The McKinsey Method: Using the techniques of leading strategic consultants to solve personal and business problems. The McKinsey Method. Using the Techniques of Leading Strategic Consultants to Solve Personal and Business Challenges Ethan Rasiel About McKinsey

  • 15.05.2020
Name: The McKinsey method. How to solve any problem
The authors): Ethan Rasiel
Publisher: "Alpina Publisher", — 2018

Description:
Original (English): "The McKinsey Way: Using the Techniques of the World"s Top Strategic Consultants to Help You and Your Business" by Ethan M. Rasiel

To date, there is no other such well-known, successful and sought-after consulting firm in the world as McKinsey & Company. Most of the world's leading corporations are its clients. Many of the greatest business leaders and management thinkers have come from this company. Among them are Tom Peters, Louis Gerstner, Jon Katzenbach and many others.

The book reveals for the first time the management practices that McKinsey has long guarded and demonstrates the tools to enable managers at all levels to think like McKinsey consultants and find solutions to the most complex business problems.

Why the book is worth reading:

If you are the CEO of a company that has turned to McKinsey or another consulting firm for help, this book will give you an idea of ​​what these people are doing. weird people. Although each consulting firm has its own way of working, the essence of management consulting is the same everywhere - it is an objective look at the client's situation. It's entirely possible that other firms operate very differently from McKinsey, but their consultants' mindsets are similar.

This work will be useful not only to representatives of consulting companies and students of business schools, but also to all those who solve business problems.

Ethan M. Rasiel(Ethan M. Rasiel) joined McKinsey in 1989 and worked there until 1992. His clients were large companies from finance, telecommunications, IT and consumer goods. In addition, Rasiel worked as an investment banker and asset manager. He holds a bachelor's degree from Prinston University and an MBA from Wharton Business School.

  • Preface translators
  • "The McKinsey Method" - expanding the boundaries of the screen of your world...
  • Preface to the Russian edition
  • Thanks
  • Introduction

    Part I: Understanding Business Problems Using the McKinsey Method

  • 1. Building a solution
  • 2. Development of approaches to problem solving
  • 3. The 80/20 principle and other rules

    Part II. Solving Business Problems: The McKinsey Method

  • 4. Sales
  • 5. Team building
  • 6. Hierarchy Management
  • 7. Conducting research
  • 8. Conducting an interview
  • 9. Brainstorm

    Part III. McKinsey's approach to "selling referrals"

  • 10. Presentations
  • 11. Display data with charts
  • 12. Management of internal communications
  • 13. Working with clients

    Part IV. How to survive in McKinsey

The McKinsey Method reveals the management approaches and methods that McKinsey has long guarded and demonstrates the tools to enable managers at all levels to think like McKinsey consultants and find solutions to the most complex business problems. To date, there is no other such well-known, successful and sought-after consulting firm in the world as McKinsey & Company.

Why The McKinsey Method Is Worth Reading

If you're the CEO of a company that has turned to McKinsey or another consulting firm for help, this book will give you an idea of ​​what these strange people are up to. Although each consulting firm has its own way of working, the essence of management consulting is the same everywhere - it is an objective look at the client's situation. It's entirely possible that other firms operate very differently from McKinsey, but their consultants' mindsets are similar.

Who is the author of The McKinsey Method?

Ethan Rasiel joined McKinsey in 1989 and worked there until 1992. His clients have included large companies in finance, telecommunications, IT and consumer goods. In addition, Rasiel worked as an investment banker and asset manager. He holds a bachelor's degree from Princeton University and an MBA from the Wharton School of Business.

About McKinsey

James O. McKinsey & Company was founded in 1926 by James O. McKinsey in Chicago. James McKinsey is a professor of accounting at the University of Chicago Business School who pioneered the use of financial planning as a management tool. Marshal Field's became his first client in 1935 and soon convinced McKinsey to leave his own firm and become one. CEO. In 1937, McKinsey died suddenly of pneumonia.

Marvin Bauer, who joined the firm in 1933 and became McKinsey's successor, foresaw the firm's success on the world stage and laid down its founding principles. The Chicago and New York branches split from the firm when McKinsey died. In 1939, with the help of New York partners, Bauer rebuilt the firm's New York office and renamed it McKinsey & Company. One of the firm's early partners, Andrew T. Carney, retained the firm's Chicago office and renamed it after himself, thus initiating rival firm A.T. Kearney, a management consulting firm.

Today, McKinsey has 94 offices in more than 60 countries around the world.

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Don't rely on intuition, use facts. This will avoid mistakes and give more weight to your idea when presenting.

