McKinsey Presentations - How to Apply Ghost (aka Shell and Skeleton) Decks and Pages

Image from sweetclipart.com

McKinsey consultants invest a lot of time and effort into making PowerPoint presentations (decks) and pages.  "Ghost" decks are used to align on what the end product will look like and to minimize wasted work.  In this post I'll explain what a ghost deck is and what it means to "ghost out" a deck or pages...

Asking Your McKinsey Boss for Help - Bring Solutions, Not Just Problems

Image from deviantart.com

In a previous post, I provided three ways to keep your McKinsey boss happy.  In this post, I'll explain a fourth, equally important way to stay in the good graces of your McKinsey boss:  When you're struggling with something and need help from your McKinsey boss, make sure you bring solutions, not just problems

The Straw Man - An Important Tool for McKinsey-Style Problem Solving

Image from playbackups.com

As a Firm, McKinsey if often engaged to work on a client's most challenging problems and McKinsey teams apply structured approaches to arrive at the best answers.  The "straw man" is an important tool for collaborative problem solving in all phases and at every level of a client engagement.  In this post I'll explain what a straw man is, why they're important, and caveats for their use...

5 Ways to Get the Most Out of your McKinsey Summer Internship

Image from carmenwiki.osu.edu

It's internship season and that means all the insecure overachievers who are McKinsey Summer Associates and Summer Business Analysts are stressing out about whether or not they'll get a job offer at the end of the summer.  While securing the full-time offer is important, there are other critical things a Summer can get out of the internship.  Here are some tips on getting the most out of a McKinsey summer internship....

Extra Miles and Points - How Far Some McKinsey Consultants Will Go to Earn Them

Image from travelforboomers.com

A previous post covered why airline miles and hotel points are so important to many McKinsey consultants.  In this post we'll go a bit deeper on the topic and look at the extent to which some current and former consultants will go to earn more of these miles and points.

Why McKinsey Consultants Are Whores... For Hotel Points and Airline Miles

Image from abcnews.go.com

There are many things about working at McKinsey that are challenging, including the travel.   Some of the upsides of travel include the opportunity to earn many airline miles and hotel points.  In this post I'll discuss the relationship current and former consultants have with these loyalty programs...

How the McKinsey Resume / CV Screening Process Works

McKinsey's success is built on its reputation and people.  To maintain a sufficient supply of the latter, every year McKinsey reviews thousands of resumes from the top undergrad and MBA programs around the world.  As a result, the Firm has gotten quite good at making a highly qualitative process more objective and consistent.  In this post I'll explain the resume review process...

McKinsey is a Pie-Eating Contest and the Prize is More Pie

Image from sbsun.com

This is one of my favorite phrases about life at McKinsey.  In this post I'll explain why "working at McKinsey is a pie-eating contest and the prize is more pie"...

5 Traits of Client-Ready Decks (PowerPoint Presentations)

Image from abdulvasi.com

Just as there are "client-ready" consultants, there are client-ready PowerPoint presentations.  In this post, I'll briefly cover what it means for a McKinsey deck to be client ready and 5 traits that client-ready decks share...

6 Traits of Client-Ready McKinsey Consultants

Image from depositphotos.com

You might hear management consultants refer to a a person as "Client Ready" or not.  In this post, I'll briefly cover what that means and share 6 traits that client-ready consultants exhibit.  You can also check out the related post on what it means to have a client-ready deck (PowerPoint presentation)...