Happy new years. 2017. We all hang some mystique on this time of the year. Easy to think, “Out with the old and in with the new”. After all, we all look forward to the change in our lives and the hope of a new start. That’s not inherently bad, but certainly a bit artificial. Every… Read More »
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It’s that time of year and we’re wrapping up a busy and productive 2016. We want to take a moment to show appreciation, say thank you, and send warm wishes to all of you in the community here at Consulting Success. This is a special time of year, people and businesses from all over the […]
Wishing You Health, Happiness, Love, & Success For 2017 is a post from: Consulting Success
Everyone has some free time during the holidays. Recently, I have not been traveling which has opened up my schedule to share food with friends from my past. Folks from my MBA, previous work, and neighbors (hat tip: DB, CC, CO, PB, KL, JK, SL, PD, RJ, DW, SB, JP, RD). When you don’t travel M-TH, it opens… Read More »
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Took a 7 day cruise through the Eastern Caribbean. Highly recommend. So healthy to experience the wide-open ocean for several days. Great perspective – how big the world is, and how thankful we should all be. Enjoy your holidays. Related posts: Consultant’s long weekend – Arizona Loyalty Points: Thank You Client Links
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“We thought that we had the answers, it was the questions we had wrong.” Powerful quote from Bono, would you agree? Not all questions are the same. Some are much more effective than others. Peter Drucker once nonchalantly said “My greatest strength as a consultant is to be ignorant and ask a few questions.” This […]
10 Empowering Questions to Ask Consulting Clients is a post from: Consulting Success
So this morning there was a fantastical headline in the Washington Post here: Pentagon buries evidence of $125 billion in bureaucratic waste What the hay? Isn’t this a Ben Affleck movie about a government cover-up? No, it’s an internal report created by the Defense Business Board, “a federal advisory panel of corporate executives, and consultants from… Read More »
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Was at a table tonight with 5 ex-management consultants from the Big 4. When discussing some slides we had seen from recent MBAs, one person smartly commented on his PowerPoint sniff test: Every page should be judged to see if it passes. . . BS test SO WHAT test NEXT STEPS test This all makes sense. It’s a… Read More »
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Finviz.com is a great way to filter stocks and generally get smart on specific industries. While there are multiple tools on the website, will focus on something call the screener. As you can see here and below, there are 60+ filters (industry, country, P/E, operating margin, dividend %, beta, EPS growth rate) you can apply… Read More »
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When I worked for Big 4 consulting, one of the hardest things was rolling off a project you did not like. Too often, what you become good at – is exactly – what bores you. It’s a bit tricky because no one likes a short-timer. There are multiple ways to orchestrate this, but also many ways to… Read More »
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We create what we see. If you want to work with ideal consulting clients it’s important that you know who they are and have set a criteria that you use to decide whether or not someone is an ideal client. As you become intentional and choose to work with only the right clients you start […]
What We Look For In Clients: How to Select Your Ideal Consulting Clients is a post from: Consulting Success
After writing 3 non-stop blog posts on presentations, here is an awesome one. Bain & Co (apparently) put together a presentation and recommendation on how to get the most out of Thanksgiving here. You can find the 12 page pdf at a half dozen places on the web, all pretty much “saved” from 2005. So geeky and… Read More »
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Dear friend, To celebrate Thanksgiving we are offering 7 of our best-selling courses and trainings at an amazing discount. The Ultimate Consulting Package is now available at 50% off for just two more days… If you’re looking for specific step-by-step strategies to increase your fees, win more proposals, land more clients and have more confidence […]
Ultimate Thanksgiving Consulting Package is a post from: Consulting Success
This is the final section review of Duarte’s Slideology (affiliate link). I am going to pick and choose what to share with readers. Consulting presentations (for good or bad) are fairly conservative and a bit regimented. As a result, the parts of the books about color, tone, font type, backgrounds, icons etc. . . is a bit… Read More »
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Chapter 2 – Create ideas, not slides. I will largely skip this chapter as the idea of brainstorming, understanding the WHY, sketching out the storyline, and getting feedback are not new concepts for readers of this blog. The main points of this chapter: Simplicity is the essence of clear communication. – Duarte The best place… Read More »
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(Image from VaynerTalent) Some people just don’t get it. VaynerMedia, Gary Vaynerchuk’s social media agency that works with some of the world’s largest brands recently announced a new division and service called VaynerTalent. The new service creates content for people and then distributes and promotes that content. If you’ve seen Gary’s DailyVee videos you’ll have […]
The Real Value in VaynerTalent is a post from: Consulting Success
Slideology is a book from 2008 about PowerPoint. It is well-structured, thoughtful, and a massively influential book in the “presentation business”. It makes a whole lot of sense to me and is quite easy-to-read. Nancy Duarte has been doing this for 20+ years and makes some crazy good points. After listening to a podcast interview,… Read More »
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If you are like me, you love listening to successful people tell their stories – for their confidence, ingenuity, fears, failures, heroism, goofiness, and ultimately success. We see a little of ourselves in them and experience the art of good story-telling. So, listen to this NPR podcast called How I Built This – where they interview Jim… Read More »
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If you’re thinking about becoming a consultant or becoming a better consultant there are three keys that will get you there. I’m not talking about marketing or earning higher consulting fees. This isn’t about how you write your proposals or structure or productize your service offerings. If you want to BE a great consultant you must […]
Becoming a Consultant: What Matters Most is a post from: Consulting Success
The global asset management business is huge. There are lots of billionaires and lots of people like you and me who have money with our companies, pensions, 401K, and in stock/bond mutual funds. With the incredibly loose monetary policy (read: printing money), it is no surprise that global assets under management (AUM) have done well. In fact, they… Read More »
The post McKinsey Report: Thriving in the New Abnormal, NA Asset Management appeared first on Consultant's Mind.
