doesn't matter if you're right
15:37okay so maybe there are five things the
15:39client needs to fix they need to um beef
15:42up distribution they need to divest
15:43their their division in Europe they need
15:45to sort of cut costs here and sort of
15:46launch into a new market and buy acquire
15:48this other company doesn't matter if if
15:50if you're right if you're jumping around
15:52they just can't follow you they can't
15:54follow you it has no it doesn't matter
15:55if you're right because they can't keep
15:57up and here's the thing with clients too
15:59um lately I've done a lot of work with
16:02um human psychology so I did a a degree
16:06master's degree in sociology spent a lot
16:07of time in the social psychology
16:09department and sort of always been very
16:10curious how human beings think and
16:12here's the deal um and I've also put a
16:14lot of attention to learn how people
16:15learn which I find fascinating here's
16:17what you find about a third of people uh
16:20are what I call abstract Learners you
16:22can describe something verbally like
16:24take a sphere uh turn it 35 degrees make
16:27the bottom SL red tilt that side up and
16:30make the other side to the right blue
16:32spin around 275° okay which color is on
16:35top and like there's certain people I
16:37Happ one of them who can do that in
16:38their heads they can see sort of things
16:40abstractly and it's okay most clients
16:42can't okay the other ways people learn
16:45are they learn by seeing things if I got
16:47a Rubik's Cube and I did the exact same
16:48thing there's red on the bottom there's
16:50blue on the side I turn it this way turn
16:51it this way and I do that they get it
16:54right and then there are people who
16:55learn by doing okay so it's about a
16:56third third a third and and the thing
16:59with clients is uh only a minority can
17:02sort of do the abstract thinking okay so
17:05if you have an idea
17:07um and so it's important it doesn't
17:09matter if you're right if they can't get
17:11it if they can't get it whose fault is
17:14it okay it's a consultant's fault okay
17:16because if I'm the CEO and you're the
17:18super brilliant consultant and you make
17:20me feel dumb guess what someone's
17:23getting fired and ain't me right okay so
17:26they got to feel smart in the process
17:28and of times they are but they just
17:29learn differently so Consultants they
17:32tend to skew towards the abstract
17:33thinkers so there was an analysis like
17:35we did at McKenzie on sort of who got
17:37jobs in M who got promoted by based on U
17:39Le for undergrads based on SAT score
17:42grades and whatnot and it turns out uh
17:44there's like a minimum math SAT score
17:46where if you sort of got higher than
17:47that you tended to do D at mcken and
17:49that was like 700 or something like that
17:50so equivalent of GMAT I guess 700 and
17:53then GPA was like if you had a 3.5 GPA
17:55and higher there's no difference between
17:56the person with a 3.5 GPA and a 4.2 GP
17:58pa okay and the other thing was you had
18:00a lot of extra curc you had good people
18:02skills that was sort of the magic
18:03formula and um the reason that's that's
18:06important is is the clients have the
18:09client has to be able to understand you
18:11and if they don't and they feel dumb
18:12then it's really your fault and they
18:14take it out on the firm okay so you have
18:16to be able to translate everything you
18:17do into things people can understand so
18:19here's sort of next thing that's not
18:21clent friendly if you have an answer
18:22that can't be explained visually it's
18:24not a good answer okay so you'll see
18:27when I start getting to the actual cases
18:29I'll be very Visual and actually I
18:31recommend later on you actually practice
18:32drawing like literally practice drawing
18:34I've in case any I have drawn on paper
18:37I've drawn on whiteboards and I've drawn
18:38on flip charts I didn't realize I was
18:40going to be having to do that you know
18:42so so but it's worth practicing because
18:44sometimes you're standing and you know
18:45you're used to sitting like a lot of
18:47little silly things uh pads of paper
18:49like my first couple interviews I Ed
18:51like a legal pad and then I realized the
18:53lines cut into my diagrams which
18:55visually confuses the other person so I
18:57switch to like graph papage it's like a
18:59lot of little things um so if you don't
19:01if you have a good answer but you can't
19:03explain it visually it's a bad answer
19:05okay an answer that you can't justify
19:08with facts and data you have to be able
19:10to state that out
19:12loud and finally I gave you an example
19:14of this earlier if you are logically
19:16correct but your your approach is Not
19:18Practical in real life also bad answer
19:21the example I gave of a person from it
19:22who want to do a very technical analysis
19:24to answer a very simple question he was
19:26right but it wasn't terribly practical
19:29so therefore was a bad
19:35answer
19:39okay have you guys heard of that story
