Hi,
Great question. Strong brainstorming approach is something that can add a lot to your performance and separate you from other candidates.
There are typically 3 stages of any brainstorming exercise at MBB:
1) Prepare a long list of potential solutions to a problem
You need to create a MECE list of relevant ideas, which can solve the problem. Ways to approach:
2) Prepare a shortlist of solutions
You need to select solutions that would be financially adequate, could be achieved in the foreseeable future and do not face any constraints of the client situation.
3) Prioritize solutions
Apply 80/20 rule to select 20% of initiatives that would generate 80% of the upside effect.
Best,
Anton
Hey there, great question and am sure a lot people think about this aspect.
Creativity comes naturally to some people - they have the ability to unlock trapped energies within themselves and create a beautiful design, art, music etc. If this is something that doesn't come naturally to you then certain aspects can be learnt & applied relentlessly-Brainstorming/Out-of-box thinking is similar. I am the latter :).
Here are some tips you can use which worked for me over the past years:
I recommend this book-100 Diagrams That Changed the World by Scott Christianson.
Good luck brainstorming!
Hi there,
Whenever you get a question on brainstorming in the case, I would recommend the following:
Below you can find an example of how to brainstorm in a structured way.
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Interviewer. So, generally speaking, how would you decrease the cost of raw materials?
► STEP 1: ASK FOR ONE MINUTE OF TIME
Interviewee. That’s an interesting question. Do you mind if I take 1 minute to think about it?
Interviewer. Please take your time.
► STEP 2: IDENTIFY MECE BUCKETS
Interviewee. Thanks; I believe there are two key areas to decrease the cost of raw material; we may decrease the cost of each unit, or we may decrease the number of units we buy. I would like now to go a bit deeper into these two components.
(Note that even if you are brainstorming, you are first presenting a list of the MECE areas. This is fundamental to brainstorm correctly)
► STEP 3: BRAINSTORM OPTIONS IN EACH BUCKET
Interviewee. Well, in order to decrease the cost per unit we may do a couple of things, keeping in mind we want to maintain revenues at the same level:
In order to decrease the number of units, we may do the following:
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If you want to learn how to brainstorm and structure all the major common questions, please feel free to PM me – I do a session exactly on that.
Best,
Francesco
Hi there. I have a few general suggestions:
I hope this helps!
Well creativity unfortunately doesn't come from nowhere. You need to build some fundation to develop it. And for this i would tend to work on four different aspect that are all complementary:
1) understanding of different industries
You will not make sound and interesting suggestions if you don't understand an industry. For instance, if you deal with IT company you can have huge costs coming from servers and data centers. If you deal with retails and clothing, shipment can be done through boats which takes months to arrive and so on. So you need to read. Whether news articles business oriented or Mc Kinsey/Insead review. You'll find a lot of interesting information. Market studies from Deloitte are also interesting (few are free though). Read them, a little bit every day and that will help. Don't select specific industries.
2) practice it actively during your case preparation
When you're practicing cases, takes notes about what you did but more importantly what the person you interviewed did. What suggestion did he/she make and why? Always keep notes. Their ideas will become yours. By understanding their way of reasoning you'll be able to think of new things on your own. Give the same case to multiple people. You'll see that you'll get very different answers. Each of them will help you grow
3) Discuss with friends
Do you have friends that are already working? Discuss of their jobs, what do they do, how are decision being taken and why? Real life experience is very good. In particular during those uncertain times, most companies needed to develop new ways to deal with the pandemic. Ask your friends/family how it went in their companies. Did they like what was put in place? And more importantly why did they like/dislike it?
4) Be curious
This is maybe the most important thing. Be curious. Even in your real life. Ask yourself the question "WHY?". And try to find the answer (on your own but also by looking for it later). Being curious is maybe the best way to develop some out of the box solution. Because it leads you to read and discover a lot of new things. And you never know when you'll be able to put them to good use.
Hello!
TBH there is no magic recipie here, just lots of practice with different case types.
Cheers,
Clara