Resources/approaches to practice brainstorming (with reference answer)

Hi there,

great question - this is a key skill to master and something consultants often struggle with.

A few pointers

• Use MBA case books, ChatGPT, as resource to generate pretty much unlimited prompts
• Build the creative foundation: makd it a regular habit to read up on latest trends, ideas, technologies and their use cases (WSJ, Economist, Ark Invest Big ideas, McK & BCG publications are great resources etc) 
• Time-box yourself for every brainstorming and spend a few minutes to review / redraw each exercise
• Create cheatsheets for the most common question types (e.g. cost cutting ideas, growth ideas, process optimization levers, synergies, risks. This will help you become more efficient and structured.

Feel free to reach out to me or other coaches via DM for a chat, if you'd like to learn more on how to perfect this skill. I have a dedicated coaching format for it and loads of practice resources (Guiding Principles for better brainstorming, progress tracker, useful reading resources etc).

Hope this helps.

Regards, Andi

Hi,

Great that you are showing initiative to further improve a very common aspect of the case interview. 

There are many sources of brainstorming material that exist, but unfortunately there are very few that are specifically tailored with model answers to the consulting interview. I think you have 2 options

1. Generate these drills/answers yourself
   • Read articles, news, or just find any topic that interests you and comes to your mind and brainstorm about it
   • After that, spend some time to do research to understand the actual reality and then use that to come up with a MECE breakdown and check that again with your approach
2. Practice with a coach
   • Other than case libraries/mba case books, I feel that the only other people that would have drills on this with model answers would be coaches - this would be another option

Option #1 is actually what I did myself, when I was preparing for interviews in the past. It would be more time consuming, but more cost effective. 

Option #2 would be more expensive and costly, but definitely save you the time of researching and trying to generate your own answer. The additional plus is that you also get feedback and tips on your approach/thinking.

All the best!

Hello there,

It is helpful to set a timer when you are practicing brainstorming. This will help you to stay focused and to generate more ideas in a shorter amount of time.
I would suggest 3 methods to get better consistently at brainstorming:
 
1) Structured Practice:

Issue Trees: While you mentioned you tend to avoid them under time pressure, practicing issue trees regularly can help ingrain a structured approach to problem-solving. Gradually, this will become second nature even under time constraints.

Speed Brainstorming: Set a timer for 5-10 minutes and challenge yourself to generate as many ideas as possible within that time. Don't worry about their quality initially; just focus on quantity.

2) Create Your Own Prompts:

Categorized Questions: Create lists of brainstorming questions categorized by themes. For example, "Improving Operational Efficiency," "Market Expansion," etc.

Timer: Use a timer to simulate time pressure and encourage quick idea generation.

3) Case Studies and Practice:

Use case studies: Convert case studies into brainstorming exercises. Set a timer, generate ideas, and then compare your approach with reference answers.
When you are practicing brainstorming, it is important to use a variety of questions and categories to stimulate your thinking. 

Here are some examples of brainstorming questions that you can use:

• What are the different ways to solve this problem?
• What are the different benefits and drawbacks of each solution?
• What are the different perspectives on this issue?
• What are the different assumptions that we are making?
• What are the different things that could go wrong?

You can also use a variety of categories to organize your thoughts and ideas. Here are some examples of brainstorming categories that you can use:

• Problem
• Solutions
• Benefits
• Drawbacks
• Perspectives
• Assumptions
• Risks

Hope this helps!

Hi there,

Honestly, my course/coaching focuses a lot on this.

In addition, crafting cases, rocketblocks, daily reading, and preplounge drills can all help. Finally, your peers! Ask them to give you cases (or modify cases) with lots of brainstorming!

Hello,

Looks like you got some great advice on this already, but my additional two cents are as follows: remember that you can use any qualitative case question as brainstorming practice (whether as a drill by yourself or in practice with a partner). Instead of taking some time to structure a response, tackle the question as a brainstorming exercise. At the end of the case, compare what you came up with with the solution.

Also - structuring your answer on the fly is very difficult! It's perfectly normal for your brainstorming to be messier than your structured answers. No need to beat yourself up about this if it happens - it just needs to be good enough, not perfect.

Hi there!

I have just the thing for you. 

I wrote a free guide on this for the platform that cover all the core techniques for brainstorming AND how to get better at doing it. 

Hope you will find it helpful. 

Here it is:

• Free Guide: Mastering Structuring & Brainstorming

Best,
Cristian

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