The McKinsey Edge Success Principles from the World’s Most Powerful Consulting Firm – Chapter 9

Mackenzie structural people who work at the farm I referred to as consultants regardless of their actual title in The Firm since this was a book on leadership transition however I have used many terminal job titles to facilitate the discussion and give prospective on the success principles yet if you are new to this world the different titles can become confusing that I have created the simple hierarchical structure to answer the question what exactly is each level responsible for basic hierarchical structure business analyst be a good day today on a client project holding a single workstream associate ASC work day today and a client project holding multiple workstreams leadership transition engagement manager p.m. Ddd project teams interaction with multiple client Heads facilitates Mackenzie 80 principles and director involvement associate principal ep attends multiple existing project discussions develops new clients and works as executive apprentice to principles and directors owner transition principal controls over a new and existing client project collaborates with directors gives direction to teams all shares of the film director develops new function and specific industry platforms set from Direction and access covers of The Firm with other directors and organisation model that access the success villa For The Firm consulting sells complex services mckinsey sells the most premium services of a project to take a few months can cost of religion. Public services take more time to sell and require a highly sophisticated salespeople this is true especially for the business to business B2B franchise for it to be successful multiple forces must work together including hi brand value a high performing culture top notch Talent Proprietary knowledge resources a distinctive organisation structure and others entrepreneurs say there is always a reason why your business succeeds that shows in it’s business model how people are able to effectively carry out their given rules for Mackenzie another consulting companies that followed I believe this success has been the result of a beam structure along with it’s unique problem solving method which has been emulated by both other consulting firms and corporation registered for complex services the sales people at the very top instead of at the bottom it’s awkward at first when you realise this dynamic especially when you become the engagement manager to have all the people look to you for specific project ownership and leadership suddenly you must step up more than just a few steps as an engagement manager you are nearly forced into the state of you handle everything and handed the conductor’s baton as you learn more about the floor and the top management consulting industry you realise that this is quite a lean and effective business model it makes sense that highly sophisticated conversations are conducted by the most senior experience and trained communication specialists directors and senior principles are two million dollar hi potentially is a huge opportunity and must be directed by the best that’s consultants never really find out the sales function until the very end of their career and they do so only at it’s most complex for which is not the traditional push sales form but by giving clients a reason to say sounds interesting do you want to send a proposal about the framework or approach you just mention consultancy become Soviet giving the tip of the iceberg answers but not giving a wedding entire glacier or in the clients to ask for more it’s a definite skills necessary for complex services the front range has mental aware communication skills for many years and it is so important that even a person who was a high level senior executive at another company with 15 years of experience should hear she choose to join the phone will need to go through the entire mckinsey learning process from the associate level though it would be in an accelerated way in the mind of every consultant to less experienced training Alliance a deep understanding of how leadership development works first baby thing up your fundamental skills and capabilities in this case problem solving next by holding your listening in communication over many years and finally by profecting your mindset and character in the long run the hardest things to change only then will you have the necessary ability to stand in the circle of leaders although this book is about leadership transition it is important for you to understand how your organisation is structured and how it should work typically learning about what you sell is a great starting point I wish you were an entrepreneur which by definition as founder and CEO entitles you Liberal leadership position and an understanding of your own business model most people will need to claim their way up that you need to figure out what forces are at work and how you can be successful in the given position for example some Mackenzie people leave the front greeting associate principal because they can master or get accustomed to the newly charged sales role did rather look for a prominent mid to Back Office coo leader drone organisation structure to work the people working need to be efficiently utilised some organisations do a poor job and create massive management overhead problems because the structure does not fit the nature of their business for example if your organisation is based on a door to door sales model selling kitchen supplies you don’t need many manager to your people instead you need better training and tools to empower each salesperson and a system that weeds out sales people who are unfit for the job McKenzies organisation model is bound to work given the nature of what it sounds this model also explains why consultants work around the clock it consultant regardless of tenure is tasked with different roles that can be unbounded senior leaders need to keep pushing potential client engagement into the Pipeline suitable only time or harvesting. Engagement managers and below need to help clients justify their cost the only difference is that senior leaders can control their world time as long as they are pulling in their sales quota wait while consultants need to rely on client expectations that are outside their control this is John Haigh from mcgraw-hill prefer thank you for listening