McKinsey & Co published a very authoritative 148 page study here (3.8Mb pdf) arguing a fairly simple (perhaps obvious) fact; the number of people freelancing is larger than you might think (20%+) and growing quickly. For those who already do project-based solo work this is non-news. We all know ex-consultants, Uber drivers, photographers, web-sign designers, caterers, eBay arbitragers, mortgage attorneys, and real… Read More »
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This book is all about focus. It is like the Pareto Principle to the extreme. The authors argue that by narrowing your focus to ONE thing in each area of your life, you will be happier, more successful, and find things easier. It turns out that pseudo multi-tasking, and not thinking about what is most important in… Read More »
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As a small consulting firm or independent consultant have you ever felt you can’t compete with a larger firm? Have you found yourself shying away from going after larger clients and new business opportunities because you think you can’t compete? Over the last 17+ years in the consulting business I’ve heard this concern from many […]
David vs. Goliath: 3 Ways Consultants and Small Consulting Firms Win is a post from: Consulting Success
Consultants see patterns. It’s a core part of our job to analyze data, separate the signal from the noise, and interpret the patterns. Some are better than others and it’s a talent that takes time to turn into a skill. Find good presentations and study them. Like an craftsman who can appreciates solid work, geek out on graphs and analyses.… Read More »
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Fear of Missing Out (FOMO). Yes, we all have it sometimes. Social anxiety. It’s that nagging fear you that you might be better off – somewhere else, with someone else, doing something more fun. It’s that high-school sense of peer pressure to not be left out of the group. It’s that hint of jealousy and benchmarking to see how you’re doing… Read More »
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Repost. This is from 4 years ago and covers the Minto’s pyramid principle – one of the most important concepts in executive communication and logical structuring of arguments. This is really big at all the big 4 and big 3. It is the scaffolding of management consulting thinking. My revised thoughts (2016) shown in red color. Consultants must structure… Read More »
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Trust, but verify. This is a Russian proverb that US President Ronald Reagan learned and used frequently when speaking about the Soviet Union and nuclear arms reduction verification in the 1980s. I use it quite a bit too – and when delivered with good comedic timing – it can be quite funny. Trust people. But don’t be so naive to… Read More »
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For those who don’t know US football, Vince Lombardi is a legendary coach of the Green Bay Packers and one of the 4 horsemen of Notre Dame. Impressive guy. Old School. He had his flaws – all great people do – but when it comes to GRIT. Many people have said similar things – John… Read More »
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Grit is a casual word which means “resolve” in English. Endurance with a mission. Doing something difficult and not giving up . It is the opposite of complacency or indecision. Clearly, people with grit are going to be more successful – because by definition, they are not giving up. That said, how important is it? Is it more important that… Read More »
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Today I’m going to share with you how to position your offerings and your services so that you can earn premium consulting fees. The example I’m going to use is from my last trip to Japan. I was walking through a very well-known department store in Japan. Anyone that knows me knows I’m not a […]
How to Earn Premium Consulting Fees is a post from: Consulting Success
Of the many things I learned in MBA, the “informational interview” is one of those gems that remains relevant a decade later. Information interviews. They are simply low-expectation, business meetings with (relative) strangers to find out more about an industry, company, or opportunity. It is a win-win: The interviewee has the opportunity to be generous – with their… Read More »
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Note this post is about rental properties – not about consulting. That said, all consultants and professionals making $000,000s, need to start putting money away to get yourself retired? It’s actually a question that I ask most all of my friends, and even acquaintances: “What are you doing to get money working for you (assets) so you can… Read More »
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Founder’s Mentality is a simple and elegant framework from Bain that describes how companies lose their way as they grow. The path from start-up to global juggernaut is not a straight line and Bain research shows that only 1 in 9 companies show sustainable growth for 10+ years. They call it the growth paradox – growth creates complexity and complexity kills growth. As consultants – I… Read More »
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Traveled to Arizona recently – God’s country. Beautiful. Great food, nice people, fun hotel, and lots to see. Enjoy the travel. Like they say, “It is a dry heat.”
