Thank you for improving my brain and imagination with your interview presentation.
Date: Sat, May 27, 2023 at 7:34 AM
Subject: Re: I wish I knew this sooner
To: Kris Safarova <
[email protected]>
Hi Kris,
Thank you so much for sharing this and all your
insightful shares. You are awesome!!!!
Thank you again!
Have a great weekend!
Yours sincerely,
Deborah
Hi Kris, thank you so much for the quick turnaround and your personal note. I’ve been meaning to join one of the many programs FC has been conducting, however I’ve been dealing with back to back health issues since the past 26 months , quite similar to what you and Michael have candidly shared in your communication and programs. The only constant in all of this has been my time spent listening to Strategy Training podcasts.
I am proud to have you, Michael and the FC team as my personal therapists – when I feel anxious and overwhelmed , I put on my AirPods and go for a walk listening to Michael. It gives me hope and strength to strive to for a better future, no matter how bleak the present moment feels.
You guys have saved many a dark day for me than I can ever express via words and for that I’m forever grateful. Like they say, when the student is ready , the teacher appears – and I’m fortunate in so many ways to have you and FC in my life.
I will be in touch very soon as I start to get healed , ready to do big things again 🙂
Kind Regards, Deepak
Hi Kris,
Lovely and inspiring wording Kris!
This is truely motivational for me, thank you for that
Met hartelijke groet/Yours sincerely,
Hello Kris,
So true, such a similar journey…
I moved to EU from India, with golden grades and strong advanced engineering experience of almost 4+years.
But when i started applying for jobs most my masters’ in Germany, nobody even bothered to consider my Indian engineering experience.
I had to start as a junior/entry level even though i had bag full of full time work experience. Infact a senior of mine was just a bachelors degree holder with only 2+years of non relevant work experience.
I have definitely experience the immigrant discount syndrome in the western world!
Good luck,
M.
———- Forwarded message ———
From:
Clara Xxxx <[email protected]>
Date: Fri, May 26, 2023 at 2:44 AM
Subject: Re: The immigrant discount
To: Kris Safarova (CEO, Firmsconsulting) <
[email protected]>
Hi Kris,
This is an EXCELLENT email. I first subscribed in 2016,when I thought I wanted to be a consultant. I ended up moving into tech from an international development background and now run my own startup.
Every single paragraph resonated as I am Kenyan and have experienced all the discounts.
May we all continue to thrive as immigrant women who took bold steps.
Have an excellent weekend.
From: Sameer Xxxxxxx <[email protected]>
Date: Wed, May 11, 2022 at 10:38 AM
Subject: Thank you for the content you are producing
To: Kris Safarova (Firmsconsulting) <[email protected]>
Hello Kris, Michael and Team,
I have recently become a premium subscriber and have access to the StrategyTV app and website.
I often hear Michel saying, this kind of training or content is not available elsewhere in the promotional videos. I always suspected if this is really the case but now I know why he was saying it.
The content you are producing is far more worth the subscription we are paying. And, Yes, I have not seen this kind of content anywhere on the internet.
I would like to share my heartfelt gratitude to you all and the entire Firms Consulting family.
Looking forward to learning the key skills to solve the critical problems the mankind is facing.
Thanks again.
Regards,
Sameer
———- Forwarded message ———
From: Amar Xxxxxxxx<[email protected]>
Date: Thu, Apr 28, 2022 at 1:02 PM
Subject: Re: Share a Good News
To: Kris Safarova (Firmsconsulting) <[email protected]>
Wanted to share with you that my company has decided to transfer me from India to its headquarters in Germany.
A large part of the credit of this goes to the learning’s i have had from FC content – help me be systematic right from the thought process.
Regards
Amar
———- Forwarded message ———
From: Firmsconsulting <[email protected]>
Date: Wed, Mar 2, 2022 at 12:00 PM
Subscription : Insider
Full Reason : Really value and love your content! However I am currently investing in a new company and really need means for this endeavor. Furthermore I would like to thank you in ways you cant imagine! I am very grateful since the programs really enriched my thinking. With help of your program I found a Billion dollar opportunity for the Dutch government. This will help a lot of people. Without your offering I surely couldn’t have made this! Thanks again and wish you all the best!