Think clearly. McKinsey uses Mutually Exclusive Collectively Eexhaustive (mutually exclusive, jointly exhaustive) approach to problem structuring and communication. This means that, on the one hand, each component of the problem, idea or document is considered separately and does not repeat the others, and on the other hand, all components together completely cover the problem.

Before solving the problem, determine the initial hypothesis. It may seem that you are trying to solve the problem before investigating it, but this is not the case. In fact, you determine the way to solve the problem. This is just a guess, which then needs to be tested. At the same time, try to maintain objectivity, and not select facts to support your hypothesis. If necessary, you need to change the initial hypothesis.

Analyze what the real problem is. What you have been labeled as a problem is not necessarily one. For example, a client may ask for a plant expansion plan, when it would be better to close the plant.

Many business problems are similar and the same approaches can be used to solve them. But not always. So, with pricing in 80% of cases right decision is to raise prices, but it is 20% more effective to lower prices.

Follow the 20-80 rule, which says that 20% of the people in a company bring 80% of the results; 20% of customers bring 80% of profits and so on.

Remember that the decision must be realistic. The best solution does not make sense if the business does not have enough resources to implement it, or the political situation in the company does not allow it. It is better to break the problem and solution into parts that can be implemented.

Don't analyze too much. Stop as soon as you have gathered enough information to support your hypothesis. Focus on key drivers - the most important factors that affect the problem.

The solution must be within 30 seconds. This tactic is also known as the "elevator test" - if you can explain a product or solution within a 30-second elevator ride, then you understand it clearly enough.

Use small wins. If, while solving a big problem, you come across solutions to smaller ones that can be usefully implemented instantly, use them. This can reduce the tension of management expecting a big result.

Keep a record of the facts you learned in the process of solving the problem. Make a chart every day to clarify your thoughts and mark your progress.

Don't lose the forest for the trees. It's hard to keep a big picture of a problem when you're immersed in the details, so it's sometimes helpful to step back and look at the problem as a whole. Be willing to admit that you don't know something or are moving in the wrong direction.

Do not sell, but create an image

McKinsey prides itself on not selling its services. Instead of calling customers, they create awareness of what they can do and come to the rescue when needed.

Their consultants speak at conferences, write articles, communicate with potential clients, participate in charity. They are very careful with their promises and never set too high expectations.

Creation of teams

A project usually has a team of consultants. This speeds up the work and gives different points of view.

Team building activities are kept to a minimum. This usually happens during work and is due to the fact that consultants work very quickly and often move from project to project.

If you are a team leader, constantly assess employee satisfaction. Make decisions consistently, because chaotic actions will demoralize the team. Make each team member feel that their contribution is valuable to the common cause, and treat them with respect.

Be polite. Recognize that employees have a life outside of the office. Don't ask them to do things they wouldn't do themselves. Find out the interests and hobbies of employees to strengthen team spirit.

Hierarchy Navigation

The first rule of success in a hierarchy is that the boss must inspire respect and sympathy. Work in good faith. Keep the boss informed, but don't overwhelm with information.

Depending on the situation in the company, admit that your position is lower than that of the boss, or behave with him on an equal footing.

Researching

Consultants know that often much of the work has already been done for them, and they can find it through research. So they start with company reports, then move on to journal articles and scientific research.

Particular attention is paid to unusual facts. For example, too high or too low sales.

Conducting an interview

Interviews are the main means of collecting information, so the quality of their conduct is given great attention.

Before the interview, make a list of questions and information you would like to receive. Start with general innocuous questions and gradually move on to specific and more sensitive ones. This allows you to reach mutual understanding and gives more comfort to the interviewee. Also try asking a couple of questions that you know the answers to to test the other side's honesty.

Ask and let people answer freely. Ask open questions that involve more than just “yes” and “no” answers.

The most important question can be left for the end when the interviewee is relaxed and more likely to share. useful information. You can just ask if there's anything he'd like to add, or if you forgot something important.

To encourage someone to speak, remain silent. An awkward pause encourages people to speak. Take notes and don't talk too much. Show consideration by nodding and other verbal signs of approval.

Paraphrase your answers to make sure you understand. Don't push too hard and don't turn the interview into an interrogation.

After the interview, send thanks - then future conversations will go more smoothly.

Presentation of ideas

The culmination of any project is the preparation of a presentation. It should be clear and logical.

Don't try to perfect your presentations until the last minute, this will only add unnecessary stress. To avoid unproductive objections during your presentation, alert key people to what the presentation is about.

Tell your story with simple, cute, easy-to-understand diagrams and graphs.