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When I was a kid I hated writing. I don’t use that word lightly, but I really did. It wasn’t just writing, it was reading too. I didn’t read a full book until grade 9. Remember Coles Notes? Those mini guides that summarized books and texts that teachers had assigned? They were my best friend […]
5 Tips to Get Published In Industry Publications is a post from: Consulting Success
A statement of work (SOW) is a phrase you will hear almost daily in your life as a consultant. It’s a client-facing document that outlines what the consultant is proposing to get done on a new project or phase of work. This is particularly important why? Because new projects are the lifeblood of a firm’s utilization, profitability, and career… Read More »
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Corporate learning and development is a huge market. Training magazine estimates here that it is approximately $70 billion annually for companies with more than 100 employees. While that is a huge number, it feels about right. All of this training takes the form of L&D headcount, outside consultants, training tools, travel, and other education spending. They estimate… Read More »
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Eurostat has published a report which provides detailed information for the urban landscape of Europe. and paints a picture of urban developments and urban life in the EU Member States, as well as European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and candidate countries.
Statistics is an important tool for analysing changing patterns of urban development and the impact that policy decisions have on life in our cities, towns and suburbs. Too often, policy decisions, pre-feasibility studies and feasibility studies are based on statistically questionable data. This report is a very useful source of facts, which can be used to enhance analysis.
Each chapter presents statistical information in the form of maps, tables and figures, accompanied by a description of the policy context and a set of main findings.
The report consists of two parts:
The publication is free and can be downloaded on this link.
The post Urban Europe – Statistics on Cities and Towns appeared first on Bearing Consulting.
It’s consulting interview season which means well-groomed MBAs are sitting across small tables with consulting firm partners and senior managers in something called a case interview. For those readers from consulting firms – you know this fire drill – and probably remember it fondly like Marines who remember “hell week”. Case interview advice. For those in the throes of case interview for full-time… Read More »
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LinkedIn used to be a great channel to publish articles. Is it still? There have been several changes in the way that LinkedIn displays articles published through its platform. While LinkedIn remains one of the most powerful platforms for consultants to showcase their expertise, build relationships and connect with ideal consulting clients – things have […]
LinkedIn Publishing for Consultants: What’s Changed and What You Need to Know is a post from: Consulting Success
2015 was a blockbuster M&A year. Lot of big name deals as companies re-position themselves and push for growth in a slow-growth, low-interest rate environment. Good times for investment bankers and due diligence big 4 firms. BCG 2016 M&A report here.
2016 has slowed down. BCG notes that 1H 2016 is down 27% YoY, but still flat compared to 10-year average. Remember, this is on the heels of a 20% increase in 2014, and 40% increase in 2015. It’s an overly wonky graph below, but your get the point. Lots of deals. Lots of money.
Is this leading to a bubble? BCG posed the question without conclusively landing on an answer, but some compelling arguments for a M&A bubble. Valuations are rich – getting richer. Last two years were higher than the average 12x EBIDTA. In 2015, it was closer to 15x. Dude, if someone were willing to pay me 15x EBITDA, I would sell too.
What about M&A value as a % of GDP. That is a super-macroeconomic metric (similar to the billionaire index I mentioned last post), but M&A continues to creep higher. In fact, in the US, it is the equivalent to 9%+ of annual GDP. That means that almost 10% of the US economy is changing ownership structure, changing hands annually.
Still lots of Private Equity looking for a home. Private equity (PE) funded a lot of deals in 2015 – both in total value and quantity. Yet, looking at the graph on the right – there is still $470B+ ready to invest. I recently bought an investment property, and my interest rate was 3.125%. Money is still incredibly cheap.