19:41of um the airport
19:44test so this's this story going around
19:47Consulting interviews that one of the
19:48things they want to do is they want to
19:49figure out if you're a good person if
19:50you'd be fun to hang out with in an
19:52airport and and sadly you actually end
19:54up doing that a lot so you miss flights
19:56and you're stuck hanging out with people
19:57on your call your case team
19:59um and I always thought that was sort of
20:01interesting um but I think the mentality
20:03is a little bit that's sort of the
20:04polite version um there's another book
20:06that sort of really sort of speaks to
20:08this there's this book called I don't
20:09know if you guys have seen this before
20:10it's called the no rule okay and
20:13I struggle all whether I should use the
20:14word not because I was sort of t i to
20:15use the word but it uh it was written by
20:18the Stanford Business School Professor
20:19um who wrote an article by the same
20:21title in the Harvard Business review and
20:23the New York it's a New York Times
20:24bestseller so the New York Times printed
20:26it so all the News That's fit to print
20:27right so I'm like well does that mean I
20:30can say it out loud you know um so I
20:32decided I can sort of say it two or
20:33three times um no rule uh the
20:36third rule really of being a consultant
20:37is don't be an I'm I'm dead
20:40serious um there's two reasons the first
20:42is no one likes to work with one right
20:45and the second is that's not client
20:48friendly and um it's interesting because
20:51particularly when you're an
20:53outsider and you're coming in so I
20:55remember like one of my clients was like
20:5767 years old I worked with him oneon-one
20:59I was 21 right so he's literally three
21:02times my age which is like I think
21:04shocking to me and to him um and
21:06actually I ended up sort of giving him
21:07career advice we had to develop that
21:09kind of relationship um but when you're
21:10coming in as The Outsider particularly
21:12when you're not as seasoned as they are
21:13in their own industry they're extremely
21:15skeptical and and they're looking for
21:17you to be an they're just
21:19looking for an excuse to be so for you
21:21to be a jerk okay and if you give them
21:23one it ruins the relationship you can't
21:25get information you need and it slows
21:27down case problem
21:29okay and and particularly you know
21:31McKenzie in particular had sort of a
21:33reputation for being arrogant right and
21:35so we had to sort of and I don't think
21:37it actually was true but we actually had
21:39to sort of go the opposite way be extra
21:42nice right and I remember I actually I
21:44had a a colleague of mine who was uh
21:46managing me at the time he was from the
21:47German office and he I love Germans I
21:50worked a lot of them I think like they
21:51do uh and and he would have we' have
21:54clients like in the Midwest and clients
21:56in the midwest liked like chitchat hey
21:58how's it going you know how was your
21:59weekend you know and he's like that's
22:03inefficient that's inefficient I don't
22:05understand and I had to coach him say
22:07you know Wolf Gang let's talk you um
22:09don't be an you know uh it's
22:12important it's part of the relationship
22:13building and and there's cultural
22:15differences so he was sort of coaching
22:16me on certain problem was because I was
22:18coaching him how not to be a jerk uh and
22:19it was just a cultural difference yes
22:21it's inefficient but this is how they do
22:22things and if you want their cooperation
22:24you got to do it too and so he sort of
22:26gets us after 90 days he's like hey Mary
22:28Jane how are you doing you know and he
22:30he got he figured it out um that's why
22:32they sort of rotate people within the
22:34FR all right so last thing let's talk
22:37about the actual mindset of the
22:38interviewer and um what they actually
22:41think about when they're interviewing
22:43you okay so what I talked about before
22:45is all about how they think about their
22:46life on the job and now sort of get
22:49specific around the interview
22:52itself uh the first thing is what I call
22:54Process Excellence which is sort of a
22:56fancy word uh versus a specific answer
22:59if you do a case in an interview and you
23:01get the right answer but you use a bad
23:03process here's what they think they
23:06think you got lucky and they have no
23:08confidence you can repeat that okay if
23:10you do the opposite if you use a good
23:12process but miss the answer by a little
23:14bit that's actually better so wrong
23:18answer right approach is better than
23:20right answer wrong approach okay because
23:22what they they cons sense is you're more
23:25likely to be repeat the process and get
23:26a good result which goes back to you
23:28being
23:29independent right you're on the plane by
23:31the client yourself do I have confidence
23:33you have the right process if you have
23:35the right process you will get the right
23:38answer maybe with some help but if you
