How to proceed "brainstorming solution" and what questions to ask?

Hello!

Here are my toughts:

Hi there,

I would consider the following steps to brainstorm options and select one:

1. Ask for one minute of time to structure your thoughts
2. Present a first level of the structure, made by MECE buckets. This is something you can do even if you have never seen that question before. If you go blank, you can use a structure as X vs Non-X. Potential divisions include: Long term vs short term; Current vs New; Financial vs Non-financial. The more you practice cases in the right way, the more you will be able to derive appropriate MECE areas fitting a case.
3. Brainstorm options in each of the areas. Your creativity in this area is directly correlated with the number of cases you have done. If you feel weak in one specific industry, the most effective strategy is to go through a good consulting MBA casebook (there are many available for free online – although not all are good) and screen the list for the industries interesting for you. MBA casebooks are not good in terms of the structure of the case but can help to develop creativity.
4. State a hypothesis on what makes more sense for the client and ask data to verify it. You should show a hypothesis-driven approach to select the best option, instead of proceeding randomly.

Best,

Francesco

You need to picture yourself at the client site, in front of a whiteboard, with your team, figuring out what you need to do next on this project. Truly reflect on what you need, what you're missing, or what you don't currently understand about the situation. Then, ask questions (where needed) .

Some other concrete tips includes:

1. Practice/Prepare - The more you practice cases, read case studies and articles (The Economist, The FT, etc), the more "example" you'll have, as you just have more base knowledge to work with.
2. Repivot and Frame - Pause. And look at the ideas you've come up with. Talk to the interview while you frame/group them. This 1) Shows them you can organise your thoughts 2) Helps you gain some time AND identify potential holes yourself 3) Gives them a window to point you in the right direction (they might say "Ok, that's a good bucket, but it's missing something" or " You're missing a bucket that relates to what you';ve said here")
3. Ask for Help - This is a tricky one to navigate, but you can ask questions or make statements that try to glean more information from them. For example, "I'm out of ideas, but have any competitors excelled in any areas"..."Do we have any analysis on this?"..."etc. etc.

If you want to practice this, please feel free PM me. I've helped countless people with this through intensive exercises - you'll see dramatic results after just one session.

The answer is always to make it as tailored to the client situation as possible. 

Basically, interviewers want to see that you can think through the client situation and then develop recommendations that are specific to them. 

Once you have these sort of ideas, the next focus area is to communicate them in a structured manner. 

Here's a guide I put together with some of the core tehniques for brainstorming. Hope you'll find it helpful:

• Expert Guide: Mastering Structuring & Brainstorming

Best,
Cristian