Hi experts, seeking your guidance on this topic. As a strategy consultant, I have worked on “high-level projects”, and I feel that some of the projects are really hard to quantify. The same situation applies to my previous corporate roles, where I've worked on just one part of the project, instead of working end-to-end and seeing the impact happen.
For instance:
- Digital project: the project itself was to advise on an overall digital strategy without a specific “quantifiable goal”
- M&A target screening: helped the company to form an investment thesis, and suggested X targets in X segments. But again there are no quantifiable figures as the action has not happened.
On a high level, what would be your suggestion? Would either of these solution work?
(1) Estimate or even fake” an impact: personally I don't like to do this. And whenever I see figures like “improved cost by X, increased efficiency by X, reduced customer complaints by X” on resumes, I always feel skeptical about the numbers. However, it seems like a “well-known” secret to fake up some numbers and so many people do this. Will interviewers “deep dive” into the numbers and try to verify the result?
(2) State the impact qualitatively: for instance, initiative obtained approval from the board, helped the client strengthen competitive advantage, etc? Sounds a bit vague though, not sure whether this is workable?
Thank you!