23:41have no repeatable process but you got
23:43lucky they can't hire
23:44you
23:48okay here's what else they're looking
23:50for they're looking for a very logical
23:53datadriven analysis as you go through
23:55the
23:56case all sequentially
23:59very linearly extremely linearly okay um
24:03to a fault sometimes I will give you an
24:05example sort of illustrates this it's
24:07actually kind of
24:09funny uh I was in the Mackenzie office a
24:11couple years back and there was a um a
24:15rumor that the office was really busy
24:16and people and Consultants weren't
24:17getting enough of of a
24:19break and so this one one guy sort of we
24:22have the sort of regular weekly Friday
24:23office meeting so the head of the office
24:25sort of does like Q&A and someone
24:27suggested a Q&A and said
24:29um I think we ought to get rid of all
24:31the snacks in the Mackenzie New York
24:33office so we had like you know soft
24:34drinks and like cookies and all things
24:36you eat late at night when you're
24:37starving all kind of stuff and um and he
24:40said I think there are two reasons why
24:42we ought to do this one is financial and
24:44the other's health related okay and he
24:46proceeded to give a very rigorous
24:49analysis of how many consultants there
24:51typically finer consultants in the
24:53office one the finer support St 1,000
24:54employees if each person eats one cookie
24:56per day that's an average intake of 300
24:58calories per day you know add it up over
25:00the course of a year that's you know 300
25:02times you know 1,000 people times 252
25:04working days in a year that's about 1,9
25:06145,000 45 million calories right and on
25:09average the average New York consultant
25:11is going to gain about two pounds per
25:12year okay which is going to increase our
25:14healthare class health care cost because
25:16we're self-insured and projected over a
25:1710year period it's going to cost a firm
25:19about $2
25:20million and so so so so and and and the
25:24head of the office is supposed to
25:25respond to this and rather than sort of
25:27humor than analysis you said obviously
25:29we're not busy enough in the office
25:31right uh but this this is how
25:35Consultants think I kid you not and and
25:38and it seems sort of humorous but at the
25:40same time people sort of respected that
25:42too right but and it sort of it makes
25:44Consultants some cases sort of bad
25:46social partners because you're
25:47constantly doing analyses in your head
25:49like for example like you can't go into
25:50a business with screwed up I can't go
25:52into a business that's screwed up and
25:53not try to mentally fix it in my head
25:55like bottlenecks like could do like
25:56process redesign like I can't believe
25:58the line is here I can't believe it's
25:59over there it's inefficient what they
26:00ought to do is over here and say if on
26:02average you know 100 people move through
26:03this business every hour if you uh save
26:05off you know shave off 10 seconds on per
26:07per weight time at the cashier you're
26:09going to save about I start doing this
26:10in my head I'm like you know I'm on a
26:12date you know don't do
26:15that so it's it's just how we
26:20think okay uh last thing in terms of the
26:22un's mindset is uh what I call synthesis
26:24we'll talk a little bit about that
26:27synthesis is pulling things up to the
26:28big picture okay uh it's a hard skill to
26:32do to sort of dive down into the
26:34weeds and yet come up and be able to
26:36present to the CEO okay and so that's I
26:39think one of the Valu consult uh
26:41Consultants do is they'll go down and
26:42talk to the lowlevel employee the person
26:44on the phones the person feet on the
26:45street will say what do you think what's
26:47wrong with this business like I think we
26:49ought to do this this and that and you
26:50sort of validate that like good idea go
26:53up one two three four five six 14 levels
26:55of hierarchy between the CEO Fortune
26:57final company and the person answering
26:59the phones and what we do half the time
27:01we repeat what the guy on the phone
27:03said okay but we're able to explain it
27:06in the context of our overall strategy
27:08gross margins competitive positioning
27:10and put it in the frame of the big
27:12picture whereas a little level employee
27:13can't do that so synthesis is a big part
27:16of it and they will often test you on
27:17this just be careful though because it's
27:19always at the end so you think like you
27:21did all the analysis right everything
27:22they threw at you you got it right and
27:25last five minutes I like great okay now
27:27synthesize what do you think the client
27:29should do all right and now you're sort
27:31of in presentation mode but critically
27:33thinking presentation
27:35mode I'll give you some examples of that
27:37we'll talk a little bit about that too
27:38um but it's an important part of that
27:41process that's what they're looking
27:57for e

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