The second half of the report is the most interesting. BCG argues that companies who are most active with M&A (they call portfolio masters) have superior returns. This is controversial and a strong point of view because a long list of M&A research shows that 40-75% (depending on how you measure it) of M&A destroys shareholder value.
Portfolio masters have a 10%+ annual total shareholder return. BCG argues that portfolio masters (defined as those who do 5+ transactions within 5 years) develop a core competency with M&A and yields superior returns to those who merge / divest less frequently. Over time the portfolio masters (high volume M&A) have annual total shareholder return of 10.5% vs. every-once-in-a-while M&A companies of only 5.3%.
Are they better at M&A? To me, this intuitively makes sense; the more you do anything (M&A or even practicing piano) you are going to get better at it. M&A-heavy shops like GE, Cisco etc will think about strategy, survey competitors and landscape, assess opportunities, and capture synergies better than those companies who casually, or nervously fall/get trapped into an acquisition.
BCG argues that there are 4 characteristics of portfolio masters:
Consultantsmind reflection on these points:
Related posts:
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Too many billionaires? That can be bad: Ruchir Sharma is an investment strategist for Morgan Stanley who focuses on emerging markets. He uses a 10 point system to evaluate the investment-worthiness of countries, and the billionaire index is one of them. He makes a simple but logical macro-economic argument against having a large % of a country’s wealth tied up in two few hands. Sharma’s Rise and Fall of Nations here (affiliate link).
Too often, this billionaire class are a stagnant elite – stifling innovation, perpetuating the status quo, and breeding populist resentment. Sound like a country you know? If you are a wealthy elite, the selfish refrain might be: “Life is good. Why rock the boat when there is no competition?” It sounds medieval or dynastic – but frankly, still exists in most of the world.
And there are “bad” billionaires. Beyond the obvious stereotype of a third-world dictator who is plundering his (usually men) country’s natural resources for selfish profit, there are other bad billionaires. Those who set up monopolies and stifle competition. Billionaires who gift their wealth generation-to-generation without putting it to productive use. Billionaires who are just sitting on their money – not making productive use of the capital.
1) Rent seekers. This is a strange phrase which sounds like something out of craigslist, but the economic concept is simple – getting an economic gain without producing any “reciprocating” value or wealth for society. This is often done by lobbying the government for tax breaks, legal maneuvering, or worse, straight corruption. B.A.D.
For me, the easiest examples are dictators who steal shamelessly from their country’s coffers while their country’s people suffer (think: Zimbabwe’s Mugabe). Also, the few dozen Russian oligarchs who went from $0 to billionaires as they snatched up rights to most of Russia’s wealth during the flawed liberalization of the ex-Soviet Union. “Nearly 70% of Russian billionaire wealth comes from politically connected industries, by far the largest share in the world.” (pg. 114)
Corruption-prone industries. Some industries have been “long-associated with corruption” where there is enormous rent-seeking behavior, where a few people – by luck, by government connections, or by violence – are able to get rich with limited benefit to workers, the environment, or society. Sharma notes that corruption-prone industries include, “construction, real estate, gaming, mining, steel, aluminum and other metals, oil, gas, and commodity industries that mainly involve digging natural resources out of the ground.” (pg 110) You get the point. Bad billionaires will spend more effort on winning over politicians, and tweaking the regulations to favor their monopolies than serving customers. It’s lazy capital – not earned.
Peter Thiel – billionaire himself – notes that in the global Fortune list of people with $10+ billion, there are twice as many people from mining resources than technology, implying a lack of real wealth creation because “commodities are inelastic goods, and farmers make a fortune when there is a famine.” (Strong Economist rebuttal to Thiel here arguing that enormous technology and innovation is need for commodity industries in mature markets; think Schlumberger etc. . .)
2) Inherited wealth. When you see the list of billionaires – you will often see several 2nd, 3rd, 4th generational names of the wealthy elite. “Yes, their grandfather made his wealth, but what have they done?” Are they just collecting dividends?
So what do emerging market billionaires look like? This table comes from Sharma’s The Rise and Fall of Nations here (affiliate link), where he looks at A) Billionaire wealth as a % of total economy B) Bad Billionaires c) Inherited Wealth.
Free market without lazy capital. In the end, each of these countries have a mix of good / bad / inherited billionaires. Not all billionaires who inherit wealth are bad (e.g., Hyundai continues to invest in good cars, IKEA still does great things with affordable, stylish, affordable furniture). Yet, Sharma’s main thesis still holds true. A progressive economy where new competitors can BECOME wealthy by creating new value through technology and business models (vs. stealing rents) indicates a more vibrant, resilient, and healthy society. Probably makes for a good and more stable investment too.