———- Forwarded message ———
From: Emily Xxxx <[email protected]>
Date: Sat, Jan 1, 2022 at 9:59 PM
Subject: Re: The ONE thing you need to do this week
To: Kris Safarova (Firmsconsulting) <[email protected]>
Hi Kris,
I’m glad to hear that you’re focusing on your wellness this year. One of the things that helped me decide to sign up for Firms Consulting was the story of your life on the FC site. I’m not a consultant nor in a prestigious role, but as an immigrant who is always trying to learn, I really related to your story, your strength through adversity, and your dedication. I just wanted to tell you that I (and I’m sure all the Insiders!) appreciate all the work and passion you put into all the incredible education from FirmsConsulting. But I hope that as you take the time to take care of yourself, you realize how much we appreciate you – not just for what you do, but who you are.
Happy New Year,
Emily
P.S. I don’t know if you remember this at all, but I commented on one of your Youtube videos last year that I was interviewing for a job. I got it, and moved from a scientific research role to a product management role. The FC programs have been very helpful through the transition, especially How to Develop Big Insights and the How to be Influential series, which has taught me a lot of soft skills. Looking forward to continuing to learn and grow in the new year!
———- Forwarded message ———
From: Salman Xxxxxx <xxxxxxxxxxxx @gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Jun 8, 2021 at 7:37 PM
Subject: Note of Thanks – a humble request for coaching with Michael
To: FC Support <[email protected]>
Dear Micheal,
I write to you with a deep feeling of gratitude. As a 2+ years member of firmsconsulting, you helped improve and mature my level of thinking beyond my imagination.
This new level of thinking and confidence helped me navigate through Mckinsey interviews in their Middle East office, gain admission for a masters in xxxxx at MIT where I recently graduated, and land a leadership role at Amazon HQ in Seattle which I will be joining next month.
xxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxx
Sincerely,
Salman Xxxxx
I hope you are doing well during these unusual times.
I just wanted to let you know that FC Insider access was fundamental to me landing an offer! The wealth of information and content you have created is second to none. Thank you!
I spent the last 9 years in Xxxxx operations (Xxxxx and Xxxxx) working in many different locations worldwide. It took me almost three years to finally secure an offer after many final round rejections but it looks like the persistence combined with your training finally paid off.
I am now preparing myself to start in mid-May. If you do have any suggestion of what program to prioritize so that I can give myself the best foundation that would be appreciated. Currently, I am focusing on “The first 90 Days in Consulting” and plan to do “Follow a McKinsey engagement” afterward.
I have completed TCO1, TCO3, and the Experienced Hire Series.
As a suggestion, has there been any thought put into creating an online community for FC Insider (not a Facebook group)? Think of it as a Reddit community for FC Insider to discuss and access previous discussions.
Keep up the great work.
———- Forwarded message ———
From: Claire Xxxx <clairee.xxxxxxxxx @gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Jan 19, 2021 at 7:07 AM
Subject: RE: Fear Is Not a Strategy (Monday Morning 8 a.m. #11)
To: Kris Safarova (CEO, Firmsconsulting) <[email protected]>
Hi Kris,
I want to say thank you for putting this week’s Monday Morning 8 a.m. together. It’s very profound and has saved me from making some important decisions out of fear.
