Tag Archives: top management consulting

TNF #051: Murphy’s law revisited

Welcome Professionals…

…I am sure you have heard of Murphy’s law, often cited as “Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.”

Many smart people have reviewed the so called law and tried to explain or refute it. I won’t dive into that. It does not matter to me if it is true or false. But there have been situation when I thought that Murphy’s law applies to me. And that sucks.

Murphy’s law is my personal reminder that some things will go wrong – sooner or later. It is just a matter of statistics. If these errors occur during times when everything counts, when everything is on the edge, they become a great nuisance. Just before the important board meeting presentation the printer runs out of toner. Just before the crucial client meeting I spill tomato sauce on my white dress shirt. This is the time when I might complain about Murphy’s law.

Instead of worrying about the universal injustice, though, it is much better to have alternative plans in place.

As top management consultants, we like to be prepared for these statistical errors in order to stay cold-blooded when everything counts. Good examples of preparation are:

keeping a spare suit, shirt and tie in a closet in the office
installing an alternative printer to switch if one runs out of toner
keeping some money in the briefcase/jacket/office drawer separate from the wallet
always reviewing two alternative routes to the client
keeping a power pack for the phone
and so on…

What are your tricks? Let me know. And don’t worry about Murphy’s law ever again.

Malte

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TNF #050: Feeling tired?

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Welcome Professionals…

…do you feel tired in the afternoon sometimes? I do. Here is what helps:

Sleep properly at night, at least 6 hours, no disturbance, no alcohol
Take regular meals: breakfast, lunch, dinner (do not skip breakfast!)
Reduce fast burning carbs like white bread, pasta, processed foods, etc.
Reduce sugar
Drink a lot of still water, less caffeine
Move (a little walk) or do quick exercise
Enjoy sunlight
Do some social activity (meeting, phone calls) instead of conceptual work
Breathe deeply

Wishing you a wide awake afternoon

Malte

TNF #049: Prepared for networking

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Welcome Professionals…

…I am attending a networking event today and I am getting prepared. There are only very few of these events that I actualy attend. I don’t like these awkward settings where everyone is running around exchanging business cards in order to sell something the next day. But some networking events offer a specific content and a curated membership network that are worth it from my point of view.

However, these occasions are rare and expensive, they cost time and money. So, it is better to go prepared. There are a few obvious preparations and some more sophisticated that I only got familiar with over recent years.

The obvious preparation is just common sense:

Making sure to be on time with a proper appearance
Placing some business cards into the jacket (not to be proactively used, but just in case somebody asks for one)
Reviewing the list of participants, marking target persons to connect with
Collecting some background information on target persons (CV on LinkedIn, mentioning in the news, looking for joint projects, interests, etc.)

The less obvious networking preparation is getting ready for conversations. On a networking event like this, we will have an agenda packed with some inspiring speeches and lots of breaks inbetween. I will not want to approach new contacts with some random conversation about the weather. Neither will I want to make it business transactional.

In order to really connect with people, I will want to pick a conversation that is playful enough for the small talk setting and at the same time meaningful enough to be remembered. This challenge needs preparation – and it also needs a lot of practice to be honest.

Here is what I will do. The topic of the conference is “upcycling”. I will think of anecdotes that link to this topic or to sub-topics that I find on the agenda. These anecdotes could be something that I heard on the news, an expert article that I read, a recent project that I did. Further, the anecdote needs to carry a message, this is where the meaning comes into play. By telling the story in my own personal way, I want to make sure to convey my personal opinion, something that I stand for, i.e., my values and believes.

Of course, this may sound a bit constructed. But think twice. A good networking conversation is exchanging stories on a joint topic where the discussion partners get to know each other. This is what it is worth to get prepared for.

Out for now

Malte

TNF #048: Surprise, surprise!

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Welcome Professionals…

…do you like a good surprise? A nicely wrapped up birthday present or your favourite dinner cooked for you when you didn’t expect it? Winning the lottery when you haven’t even played?

