Thinking Problems:

1. Facts compensate for lack of gut instinct .Facts bridge the credibility gap. You must not

fear the facts. Hunt for them, use them, but don't fear them.

2. MECE (Mutually Exclusive Collectively Exhaustive).

3. Overlap represents muddled thinking by the writer and leads to confusion for the reader.

4. Once you have a list in which all the items are separate and distinct (i.e. mutually

exclusive), you have to check that it also includes every issue or item relevant to the

problem (i.e. collectively exhaustive).

5. Defining, generating and testing the initial hypothesis.

6. Facts are not enough. You have to apply structure to them.

7. Issue tree.

8. Issues, drivers and recommendable actions.

9. If all you have a hammer every problem looks like a nail.

10. How does the new information fits your initial hypothesis.

11. Know your client. Know the organization's strength and weaknesses, and capabilities

what management can and cannot do. Tailor your solutions with these factors in mind.

12. When academic ideals meet business reality, business reality usually wins.

13. Put together enough facts , combine them with some creative thinking, and you will come

up with a solution.

14. Sometimes change management means changing management.

15. When you face political opposition it usually means that your solution has negative

implications for someone in the organization. So politics is just people acting in their own

interests.

16. Remember that politics is the art of possible, and it's no good devising the ideal solution

if the client refuses to accept it.

17. Don't boil the ocean, don't try to analyze everything. Figure out your priorities.

18. Know your solution; explain it clearly in 30 seconds.

19. Don't wait! Solving only a part of the problem can still mean increased profits.

20. You may use it or you may not, but once you have crystallized it on the page, you won't

forget it.

21. Just do what you were supposed to do and get it right.

22. You are only as good as your last study. You have one "bad" engagement, all your hard

work doesn't matters.

23. Admitting is less costly than bluffing.

24. Chip away I have no idea with pointed questions.

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Solving business problems:

1. Just be there, at the right time, and make sure the right people know who you are.

2. Make sure that right people know the firm is there.

3. Don't bite off more than you can chew.

4. In the face of complexity, many hands don't just make light work; they make for a better

result.

5. If your boss looks good you look good.

6. Gathering, Filtering and Analyzing data.

7. What goes around comes around.

8. Whatever you are 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!

9. Old saying that no matter how good you are at something, there's always somebody

better.

10. You need the information in someone else's head.

11. Defining your purpose will help you put your questions in the right order and phrase

them correctly.

12. An interview will start with general questions and move on to specific ones.

13. Consultants are there to listen and not to talk.

14. 7 tips for successful interviews:

a. Have the interviewee's boss set up the meeting.

b. Interview in pairs.

c. Listen; don't lead.

d. Paraphrase, Paraphrase, Paraphrase.

e. Use the indirect approach.

f. Don't ask for too much.

g. Adopt the columbo tactic.

Sometimes a little politeness goes a long way.

15. The cardinal problem of brainstorming is that you cannot do it successfully in a vacuum.

16. Make sure that everyone on the team knows what you know. "Fact Pack"

17. Bring facts you know, but find new ways of looking at them.

18. Brainstorming:

a. There are no bad ideas.

b. There are no dumb questions-Never discount the benefits of working through seemingly obvious or simple questions.

c. Be prepared to kill your babies- Don't invest a lot of ego in your hypothesis; don't come to the meeting prepared to die in a ditch defending.

d. Know when to say when.

e. Get it down on paper.

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Selling Solutions

19. A presentation reflects the thinking of the person or team that put it together.

20. Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, and tell them what you told them.

21. Don't let the best be the enemy of the good.

22. Whatever structure you applied to your thought process, apply it to your presentation.

23. One message per chart.

24. Effective message:

a. Brevityb. Thoroughness.c. Structure.

25. Now when you can call and when you can't.

26. If your solution is truly effective, the client organization will claim it for its own.

27. You must get acceptance for your solution from everyone in the organization that it

affects.

28. Must sell your solution to every level of the organization, from the board on down.

29. 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.

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Surviving at Mc Kinsey

30. Pack light; learn what you need to have with you on the road, rather than what you think you need.

31. It’s easier to be friendly than frustrated.

32."Attract, develop, excite, motivate and retain exceptional people".

33. Make one day a week off limits, don’t take work home, Plan ahead.