How Do Consultants Think So Clearly? Looking for Tips on Articulation + Logic

Hi! Being completely honest on my opinion, you might be assuming consultants are naturally clearer thinkers than they really are. Most of what you see in case videos is just a trained way of talking. It’s not magic. New consultants sound chaotic for months until they get enough reps and feedback.

On pressure: What you describe is totally normal. Under stress, working memory shrinks. Consultants don’t “think faster”. They just offload. They restate the problem, jot down drivers, summarise aloud. These tiny habits reduce the mental load so the brain can actually think.

On mental models: You probably don’t need more frameworks. Most consultants use the same small set over and over. As long as the set of "branches" you use are MECE, and logical drivers you'll be fine. In most cases, what actually matters is having intuition for a few things:

1) how businesses make money

2) how decisions get made

-> These are you "branches", and

3) how to test a hypothesis fast

-> This is how you quickly determine the best answer to the case or problem.

If you get comfortable with those, your speed goes up automatically.

On problem solving: Consultants aren’t perfectly logical. They just force structure early, even if it’s rough. They break things down before they fully understand them. You might be waiting for clarity instead of creating it. As a new consultant, it took me months if not a year to get comfortable being hypothesis driven and as structured as expected, it comes with practice. 

And the “pattern recognition gap” is usually just a reps issue. Pattern recognition is memory. If you haven’t seen enough examples yet, of course it feels slower.

Short answer, we don't always think the way we speak i.e., The communication is what gets organised/structured before it comes out. With both cases and consulting on the ground, its only a matter of time and practice to get used to pressure and also "thinking on your feet" really quickly. On video, do note that the imperfect videos don't get uploaded.

For example, if you hear a McKinsey Consultant say "Three things"...many who I met have two solid ones in mind and the confidence that the third one will come to mind as they speak, why? because you do it enough times and it becomes second nature even when under pressure. 

I've also worked in the past 5 months with consultants from BCG and Bain, you'd be surprised at how there are many shared traits we'd laugh about.

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Editing in this last bit of comment on what you can takeaway:

1. You can get to the same or greater level than the one you saw in the video. Nothing is special about the people, you might just be early on in your development journey

2. Pressure comes to everyone, practice teaches your you to keep an outward confidence and clarity even when you are "building the last bits of your parachute while already out of the plane"

3. Situation Exposure x Initial Response x Feedback x Iteration on Feedback x Situation Exposure x Adjusted Response x Feedback ... = Success

They don't. 

As in, they don't think clearly by default. 

There's lots of things to consider on this theme. Here are the most important that come to mind:

• Consulting is a very selective career path. Meaning, to get into the industry in the first place, you probably already graduated from a very good school and had some pretty impressive credentials on your CV. You likely have an above average IQ and above average emotional intelligence. This is not data btw, it's my assumption empirically derived
• Consultants get better with time. Most struggled for the first 2 years of joining the industry, but then they develop a very good flexibility / adaptability. From the outside, esp for clients who work at a different pace, that looks (and arguably is) very impressive. They think clearly in your easy because they've had the opportunity to structure an argument or to present in front of a senior audience time and time again
• Consulting team are targeted, typically single-focus task forces working on a clearly defined problem. That gives them extra speed. And they tend to work in intense periods of time, with pauses between projects (when they're lucky). A muscular sprinter in the olympics looks more impressive than a skinny marathoner. Different pace, different body, different skills.

Hope that give you a glimpse. Also, you might find this guide useful:

• Expert Guide: What Do Management Consultants Do?

Best,
Cristian
 

Hi! Former McKinsey EM here.

Let me outline what sits behind “consultant clarity”.
It is not talent. It is not IQ. It is not magic.

It is removing everything that destroys clear thinking.

One thing to understand
You do not struggle because you lack intelligence.
You struggle because your brain is overloaded.

Pressure, noise, mental clutter, self doubt.
Under stress, your brain stops thinking and starts surviving.

Consultants are trained to kill the noise first.
Clarity is just the side effect.

Two questions to ask yourself

1. How much of your mental energy is spent thinking, and how much is spent managing panic?
2. Do you have a system that gets thoughts out of your head the moment they appear?

If your answer is “most energy goes to panic” and “I keep everything in my head”, the problem is clear.
You do not have a logic issue.
You have a bandwidth issue.

Consultants are not "faster thinkers".
They are lighter thinkers. And thereby they are much more efficient.

They dump information constantly.
They restate the question so the brain does not carry it.
They sketch ideas before they understand them.
They externalize everything, so the mind stays empty enough to process.

This is why they look calm under pressure.
Not because they are calm.
But because there is nothing unstructured left inside.

One thing to try: Next time your mind spins, do not reach for a framework.
Do this:

Step 1: Write the problem in one clean sentence.
Step 2: List the three to five forces that could drive it.
Step 3: Pick the one that really matters.
Step 4: Ignore the rest.

That is clarity.
Simple. Brutal. Effective.

On mental models
You do not need a library of frameworks.
You need three reflexes that fire instantly:

Reflex 1: Break the messy into its natural parts.
Reflex 2: Identify the piece that changes the outcome.
Reflex 3: Explain your logic so simply a child would get it.