Seriously, a good surprise can be nice. In private. Not in business. I don’t like to be surprised in a business context. I like to be prepared and I like to allocate my time consciously.

Yet, there are quite some people around me who seem to think that a surprise is a good idea. They like to confront a group of people with a brand new concept. They turn around a personal 1:1 meeting to a completely different topic. They show PowerPoint presentations with animated items flying in at each push of a button. Handing over each bullet point one-by-one like a little gift.

I don’t really feel entertained by these kind of surprises. I think this is inappropriate in a business environment. The attention span of every person in business is diminishing. We need to concentrate and focus. And we need to prepare properly.

Why not sending the agenda in advance? Why not sharing the document well ahead of the meeting? Why not sending a welcome note 24 hours before the introductury meeting with a short bio and some questions to be answered during the meeting.

Not a big deal? I think so, too.

Malte

TNF #047: Special song for all consultants

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Welcome Professionals…

…today I have a special edition for you. I went to the sound studio and recorded a song that I once performed live on the BCG christmas party in 2011.

The song features scenes out of the busy life of a consultant. But, be careful: this song contains irony and even a bit of sarcasm. So don’t take it too seriously.

Have fun!

Malte

TNF #046: Don’t back off before you hear a clear “No”

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Welcome Professionals…

…sometimes we give up too early. This may be the case due to our own interpretations and assumptions. We have not heard a clear “No”, but we assume that the answer is “No”.

This week, I had an experience that inspired me to write this post as a reminder of this simple rule in sales. Never back off before you hear a clear “No”.

I have had a meeting with a client in May, who told me of a certain need. The very next day, I sent a proposal that was addressing this need. I never heard anything. I sent a reminder a few weeks later, asking for an answer. Did not hear anything back. I put it aside and forgot about it. When I reviewed my open client actions in my CRM system after the summer break in August, the open proposal came to my attention. My initial thought was: “They did not answer, so the proposal was probably not good enough.”

I was about to go to my next task when I thought twice. An unanswered email is just an unanswered email. Everything else is an interpretation. It might be correct, but it might just as well be wrong.

I sent the same proposal again to the client. Stating that I had not heard anything, yet. I asked very directly if the reason was: a) no time, b) no interest, or c) the email got lost. The reply from my client came within one hour: “Thanks for the reminder … we do it as suggested … my assistant will schedule a meeting!”

That was it! I was positively surprised and thought about the reasons for my earlier hesitation. I think it is just human that we fear rejection. We need to overcome this. The worst answer would have been that my client does not like the proposal. But then I would have had a chance to revise it.

An unanswered email is just what it is. A reason for you to get in touch with your client – again!

Stay persistent,

Malte

TNF #044: Surfing your client dynamics

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Welcome Professionals…

…I am currently enjoying my summertime vacation in Italy. Today, I went windsurfing on the Lake of Garda. The wind was steady, but not really strong. In order to go a bit faster, I went back to the surfing gear rental and got a bigger sail.

This reminded me of a good analogy.

Imagine the lake as your client’s organization, the wind as the current organizational dynamics, and the surfer as the consultant. Dynamics will change over time, they might differ from day to day. You don’t even know what they are like and how they work until you test the water. It neither makes sense to work against them nor to complain about them. Just as it makes no sense for the surfer to complain about the weather.

Instead, we need to choose the right gear from our methodological toolbox that fits the circumstances and works for the goals. Every time, in each and every interaction we need to hold on for a second and assure that we are working with the right set of tools. Because dynamics change from time to time, just like the wind.

Of course, we are not doing that for the fun of it, but in order to create value.

Wishing you good vibrations –

Malte

TNF #043: Summertime, when the living is easy

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Welcome Professionals…

…it’s this time of the year, when most people in the Northern hemisphere go to summertime vacation. What makes up for a good relaxation during the summer for a top management consultant? Can you enjoy your summertime vacation at all or do you have to be ready for work at all times?

