Is it fine if my brainstorming structure is two buckets like A and B , followed by list of ideas under each or do I need sub-buckets like A.1 and A.2 vs B.1 and B.2 with 2-3 ideas under each sub-bucket?
Is there a difference in expectation between McKinsey vs Bain/BCG for this? I hear McK cares more about the levels
Hey there,
At the core, McKinsey wants to see creative ideas communicated in a structured manner, the more exhaustive the better.
Your goal should be to come up with a tailored and creative answer that fits the question. The framework should - broadly speaking - follow these three characteristics:
In a McKinsey interview, you can take up to 6-8 minutes to present your structure, your qualification, and hypotheses. This is due to the interviewer-led format that McK employs. The interviewer will only ask 'what else' if you
The firm wants to see exhaustive and creative approaches to specific problems, which more often than not do not fit into the classic case interview frameworks that were en vogue 10 years ago...
Again, this only applies if everything you say
The difference in format and way of answering a question is the reason why I recommend preparing very differently for McK interviews vs. other consultancies.
Cheers,
Florian
In Brainstorming, there's technically no need for a structure and no difference between McKinsey and other firms on that point.
However, in order to really differentiate yourself, it always helps to be organized, so group your ideas (before, or at least, after you say them).
Furthermore, if you create the groups of ideas early in your thinking, you can use that push yourself to fill each group with a number of creative ideas.
Hope this helps!
Allen
Structuring is encouraged but not essential in the conceptual thinking section of a McKinsey case. I've never heard of the explicit need for levels.
Hi there,
I need to clear up a few critically wrong things here (crucial if you're going to successfully get the mindset shift you need to succeed at casing)
No, you don't need sub-buckets.
It rather depends on the scope of the question and how deep you want to go.
By default, there's not 1 way of doing it.
Sharing with you also a resource on different brainstorming techniques for you to review:
Best,
Cristian
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