Best,
Claire
———- Forwarded message ———
From: Mohamed Xxxx <[email protected]>
Date: Mon, Jan 11, 2021 at 11:24 PM
Subject: Re: One of the biggest strategy shifts ever in the next 10 to 20 years (Monday Morning 8 a.m. #10)
To: Kris Safarova (CEO, Firmsconsulting) <[email protected]>
Hello Kris,
I’m Mohamed Xxxxxx. I am a finance graduate, and a huge fan of the work produced by your company. I have been following you for more than three years now and the work you do truly inspires me and changes my view of things and life in general. I think I’ve never been excited more than the time I was studding your material or telling my friend or dad about you. Let me briefly share with your my story. I am Moroccan, I was born to two teachers, did all my schooling there until hight school then came to Canada, where I currently am, and graduated with a bachelor in finance. I have been unemployed for a year for permit reasons, among others, but currently looking to join Xxxx hopefully, or another place where I can learn the skills to help me bring some good change to africa and the world. I have had the opportunity to have access to your paid materials on two separate occasions. I learned a lot from the material. One day I promise I will be a loyal Insider. My heart is already there. I continue to use your very good free material. Thank you for that. Thank you soo much for changing the world the way you do. The work you do is incredibly inspiring and honest.
Thank you for your precious time.
Mohamed Xxxx
From: Bruno Xxxx <[email protected]>
Date: Mon, Jan 11, 2021 at 3:30 AM
Subject: Thank you!
To: Kris Safarova (Firmsconsulting) <[email protected]>
Hi!
I’m writing to thank you for all the great content all these years, that helped me grow a lot both professionaly and as a person.
Xxxxxx
Xxxxxx
Thanks again for the great impact you had in my life!
See you soon,
Bruno
———- Forwarded message ———
From: Ashish Xxxxxx <[email protected]>
Date: Wed, Jan 8, 2020 at 4:07 AM
Subject: Re: Your recent FC membership
To: Kris Safarova (Firmsconsulting) <[email protected]>
Hi Kris
Thanks for your email.
Let me be honest, I am a die-hard fan of FIRMSconsulting and would love to be a life long member of the community, if possible.
However, I am currently going through a rough patch and need to manage my expenses well over the next 6-8 months in a foreign country. This was the main reason I decided to cancel my membership. Trust me it was a very tough choice and when I updated my mom about this decsion she suggested that I let you know that I will rejoin the FIRMSconsulting community as soon as I am ready for a comeback and get my spending power back. Each member of my family understands how the FIRMSconsulting community has helped me grow over the last 2-3 years.
Hope you understand that I am not going anywhere and will continue to be that sponge who will continue to learn and upgrade by skills even from outside.
I would be grateful if you could recommend the most optimal way to continue to invest my time in the free FIRMSconsulting content over next few months.
Wishing FIRMSconsulting community a very Happy New Year.
Regards,
Ashish
———- Forwarded message ———
From: Thanachot Xxxxx <[email protected]>
Date: Mon, Jan 4, 2021 at 7:19 AM
To: Kris Safarova (CEO, Firmsconsulting) <[email protected]>
Hi Kris,
Thanks for the amazing values from FC insider. I now resubscribe your product for 1 year and I want to share some feedback with you.
- Your training is indeed more valuable than the price I pay. I’m not the consultant but the principle from Bill, Kavin, and masterplan program really create BIG impact on my life and my career. I got praise from my intern, my boss, and even my CEO about how I work and how I think strategically to tackle problems.
- The main reason I resubscribe is not because of your discount but it’s because I’ve seen that many series from Kavin have completely launched. (but I personally like discounts and more value.)
- The incompleted series do not frustrate me so much because I can jump to other series that are also great. However, I found the problem of applying it. I mean it takes time for applying your lessons in practice and really understand it. So when I learn too much, I feel that I should stop and absorb it first.
- Xxxxxxxx
Best regards,
Thanachot Xxxxxxx
———- Forwarded message ———
From: Xxxxx Xxxxxxx <[email protected]>
Date: Tue, Dec 31, 2019 at 5:03 AM
Subject: [TIME & INSIGHT] Starting 2020, Ranatunga style!
To: <[email protected]>, <[email protected]>
Hi Michael,
It was a pleasure writing this email and I deeply appreciate you taking the time to read my email below.
Noting your time is precious, let me start by saying I do honestly respect the time you are putting into reading this, I do not take it for granted as you really do not have to reply and considering most of my recent learning comes from being an insider, I appreciate you are extremely busy.