It’s an argument for free-market capitalism with an eye towards limiting lazy capital (digging oil out of the ground or inheriting it from your mom). It’s an argument to competition and technology – developing new products and services that improve the world. In the GDP = C+I+G+NX formula, let’s focus on the I (Investing) in the future. . . not C (Consuming) stuff now.
Things don’t matter. This is a bit of a more philosophical point. We are all going to be on the earth for 80-100 years. Fin. What you do with your wealth is a matter of stewardship. It’s not the money, but what you do with it. From the last post about good billionaires. . .here is a Richard Branson quote (Virgin Group) from the Giving Pledge website here.
Fortunately, early on in my life I realised that personal ‘stuff’ really didn’t matter. Joan and I lived on a houseboat and one day it sank. We realised that we missed nothing except our treasured photo albums. Later our house in London caught fire, destroying everything inside. Last year our home in the British Virgin Islands was completely gutted as a result of a lightning strike. We were so relieved that everyone got out safely that even the loss of photo albums and notebooks were of little consequence. ‘
Stuff’ really is not what brings happiness. Family, friends, good health and the satisfaction that comes from making a positive difference are what really matters. – Richard Branson, founder of Virgin
Practice being rich. Andy Stanley, pastor of North Point Church, tells people to practice being rich. Don’t wait until you are rich to be generous and thoughtful with money. Start stewarding your wealth now. Practice being rich. For any billionaire blog readers, this applies to you too.
Related posts:
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I was on a private call Michael Gerber and a small group of entrepreneurs. Michael Gerber, is the author of the E-Myth, and has more experience working with small businesses than almost anyone else on the planet. On the call he shared an interesting statistic: “Fewer companies are started than go out of business each […]
A Scary Reality of Business: Are you doing the “wrong things”? is a post from: Consulting Success
Billionaires are more common than ever. Ruchir Sharma- Morgan Stanley global strategist – notes in Rise and Fall of Nations (affiliate link) that the number of billionaires increased from 1,011 to 1,826 between 2009-2014. That is a 80% increase in billionaires over 5 years. If “billionaires” were a stock, it would been a great investment. As a cliche confirmation of anti-establishment protesters, the top global 1% went from owning 44% of the world’s wealth to 48% over the same period.
Increasing money supply = boom for rich. Sharma makes a compelling argument that an enormous expansion of money supply (read: printing money) created a boom in asset prices in stocks, bonds, and real estate, which unsurprisingly helped the rich; after all, the rich are the ones with assets and equity. Sharma notes this is an unprecedented rise in all asset classes at once (stocks, bonds, real estate). Kind of spooky to think about.
Good billionaires. Most of us know what this looks like. We can look at the cover of Fortune or Forbes magazine and read about technology icons (Ellison, Musk, Benioff, Kalanick), investors (Buffett, Dalio, Soros) and company founders (Shultz, Knight, Bloomberg) who built enormous business and improved the lives of millions of people. Free-market types like me (yes, I am a fan of Milton Friedman, University of Chicago) believe that competitive markets are the best way to produce the most value for the most people. These folks deserve their success.
The Giving Pledge. Many billionaires are aggressively gifting their wealth – in the best tradition of Rockefeller and Carnegie. Currently, there are 135 billionaires who have signed the Giving Pledge here to give the majority of their wealth away during their lifetimes, or in their will. You will easily recognize 10%+ of the names on the list. As an added feature, each of the philanthropists write a letter explaining their rationale for giving away their wealth. Completely inspirational.
Make more, give more. For all you hard-charging MBA-types (like me) who are so focused on career and financial success – go to the Giving Pledge here and read a few of these letters. It will get you motivated to earn a fortune – and more importantly – find great ways to give it away. Remember all, gratitude is the secret to happiness.
Related posts:
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Do you ever get nervous before going into a meeting? Do you ever walk out of a meeting wondering if it ‘went well’ and if your client is happy? If you want to make your client meetings productive, create an agenda. Yes, it’s as simple as that. To make the most of these meetings you […]
The Perfect Meeting Agenda: How Consultants Make Meetings Productive is a post from: Consulting Success
PWC released their 4th report on top 100 global software leaders here. Of course you will see the major bulge-bracket software companies (Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, EMC etc), but you will also see a lot of names that you may interact only tangentially. For example, companies like Krosos (timekeeping), Workday (HR software as a service), Concur (expense and travel), Qlik (visualization), Blackboard (education) are all software I have used before. Would never have thought they were top 100.
