The Blog
Long-form essays, field notes, and frameworks from the FIRMSconsulting team — published weekly.
All posts
Published weekly-
Carly Fiorina: The Bravery of Authenticity
The 3 most important lessons from Carly Fiorina’s career.
-
The Right Way to Start Case Interview Preparation
3 foundational skills to master before approaching full cases.
-
4 Best Case Interview Coaching Clients
Key lessons from our top four case interview coaching clients.
-
Our Unique Case Interview Prep Approach
Our case interview prep approach to achieve a 73% success rate.
-
Heading a Struggling Boutique Consulting Firm
Heading A Struggling Boutique Consulting Firm A corporate strategy partner’s lessons in being head-hunted from an elite firm to head a boutique consulting firm This series of articles are designed to fix a common problem when applying the lessons of partners from the elite firms. Telling you how I did things within the elite firm is…
-
Consulting Practice I Inherited
Consulting Practice I Inherited “Trust but verify.” Pres. Ronald Reagan This series examines the ways in which best practices from BCG and McKinsey can be applied in other work environments, such as in a smaller boutique consulting firm or even a corporate role. This article is a part 2 in this series, part 1 is…
-
Corporate Strategy Engagement
Corporate Strategy Engagement Helping a major power utility develop a new corporate strategy to meet surging demand and manage rising blackouts. In this series of articles we discuss the approach used to help a major power utility develop a corporate level strategy to meet increasing power demand and manage rising blackouts threatening to cripple economic…
-
Can a Boutique Consulting Firm Beat McKinsey or BCG?
Can a Boutique Consulting Firm Beat McKinsey or BCG? There are 6 rules to displacing McKinsey and BCG. It is one thing to use the techniques of McKinsey and BCG to become a slightly better boutique consulting firm. It is quite another to use them to beat McKinsey & BCG. This series examines the process to leverage the unique…
-
McKinsey will never own China’s consulting market
The Consulting Market in China Will Never be Owned by McKinsey McKinsey and BCG’s primary competitive advantage does not work in the Chinese consulting market for the most important clients today, the government and state-owned-enterprises (SOE), nor will it work in the future in a more open market led by non-state companies. This series examines…
-
Meeting My Management Team
Meeting My Management Team Leading change is an intensely lonely job. This series of articles teaches how to apply best practices from McKinsey & BCG to any consulting business. In part 1 of this series we dived into how I was head-hunted to turnaround a boutique consulting firm. Part 2 provided an overview of the consulting practice I inherited.…
-
Motivating Consultants at the Floundering Boutique
Motivating Consultants at the Floundering Boutique My strategy was to focus on the alienated transportation consulting group to turn them into a poster child for the entire consulting business This series of articles teaches how consultants can apply best practices from the top management consulting firms to any consulting business. In part 1 of this series we dived into…
-
What Makes Strategy Consulting Training Effective
What Makes Strategy Consulting Training Effective Developing a new strategy consulting training program for the boutique firm. This series of articles teaches how consultants can apply best practices from the top management consulting firms to any consulting business. In part 1 of this series we dived into how I was head-hunted to turnaround a boutique consulting firm. Part 2 provided an overview…