Consultants communicate this way because it works.
They are not trying to impress you.
They are trying to eliminate confusion.

Pressure does not make you worse.
Pressure exposes whether your thinking habits are solid or chaotic.

If your thinking is clean, pressure amplifies it.
If your thinking is messy, pressure crushes you.

That is why consultants look “naturally clear”.
They are not.
They just built habits that survive cortisol.

Final thought:
Clarity is not a mere skill.
It is a discipline.

You simplify fast.
You collapse problems into their core drivers.
You put every thought on paper so your brain stays free to reason.
You speak early, not perfectly, so your mind does not get tangled.

Do that consistently and people will tell you,
“You think like a consultant.”

But what they really mean is,
“You stopped trying to think with a full brain.”

Hope this helps!
Sidi

___________________

Dr. Sidi S. Koné

That is a brilliant observation, and your diagnosis using Kahneman’s System 1 and System 2 framework is exactly right. What you are observing in the top performers isn't pure genius reacting in real-time; it is trained, high-repetition performance aimed specifically at reducing the cognitive cost of structure.

The primary difference between a consultant and a high-potential candidate struggling with articulation is this: When a consultant articulates a recommendation or a framework, they are not formulating the structure (the skeleton) and the content (the flesh) simultaneously. They have internalized 4–5 core communication templates (the Pyramid Principle, the standard "Recommendation-Drivers-Next Steps" layout, etc.) to the point where forming the structure is pure System 1 autopilot. This instant application of a pre-validated structure frees up 90% of their System 2 resources to focus exclusively on content validity, logical linkage, and ensuring the output is MECE under pressure. This is what makes it look effortless—they are only fighting one battle (the content) instead of two (the content and the form).

To build that intuitive toolbox, stop merely reading strategy concepts and start mapping them. Take any unstructured input—a Harvard Business Review article, a major political speech, a complex earnings report—and force yourself to summarize the entire argument using a rigid template: "The core issue is X. Our analysis identifies three key drivers: 1, 2, 3. The recommended path forward is Z, broken into Phases A and B." Do this until it hurts, and then do it some more. You are essentially training your brain to instantly categorize unstructured data into a rigid, structured container. This habit is the fastest path to managing the pressure response, because your brain knows it only has one immediate job: filling the boxes.

Keep focused and be deliberate in this training. All the best!

Hi there,

You have already received strong advice that can be summarized as: practice takes time, and practice leads to improvement.

Since you are preparing for case interviews, I can outline a few principles that will help you reach “faster thinking and higher accuracy” more quickly than you would on your own.

1) Start with a clear end vision
When you define the expected outcome at the beginning, it becomes much easier to plan your approach and execute effectively. As you repeat similar exercises or frameworks, your thinking accelerates because your brain recognizes the patterns more quickly.

2) Structure your learning process (everyday structuring)
It is valuable to learn many frameworks because they help you identify patterns in cases. However, consider a less conventional prompt such as: “You are downsized and dropped into a blender. How do you get out?”

Frameworks alone will not solve such a scenario. What you need is the ability to structure ambiguous problems, a skill consultants apply for 10–14 hours a day when working on client issues. Strengthening this skill requires bringing structured thinking into your everyday routines.

For example, think about something as simple as grocery shopping:
– What are your options for getting there - on foot, by bus, or by car?
– Which store should you choose - your nearest convenience store or a large hypermarket across town?
– Should you order online instead?

How would you structure these decisions? What would your option tree look like (remember keeping it MECE)?

3) Secure your fundamentals (reduce stress level)
When you are confident in your mental math, familiar with common case objectives, fluent in consulting terminology, aware of standard case steps and interviewer expectations, it becomes far easier to focus on structuring your analysis. You will work more quickly and sound more self-assured.

Strengthening these fundamentals helps you shift from feeling stressed and unsure about what to do, to actually enjoying the case and letting your natural curiosity lead the way :-)

I hope you find it useful, if need any more help feel free to reach out.

Best of luck,
Kacper

Hi there,

What you’re describing is very normal. The people who look “effortlessly clear” aren’t wired differently — they’ve just seen the same patterns many times and practiced talking through them under pressure.

A few things that helped me and many candidates I’ve worked with

First, pressure messes with everyone. Strong consultants don’t think faster under stress, they slow themselves down on purpose. Pausing, restating the problem, or saying “let me structure this for a second” is a skill, not a weakness.

Second, intuition comes from repetition, not talent. Most problems boil down to a few building blocks like price times volume, fixed versus variable costs, trade-offs and prioritization. The more you reuse these, the more your System 1 kicks in and your brain stops working overtime.

On articulation, clarity usually follows thinking. A simple habit that helps a lot is forcing yourself to say the answer first in one sentence, then backing it up with two or three points even when practicing alone.

You’re not behind or missing something fundamental. You’re just still building patterns. That phase feels messy and slow, but it’s exactly how everyone gets there.

Happy to help you prep – feel free to reach out!

Best
Evelina