Disruption. It’s a great time to be a software start-up. It’s not like the 1990s where you had to build a server farm and invent everything from scratch. So many of the tools and platforms exist, that the time-to-market-acceptance is shorter than ever. Also, with the cloud-based environment, switching costs will be less. After all, don’t like Quicken – use Quickbooks. Don’t like Tableau – use Qlik. The same benefit of fast adoption is also the double-edge sword of faster customer churn. In the end, customers win.
Larger grow more slowly. Not a surprise the Microsoft, SAP, and IBMs of the world are growing more slowly than smaller start-ups. Obvious. That said, this does imply that investors are likely more willing to back historically riskier (read: smaller) companies who have the chance to truly scale up and disrupt the market. Looking at the chart below, would you rather invest companies growing at 6% or 16%? Obvious.
Software is not the same thing as Saas of Paas. So much talk about the “cloud” that some might mistakenly think that all software was sold as “Software as a Service (SaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS). Not true. In this report you will see that #1, #2, #3 companies only have 4% of their revenue coming from cloud services. Yep, the majority of companies sell products/solutions not “pay as you go” services. This is a graph that PWC should have made, ranking of the top 50 software companies and what % of their sales are (SaaS and PaaS). Salesforce, Google, ADP are the big ones. Everyone else, small.
All companies are becoming software companies. On the list you will see a large number of industrial companies such as Fujistsu, GE, Siemens, Pitney Bowes etc. They are stretching to provide more value to their customers through advanced analytics, predictive maintenance, and all the other bells and whistles to make their products more valuable.
So what? Even if you are not an IT consultant, or working in the technology space – you should probably know what all these companies do and what parts of the industry they are competing in. Long-gone are the days where you could say, “oh, I am not a technology consultant”. All companies are technology companies, and ergo, you better know your software business. Some of the new ones I discovered (gotta take your own advice):
Find the full list of companies here.
Related posts:
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One of my clients posted this success story… I didn’t know they doubled their fees even before they joined our Accelerator Coaching Program for consultants. And they did that as a result of reading one of my articles. That’s AWESOME! I love working with clients who take MASSIVE action. This client is such a great […]
Double Your Consulting Fees and Land a $49,500 Consulting Project In ONE Week is a post from: Consulting Success
In sharp contrast from the last post about slow global growth, BCG writes in their 10th annual report about emerging market companies that are killing it. BCG notes that the top companies – i.e. highlighted in this report – are growing revenues at 3x the market with above average margins. The old days when multi-national firms from the US, Europe, Japan were easily capturing market share in international markets are O.V.E.R. It’s actually the other way around – with global challengers (top 100), and global champions (next 1,500) killing it. Read the BCG report here (35pg) or read this post.
Three categories: 1) Global leaders like Gazprom, Tata Consulting, Tata Motors etc who are in the Global Fortune 500 from the emerging markets. 2) Global Challengers who are giving market leaders a run for their money 3) Global Champions who do great work, but still largely on a regional scale.
BCG tracks 1,500 champions, and over the last 10 years there have been 193 global challengers. Of the challengers, 19 of them have “graduated” to the big leagues. Took me a couple of readings to get it, but this is my visualization of the hierarchy. If I have any BCG readers – please correct me, if wrong.
Fast growing and profitable. Yes, most of us in the United States are unfamiliar with many on this list – but honestly, this is where a lot of the growth and innovation is coming from. In the graph below, BCG shows that emerging market companies took a larger share of the market by growing at an average CAGR (2009-2014) of 13% vs. 4%. Also, operating margins have averaged 13%+ over that last 10 years. Who does not want a company that does 13% / 13%. 13% rev growth, 13% margin.
Lots of B2B companies. No surprise here. The majority of these companies operate in the B2B world where the supply chains are more global and more specifications-driven (not as sensitive to local designs, tastes, preferences). B2B composition of 75% in 2011, and 63% in 2016. (Side note: simple graphics are always better. BCG’s original graphic was colorful – but unnecessarily detailed and confusing. See here).
Heavy weighting in commodities, engineering and construction. Commodities have always been the domain of less developed markets (think: Asian spice routes, South African gold mines, Caribbean rum production, Brazilian forests) and a huge issue with development economics; poor countries sell their wares at low prices without processing and adding value – ergo – they get pennies on the dollar compared to the value of the end product. It’s certainly progressed since then, but look at the heavy weighting on the heavy industry side. . . market share from the 10-20% range to now 20-50% range. This must put the pressure on mature market companies like Foster Wheeler, Honda, Kawasaki, Dupont, 3M, John Deere, Manitowoc, US Steel. (Consulting tip, if you want to find the list of companies of a sector – like Steel or Iron – go to Finviz.com . . here)
Get the full list of 100 global challengers in the pdf, page 16/35 here.
