How to approach political/out of the box questions esp. for McKinsey

Question

Hello everyone,

when I was practicing the McKinsey online Cases, I realized that for the political cases like e.g. improving education or providing financial services for poor regions, in my structure I missed some major important buckets as they are very different to the business ones most common on PrepLounge. Is there any kind of framework that summarizes the main parts that might need to be looked at when approaching such a case? So like the business situation framework just for politics?

Would be very grateful for some help! Thanks :)

Answer 1

Hi there,

You're approaching this wrong...

Let me explain why. You're looking for a framework for x scenario and y scenaio. Unfortunately, 1 million scenarios exist. Yes, market entry, profitability, etc. all exist, but there are infinite variations and possibilities with casing.

As such, you need to focus on solving the problem. Forget about frameworks and buckets.

Your case is a real-life project. As such, your framework is your project plan.

Your framework needs to show good critical thinking ability, good structure, and a clear approach to solving the problem.

Don't quite get it? Please reach out. This is one of the #1 mindset shifts I specialize in, and is incredibly important for nailing out of the box questions (i.e. 50% of all real-life case types)

Answer 2

Hey there,

Fully agree with Ian and Ken here.

Frameworks were applicable in the 2000 years, the era of Victor Cheng and Case in Point. McK has long caught up on this and the cases you will get during the interviews are tailored in a way to test your creativity and ability to generate insights, not remember specific frameworks.

In fact, it will hurt you when you try to use a framework on a case that calls for a completely different approach. Also, it gives a false sense of security that will translate to stress once you figure out how your approach won't work during the real interview - I have seen this so many times...

Your goal should be to learn how to build issue trees no matter the context, industry, or function of the case. I have a system for that, especially for McKinsey cases, that teaches you exactly this approach + a ton of exercises I give my coachees to progress their ability to come up with deep, broad, and insightful frameworks for each case individually.

Happy to help if needed!

Cheers,

Florian

Answer 3

I completely agree with Ian. Taking a framework-driven approach will only get you so far. At McKinsey this is called "problem solving by first principles". Even in a traditional profitability case, interviewers are looking for signs of your actual critical thinking which is often is apparent in the levels of detail after one has explained the obvious profitability tree (e.g., fixed vs. variable cost etc.).

In the context of a case interview, one small tip is to ask thoughtful clarification questions to the interviewer, especially if you have no idea. A common mistake I see is candiates having a checklist of 'random' clarification questions after the case intro when this is the time to actually test some of your hypotheses and narrow down the solution space so that you are focusing your structure and the subsequent depth on the most relevant issues.

Answer 4

Hi,

I am helping with such cases. In my profile, you can find a syllabus. I usually give a homework of 10 non-conventional cases covering almost all topics and then we go through these cases during a session. Feel free to reach out.

Best

Answer 5

Totally agree with Ian and Ken.

Answer 6

Hello!

The way to succeed at those would be precisely not thinking in traditional frameworks, but focusing on the problem itself. And tons of practice!

Hope it helps!

Cheers,

Clara

Answer 7

The key to solve uncommon cases is to not have another specialized framework in your toolbox, but to practice to develop taylored frameworks for every case. This ensures that no case can ever surprise you by not working with any of the standard frameworks you might have memorized.

Answer 8

Hi there!

Completely agree to what's been said here. Focusing on frameworks is not as effective as on solving the problem itself.

Also, this Preplounge thread might be helpful: https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/any-framework-for-government-cases-2769

Feel free to reach out if you need any help with approaching cases.

Cheers,

GB