I personally have tried various models. I have shifted my vacation plenty times due to important project phases. I have interrupted my summer vacation for important proposals and client meeting and have traveled back to work. I have been riding my bicycle with the laptop on the back to the next WiFi hotspot in order to download and submit large PowerPoint files. I have stood outside in the rain for hours in order to listen to endless conference calls. On the other hand, I have also tried to make myself unavailable to any work, went to nature spots in a tent without any connection to the outside world.

The extremes of being ready for work all the time or being completely out of business for weeks don’t work for me. Here is what does the trick for me. This is how I get a decent amount of relaxation and find some work/life-balance in my vacation time:

Pursuing some sports activity each day, that takes my full attention, like surfing, beach volleyball, a bicyle tour, etc.
Playing with my children and having them make the rules
Indulging in a good meal and/or Italian icecream and/or a good bottle of wine
Good and intense conversations with my wife
Checking emails each day and answering the most important ones, but limited to some distinct times of the day (usually early morning or at some down times of the day)
Calling my assistant every other day to get the latest news and give instructions to important matters
Never interrupting for any important client meeting or proposal, simply re-schedule
Most important: Not trying to force relaxation. It is like forcing myself to sleep now. It never works like this

How about you? What works for you?

Wishing you a good summertime relaxation

Malte

TNF #042: How to get out of urgency mode?

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Welcome Professionals…

…in last week’s blog post, I revisited a popular concept: The Eisenhower decision matrix. I made the point that we must dedicate time to our long-term oriented goals.

Urgency always finds a way to occupy our time. If we do not take deliberate action, we will miss out on what really matters and what creates future value.

Some readers have asked me how this can be done. There is actually only one way from my point of view. Scheduling time to these long-term goal activities (important not urgent) and sticking to it.

There are two different categories of these activies. The ones that need to be followed regularly like physical exercise and nurturing of relationships are best to be built into your daily routines. It helps to build strong habits that will be followed at all times.

Project work falls into the other categorie. Activities like building intellectual property or acquiring a skill need deep work. Time blocks of a full day or half a day where you shut down all distractions and focus on your work. It is best to set up a project plan for these kind of activities like you would do for a consulting project. Book these activities to your calendar and stick to it.

Hope this works for you to get out of the urgency mode.

Malte

TNF #041: Get out of urgency mode!

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Welcome Professionals…

…time is precious, specifically for top management consultants. We seem to be under continuous time pressure. From my point of view, this problem is getting even worse over time. We continuously run the risk of falling into the urgency trap.

Let’s revisit an old and popular concept that many will be very familiar with. The Eisenhower decision matrix shows importance vs. urgeny on the axes (see picture). It gives some guidance what to do first (important and urgent), what to focus on (important not urgent), what to avoid (urgent not important) and what to limit (neither important nor urgent).

This is a very simple concept which is easy to understand. Yet, it is difficult to apply. The key difficulty is to focus on activities that are important, but not urgent. This is where the long-term value of our business lies. In our context, this could be deep work in order to build some intellectual property.

With the rise of communication technology we find ourselves in a constant urgency mode. Most of the time we are mastering a crisis, that is solving an urgent and important problem for your client. Deadlines are tight. The rest of the time is at risk to be filled with urgent but not important activities like answering emails, messenger items, checking social media and so on. The increase in communication gadgets (both devices and apps) puts pressure on deadlines as well as it creates new distractions. It is a very high risk that we must make ourselves aware of.

All too often, the valuable acitivities of the 2nd quadrant (important not urgent) are dismissed. In the favour of some client deadlines we tend to neglect, e.g.

physical workout – not urgent, but important for long-term health
relationships and friendships – not urgent, but important for long-term sanity
capability building – not urgent, but important for long-term competitiveness

We must make sure that we dedicate time blocks for these long-term oriented goals. It takes awareness, willpower and focus get out of the urgency mode!

Wishing you lots of success,

Malte