Practical consulting skills programs (not just case prep)?

Question

Hi everyone,

What I'm looking for now is not case interview prep, but programs that teach the actual on-the-job consulting toolkit and ideally include project work with personalised feedback.

I need something virtual and suitable for working professionals.

A few programs I've been looking at:

- Consulting Launchpad by The School of Consulting (9 weeks, 9 projects with written feedback, ex-Bain Senior Project Lead)
- High Bridge Academy Business Excellence Bootcamp (ex-MBB faculty)
- StrategyU; Think Like a Strategy Consultant (self-paced, 4 weeks)
- Harvard DCE Consultant's Toolkit (2 days)

Has anyone done any of these or similar programs? I'd especially appreciate recommendations.

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

Sharing another one from BCG here that might be of interest. Besides these programs, you can also consider remotely volunteering with pro-bono consulting organisations that work on real client projects (often smaller firms or non-profits).

Answer 2

Hi,

I'd be happy to help, been an Associate Partner at McKinsey (based out of Brussels office) until two months ago, spent 7 years at the Firm. Happy to help you develop the skillsets that make for distinctive-rated consultants at the Firm. Personally, I spent a lot of time coaching new hires and later in committees that evaluate their performance.

To summarize, I'd say the following are the most critical skillsets, often referred to as the "Associate toolkit" at the Firm:

1. Top-down communication - Easily one of the single most important skillsets you should master. No one has time, be quick, be precise, be "answer-first". As an AP, I would run a coaching series for our new hires, it was called "Slide Karaoke" - you get 30 seconds to look at a completely new slide on an arbitrary topic, them you need to present it like you would, to an C-suite audience!

2. Structured problem solving - Clients will be all over the place. Can you absorb, structure and synthesize, cutting through the noise

3. Problem Solving - Take the lead. Have a hypothesis. Prepare your first answer and then show up. No one shows up in consulting without a first answer. In every single meeting.

4. Think in terms of slides - If every conversation is visually a slide in your mind, you are getting closer to being a true blue consultant. The glory isn't in the slides itself, it is in the fundamentals that need to fall in place in your head to be able to think in slides (aka, structuring, problem solving and top-down communication)

5. Story lining: Master the basics of story lining. Decisions get made when the audience can follow your story. Simple skill, but brutally effective. If the story doesn't flow, everyone will jump all over you!

Would be happy to shape your journey if you're really eager to master this! Irrespective of whether you'd eventually go into consulting or not, I'd argue that these are business skills that are worth mastering! :)

Happy to connect, good luck!