From challenger to global leader. These challengers (top 100) have a great track record. Of the 193 that BCG identified over the last 10 years, 10% of them graduated to be global leaders. Looking at these names and their success:
Five attributes of global leaders. While it might seem a bit generic at first glance, BCG provides examples of why these attributes can transform challengers to a global leadership position. For me these are the most critical:
Competition everywhere. I am a big believer in free markets and competition; am encouraged by this report and how scrappy companies everywhere are giving big, incumbent multinationals a run for their money. For anyone who has read Friedman’s The World Is Flat (affiliate link), we know the competitive playing field is broad and flat. Look at this map if you need convincing.
As I wrote in a previous post, Whether you are a lion or a gazelle: when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.
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Driving back from lunch today, listened to this podcast interview of Ruchir Sharma here, global strategist for Morgan Stanley, manager of $20billion of assets. Well-spoken, very clear point of view about the world economy after the 2007 crisis:
Growth is slowing. Get used to it. According to Sharma, this is the weakest economic recovery in history. Currently, economic growth is 2.5% . .vs. 3.5% in the past. As another data point, he notes that in 2007, 60 countries were growing at 7% or more. . now only 8 or 9 countries are growing like that. Growth rates dropping everywhere.
He saw this coming. His first book called Breakout Nations (affiliate link) was about the over-hype of the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) countries. His current book Rise and Fall of Nations (affiliate link) details 10 metrics he uses to evaluate the growth potential of a country.
Gemba investing. Sharma goes on numerous “road trips” to emerging markets for 1 week out of a month to meet with companies and get a feel for life on the ground stating that “the locals are the first to know”. In this 2 min video, he notes that there was money outflows by locals before the currency crash in the last 3 crises (Russia, Mexico, China). Locals knew. For those who remember Mark Mobius (Franklin Templeton Fund manager) or Jim Rogers (commodities guru, author of Investment Biker (affiliate link)), it is the same type of hands-on emerging market due diligence that simultaneously sounds exciting and exhausting.
Too much loose money floating around. Sharma complains that after the crisis, governments understandably used monetary policy (i.e., printing more money, lowering reserve requirements) to get more money flowing in the global system. The problem is that 8-10 years later, those bad habits are still around. You cannot control where that money goes, and bankers – smart breed of people – will take that cheap money and do something with it. Yes, America is not the only country that needs to go on a fiscal diet.
Asset prices on the rise. It’s unprecedented that all asset classes are going up – stocks, bonds, house prices – at the same time. This is helping the rich (yeah! for some), but not helping out the bottom half of the class pyramid. Wages have been stagnant, asset prices are the rich, income equality is a big issue. This is driving the “populist revolt” as Sharma explains.
So what does this mean for us consultants?
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Dear Consultant, Do you want clients to invest in you? If you want to to have more clients invest in your services, start investing in your own business. If your answer is YES, the next question to consider is, do you invest in yourself? You’ve probably heard of the idea of leading by example. Though […]
Why The Results You See, Mirror Your Actions is a post from: Consulting Success
The greatest success comes from consistently working towards your goals. Taking the right actions without deviating from the plan. Have you ever found yourself starting on a project or initiative only to deviate from it? It’s time that you commit. It’s time to take some serious action. Do you see yourself jumping from one shiny […]
Landing a $450,000 Consulting Project is a post from: Consulting Success
I’ll be providing a training for the Chartered Management Institute on Developing an Effective Value Proposition: How to stand out and attract your ideal consulting clients. As a consultant the first step in effectively marketing your services is to get the attention of your ideal clients. To accomplish this, you need to position yourself as […]
Web Training on Consulting Value Propositions for Chartered Management Institute is a post from: Consulting Success
Yes, they are. Emotions are contagious. Lots of research on this topic and a great TEDx talk here by Brandon Smith showing that, yes. emotions do exist at work and play a much larger role than you might think. I am a huge believer that culture trumps strategy and the importance of leaders in setting the direction and an environment of trust. All the things I learned watching this 15 min TED talk:
Workplace Dysfunctions. Smith has focused on the different types of work dysfunctions here and ways to think, act, and heal them. If you click through, my guess is that you can probably related to 4-5 of them.
