Brainstormings

Question 1

• Always important to be … throughout the whole case, wether you use paper or not.
• Important to both be … and … when crafting cases.

Answer 1

structured
rigorous
efficient

Question 2

Brainstorming: the 3-step approach

Answer 2

1. Define and structure
2. Prioritize drivers
3. Generate hypothesis

Question 3

Define and structure, three important parts:

Answer 3

Define specifically
- Find specific metric if possible.
- Make the words describing the objective very specific.

Structure with MECE issue trees
- MECE: Mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive
- No gaps and no overlaps

Make structure problem-specific
- Specific to the problem or the clients industry.
- Tempting to use general models, but try to adapt them to the specific case.
- Ensure you show business sensitivity to the interviewer.

Question 4

Prioritize drivers:
- Take the …
- Think …
- Think

Answer 4

context (and #s) into consideration
impact
likelihood / feasibility

Question 5

Generate hypotheses:
- Say …
- Think …
- Stay …

Answer 5

the obvious
outside-the-box (→ read more, make more analogies)
practical

Question 6

When to use Brainstorming?

Answer 6

• When you’re asked for a list
• When you’re asked an open “why do you think” or “what do you think” question

Question 7

When to not use Brainstorming?

Answer 7

• When the interviewers are gladly answering your questions → always ask first (e.g. contextualization questions)
• When you already have data or can get access to data by asking for the data

Question 8

How to handle “what else” questions?

Answer 8

• If you sense that the interviewer wants VOLUME of ideas, give them what they want
• Practice for “what else” questions by generating 30 ideas for every Brainstorming you practice

Question 9

No time to think? No paper allowed? Just say what’s on my mind? Should I still be structured?

Answer 9

• ALWAYS be structured, even if they tell you not to
• As you get better, learn how to brainstorm “on the fly” (especially for final rounds)

Question 10

Why MECE?

Answer 10

• If you know how to create MECE structures from scratch you can tackle any case.
• The way to increase your confidence is to develop your competence.
• Helps you think and communicate in a structured way.
• The key to connect with your interviewer is to speak their language.

Question 11

Algebraic structures

Answer 11

Many problems management consultants face are related to optimizing a certain metric. If this is the case, finding equations to that metric is one way of breaking down the problem.

Question 12

Process structures

Answer 12

You can look at some problems as a process with a beginning, middle, and end. Each step of the problem is a part of your structure.

Question 13

Conceptual frameworks

Answer 13

Many call these “qualitative frameworks”. These are categories of ideas. One example of these are the 3Cs of strategy (Customers, Company and Competition).

Question 14

Segmentations

Answer 14

Segmenting is essentially cutting a slice of the problem. For instance, you could segment a company’s customers by age group, by gender, by country, etc. Another example: you could segment a company’s revenues by product line, by country, by type of customer, by month, etc.

Almost every great structure has a lot of nuance to it. One way to add nuance is to embed a few relevant segmentations within it.

Question 15

Opposite words

Answer 15

Supply and Demand. Financial and Non-financial. Strategic issues and Operational issues. External and Internal factors. Short-term and Long-term. Make and Sell. There are dozens of pairs of words that mean the opposite.

Generate instant structure on demand.

Question 16

There are three core techniques that you must learn. These are …, … and ….

The other two, … and … are easy to learn and will help you get out of tricky situations, but they aren’t as important.

Answer 16

“Algebraic structures”
“Process structures”
“Conceptual frameworks”

“Segmentations”
“Opposite words”