Saturday, May 26, 2007

THE McKINSEY WAY




by Ethan M Rasiel

Whenever I think of consultancy firm; the first name that strikes to my mind is “McKinsey”. Why is this company-a dream company for most of the MBA’s? The only answer to this question is MK's style of working and ability of its solutions to get things work for their clients, isn’t it? Believe me this book is very easy to go through as it used best possible & simple language and well pointed anecdotes.

This book is all about the way MK handle its business. However author claims that it is very easy for you to use MKW in your own business or profession, and I found it realistic. The way author has written this book is fantastic. The book has been divided into parts.

How MK think about the business problem
How MK work to solve the business problem
How MK sell its solution
Life at MK
The cardinal rule that McKinsey-ites can never forget is MECE (Mutually exclusive collectively exhaustive). This is the best thing; however most of the time gets ignored by non- McKinsey-ites; that’s what I claim. Whenever you work on anything you should keep this MECE in your mind, this helps you to be equipped with all possible ways towards the solution to any kind of problem and reduce the confusion by avoiding repetition. While studying any business problem McKinsey-ites study it in structured manner. Indeed this helps you to boil down at the crux of the problem; it is essential part as your solution needs to fit the clients’ requirement. Putting the client first is one of the most important key to successful client services. McKinsey-ites form the initial hypothesis, which determines the approach towards solution. So keep in mind that McKinsey-ites never go with blank slate, they have their structured approach to think about business problems, what do you do? The next thing that book talks about is 80-20 rule, which is one of the best rules in management. This rule helps to expedite the solution process; as keeping this rule in mind you can get the 20% things (key drivers) which contribute 80% to the output and this makes it easy for the McKinsey-ites to keep the wheel rolling. I really love this rule.

Here comes the focus on marketing part of MK and how MK does it. Your solution becomes valuable only when you sell it to your clients. But author claims that “MK sells because MK markets”. At this juncture McKinsey-ites are expected to be prepared with their recommendations which must be supported by the facts & figures and outcomes from the research. Before going for any kind of research you need to streamline on particular issue, again use MK structure with MECE. If you forget doing this then you may end up collecting things, which may digress and confuse you. Gathering data for the research purpose plays vital role in coming up with best possible recommendation for the problem. Interviewer should possess the skills to absorb the required information in least possible time. Now let’s see how MK makes its way towards solution. Brainstorming is considered as one of the best way to solve the problem, same works with MK. At MK there is no bad idea, but this doesn’t mean that speaking on irrelevant topic will be entertained- beware of it. Each and every idea gets respect, which is the quality of good working environment which is conducive for the growth of the employees and in turn organization (hierarchy gets sidelined when McKinsey-ites are involved in brainstorming session). Book also focuses on the importance of the team; success of MK in the field of consultancy depends on the success of the team.

Now here comes the importance of all the presentations you have made in front of your class, boss or clients. Really presentation skills plays very important role in the career of any management trainee. Same is true at the MK. Book has given one kind of chart “Waterfall Chart”, as author says it is best way to present your data and I am fully agree with him. I have never before seen this chart and to my dismay it’s not available in MS Excel-2003; if anyone of you knows how to use it then please inform me. Internal communication at MK, working with client and its importance, this part is relatively slump. Last part is all about the life at MK and how to find the balance between work and life, one of the biggest management discourses.

One best thing about this book is that while reading the book you get the feel of how theories are implemented and customized to suit the organization and business.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

The element of the book the stress laid on the R&D done on the problem by mustering the data from all the sources available...

Anonymous said...

The best element of the book is the stress laid on the R&D done on the problem by mustering the data from all the sources available...

Anonymous said...

From the world of Investing...

Just to add the value of research data - the way McKINSEY does it, is that even in the field of investing (Stock Market), there are two ways to invest.
1. Based on the gut feeling.
2. Based on the empirical data.

Historical evidence has proved that the investments done on the basis of the second one has always proved to be more reaping.

So guys start getting into the habbit of R&D before solving any business problem or infact any problem and that will make you richer in knowledge and may be even money. And I wish I too get into this habbit soon...

Prabhat said...

The book is really very good. It gives a logical way of approaching a problem for solution....