Having listened to your voice since October 2018 there is a level of excitement as I write this email to you. With a desire to what is currently a one-way relationship, to become two ways. Moving into 2020, I wanted to start this year strong, in full Ranatunga style!
So I am not just a name my brief bio is:
- My name Xxxx, an Xxxxxxx, XXXXXXXX, born and brought up in Xxxxxx, Xxxxx, currently 29 years old and working as a Managing Consultant (Manager) at Xxxxxxx.
- Went to a private school, Xxxxxx on the charity of extended family (as mine could not afford). Essentially grew up in a family of doctors with a chip on my shoulder.
- This led me to study engineering at a non-name university, Xxxxxx University. After losing too many family members to both health and non-health reasons, I wanted to solve problems that matter on a bigger scale. Thus leading me to join consulting.
- I got rejected from McKinsey and Bain after graduating, whereby, during the HR interview once they saw my school the interview was basically over. I never got invited to BCG and worked for the Government for a year before only getting an offer from Xxxxxx.
- Went from Graduate to a practice head in Xxxx in 4 years but still not feeling like I was addressing problems that matter. The exception to this was when I travelled to Xxxxx in 2018 to work on a growth strategy for an advocacy arm of the Government and a Minister there said my work reminded them of McKinsey.
- Taking this complement with the best of intentions and to heart, in May 2018, I networked, tried and studied (before knowing about Firms Consulting) and got interviews with BCG and McKinsey, only getting to the first round interview of BCG and not even passing the PST for McK. That said, it was an awesome experience and I learned much more than I had hoped and made some authentic connections on the way.
Inside, I know I am able to do something greater. Using my insider status as my guidance and general polishing around the edges, I aspire to be a great strategy Partner. Wanting to control my environment better, I have worked to find an area of Xxxx that gives me unique freedom AND allows me the flexibility to try different experiments in the firm. Getting rejected from MBB (twice) confirmed my desire to work on problems that matter with people that want to be there so I figured why can’t I just build a team like that in Xxxx. Structurally, Xxxx may not change and I’ve spent 6 months trying to make that happen however after hitting my umpteenth roadblock, I then became an insider. Trying to look at things now through your eyes… Having listened to your lessons, story and experience, I have realised I have slowly been relying less on the people around me say and working my way to becoming more industrial by nature. Whenever I have been a little lost or unsure of how to approach something and rather, find myself searching the podcast where you may have addressed this situation.
Since then, what has happened:
November/December was extremely serendipitous and very random which both encouraged me to send this to you and makes me want to try and take full advantage of this situation:
- I just finished a four-week secondment to an Xxxxx SOE in Xxxx, “Xxx Xxxx” which required me to write up a technology-based RFP, however, in the spirit of doing the best work they had ever seen
- I not only delivered the day job but I used the lessons from “How to generate an insight” to create some poignant points on their challenges, I used “Partnership” to create a perspective for new studies that they should investigate as imperative before they commence and finally used “how to sell like a partner” to potentially point them in the right direction for their journey.
- They have not gotten back to me yet and I do not expect any change as their CEO just left and believe they are in transition again.
All things considered, I was only able to do that as I was sent there and worked in isolation AND confidence to not share knowledge with Xxxxx but whilst this was not hard to do the day job, I worked to listen and apply your lessons which I found thoroughly enjoyable making this work much more fun than I have had in a long time, I am now trying to recreate to the day job.
Throughout what you have said over during the Partnership memoirs, Masterplan program, Bill Matassonis commentary, Monday morning 8 AM and now through the Empire Energy case study, the more and more I listen, the more I feel that the aspiration to work for one of the big three strategy houses so I can work on problems that matter but on the other hand if doing high impact work is the priority then it should not matter where I do it as long as it makes a difference.
Therefore, if I may map my next milestones: In the aspiration of being the worlds most influential Managing Partner I will:
- Try to build a consulting practice in Xxxx (noting it will be difficult to move away from technology)
- Move into Global Strategy (ideally MBB with my inclination being BCG)
- Strive to be a full-time Partner.
