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How to practice on "jumping too fast to conclusions"?

Case Interview case practice interview feedback
New answer on Dec 02, 2019
3 Answers
1.5 k Views
Anonymous A asked on Dec 01, 2019

Hi everyone! I have two questions related to feedback I received recently.

1) What exactly do they mean when they say "jumping too fast to conclusions"?

2) How do I target this issue in my practice routine?

Cheers!

(edited)

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Antonello
Expert
Content Creator
replied on Dec 01, 2019
McKinsey | NASA | top 10 FT MBA professor for consulting interviews | 6+ years of coaching

Hi,
it means to move directly to the recommendation. I advise improving your structure in notes, highlighting in each part of the case the most important numbers or concepts: in this way you can jump to conclusions even without 30 seconds of recap.

Hope it helps,
Antonello

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Francesco
Expert
Content Creator
replied on Dec 02, 2019
#1 Coach for Sessions (4.000+) | 1.500+ 5-Star Reviews | Proven Success (➡ InterviewOffers.com) | Ex BCG | 10Y+ Coaching

Hi Anonymous,

please find below the answers to your questions:

1) It depends on the context but in general you are probably moving to a conclusion without analyzing the root cause of the problem in a structured way

2) In general you could

  1. Work to improve your structure
  2. State more clearly your hypotheses and ask for data to verify them before moving to a conclusion

Best,

Francesco

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Vlad
Expert
replied on Dec 02, 2019
McKinsey / Accenture Alum / Got all BIG3 offers / Harvard Business School

Hi,

1)Your structure is not limited to just the initial structure. You should go through the initial structure, looking for insight. Once you find insight, you should dive deeper by building a new structure. You should dive as deep as required by building the new structures until you find a root cause. Again, it should be not the numerical evidence of the issues, but the real root cause behind it

2) You can be asking yourself 2 questions:

  • Is it just the numerical evidence or the real root cause (e.g. the mix has changed because the sales of product B increase vs. the Mix has changed because the motivation scheme of salespeople was changed)
  • Is it the true root cause? (Sales were lower than planned since we opened the new stores in the premium locations vs. sales were lower than planned because we opened the new stores in the premium locations since we were out of retail space in the mass market)

Best

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