As mentioned earlier, in the spirit of making this a two-way relationship AND importantly not wasting your time, my ask is:
From what you know of Xxxx, if my desire is to work on high impact problems and strategy whilst my learning quotient is still absorbing the lessons from being an Insider AND noting I have a mother, brother and fiancé who rely on my salary to keep the lights on… According to a very short statement you made in Matassoni 10 about implementers doing strategy will fail, am I wasting time at Xxxx then who develops project managers and developers as opposed to consultants or is there merit in my desire to build a proper consulting practice here?
A rather deep question but would value YOUR perspective on this so I can make a better-informed choice.
Also, I will add, you made a comment in one of your podcasts that if you had good mentors you may have gotten to Partner faster… I believe the opposite is also very true in that you may have just spent more time listening to other conventional wisdom and been a partner in your 40s instead!
Thank you for your time, will completely understand if you are unable/undesiring to reply as I already get so much from you in the lessons you teach us. I know my life is better than it was without this and will continue to grow, but what I am trying to do is achieve the potential I know I am able to whilst taking those around me on the journey too.
Sincerely,
Xxxxxx
———- Forwarded message ———
From: Robert Xxxx <[email protected]>
Date: Mon, Dec 21, 2020 at 5:47 AM
Subject: Re: FC Insiders update + Netflix vs. Disney+ vs. AppleTV vs. HBO Max (Monday Morning 8 a.m. #9)
To: Kris Safarova (CEO, Firmsconsulting) <[email protected]>
WOW.
This is my first email from you, and I think I need to unsubscribe from just about everything else I read.
Looking forward to what’s ahead…
From: Raman Xxxxx <[email protected]>
Date: Wed, Dec 9, 2020 at 10:32 AM
Subject: thank you
To: Michael Boricki <[email protected]>
Cc: FC Support <[email protected]>
Dear Michael,
Just wanted to thank you and share with you that I got an offer from McK today which I’m really excited about. I really appreciate all the time spent with you to improve my approach to case interviews and all the insight and guidance you gave me to help me get to this next chapter.
Look forward to continuing to stay in touch and would always be appreciative of your guidance and wisdom on how best to succeed at McK.
Thank you again and hopefully talk soon.
kindly,
Raman
———- Forwarded message ———
From: <[email protected]>
Date: Thu, Nov 28, 2019 at 3:01 PM
To: FC Support <[email protected]>
Happy thanksgiving to you Kris and everyone at FC!
Thank you for taking the time! I have a lot of deep thinking to do! Your reply was very helpful to me, I really really appreciate it!
Life is a strange, profound, and precious phenomenon.
Mystery and wonder.
I love the training that you have put together! It has helped me tremendously and I’m very thankful that with so much uncertainty in my path I can look forward to the training to continue to guide me as I uncover and discover deeper parts of my personality, potential, and purpose. I’m very thankful for such a gift!
You have changed my life forever for sure!
I’m pumped for 2020! And the years to come!
Cheers!
———- Forwarded message ———
From: Adrian Xxxxxx <[email protected]>
Date: Thu, Nov 21, 2019 at 6:16 PM
Subject: Feedback on mentor ship program
To: Michael Boricki <[email protected]>
Hi Michael,
Thank you for the content in this series! I was recently promoted for the first time after joining Amazon in their xxxxxx function after 2 years. Through this course I learned the importance of excelling in my core role (sales) and thereby attracting a mentor who moved me into a hybrid sales/analyst role. He then helped me develop the technical and communications skills to get me promoted.
I am now transitioning into a xxxxxxx role with the goal of becoming a business owner of a P&L within the next 2 years. Since I have been promoted, the team lead (~roughly equivalent to associate principal) has signaled that he would like me to work more closely with him.
This is clearly the result of following the advice you give in the mentorship program. Hope to be able to update you soon.
Best Regards,
Adrian