Right job + Right Culture + Right Boss = Workplace Happiness. Smith wrote this formula some time ago here, but this makes an enormous amount of sense. Think of a Big 4 consulting firm. . . just because you know what a senior consulting role at Deloitte should look like. . does not mean that the project lead does not impact your happiness. You have to plan/target/work with all three.
This ties into a lot of work that Professor Bob Sutton research and speaks on evidence-based management. His books on No Asshole rule, Good Boss / Bad Boss (affiliate links), are classics and easy to read. For those of us, even lazier than that – watch his eCorner lecture here entitled “Listen to Those You Lead.” If those of you even lazier than that, read my blog post summary of main points here. There are many structural, social, and habitual reasons why organizational cultures and leadership styles end up the way they do. It all takes effort. Unsurprisingly, worthwhile things take effort.
As Drucker said, “The only things that evolve by themselves in an organization are disorder, friction and malperformance.” BOOM
Related links:
The post Are emotions contagious in the workplace? appeared first on Consultant's Mind.
Yes, they are. Emotions are contagious. Lots of research on this topic and a great TEDx talk here by Brandon Smith showing that, yes. emotions do exist at work and play a much larger role than you might think. I am a huge believer that culture trumps strategy and the importance of leaders in setting the direction and an environment of trust. All the things I learned watching this 15 min TED talk:
Workplace Dysfunctions. Smith has focused on the different types of work dysfunctions here and ways to think, act, and heal them. If you click through, my guess is that you can probably related to 4-5 of them.
Right job + Right Culture + Right Boss = Workplace Happiness. Smith wrote this formula some time ago here, but this makes an enormous amount of sense. Think of a Big 4 consulting firm. . . just because you know what a senior consulting role at Deloitte should look like. . does not mean that the project lead does not impact your happiness. You have to plan/target/work with all three.
This ties into a lot of work that Professor Bob Sutton research and speaks on evidence-based management. His books on No Asshole rule, Good Boss / Bad Boss (affiliate links), are classics and easy to read. For those of us, even lazier than that – watch his eCorner lecture here entitled “Listen to Those You Lead.” If those of you even lazier than that, read my blog post summary of main points here. There are many structural, social, and habitual reasons why organizational cultures and leadership styles end up the way they do. It all takes effort. Unsurprisingly, worthwhile things take effort.
As Drucker said, “The only things that evolve by themselves in an organization are disorder, friction and malperformance.” BOOM
Related links:
The post Are emotions contagious in the workplace? appeared first on Consultant's Mind.
Not too long ago I was interviewed for the Local Biz Consultant Live Summit. I was happy to share the virtual stage with other experts including Perry Marshall, Gina Schreck, Ryan Lee and Mike Filsaime. I received the recording from the organizers and thought I’d share it with you below. The topic we covered was […]
Interview: Consulting Fees and Strategies for Premium Pricing is a post from: Consulting Success
Grandpa-sounding advice coming your way. Here is a thesis for you to test out. Do you agree with this statement? There are 4 smart ways to invest time: people, experiences, assets, and writing because all these things get more valuable over time. In the age of immediacy and instant access, your relationships, memories, passive income, and point of view will be unique to you.
Invest in people. After all, what else is there really? We all want to make an impact, leave a legacy, leave the place better than we found it. Isn’t it all about relationships – professional opportunities, a sense of community, a workshop for your gifts. It’s all about people.
Which people? Your spouse, your parents, your kids, your work colleagues, your friends, your neighbors. You determine how big your metaphorical cup is, but it might look like this. Expand your kingdom as broadly as you can to influence, support, and love on more people.
Invest in your family, relatives, friends. Send them a book. Spend time with them. Find ways to help them articulate their dreams, encourage them, and help them. Push yourself to help others. . except don’t loan money. As Dave Ramsey warns, “once you loan money to family, Thanksgiving dinner starts tasting differently. Give money to family, don’t loan money.
Invest in experiences. First of all, why not? Life is too short to sit in one place, doing the same thing, not branching out. Have fun – live a little – but also become great at your craft. Be so good they cannot ignore you (affiliate link). This is my favorite quote from Teddy Roosevelt – US President, and bad ass.
Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure… than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat. – Theodore Roosevelt
What new experiences are you learning from? Are you getting smarter and wiser. Are you innovating and making the right kind of mistakes? As Seth Godin prods us, “We are always becoming, and we can always make the choice to start becoming something else, if we care.”
The only way you become a more interesting person is to have something to talk about – ideas, experience, advice. Would you pass the airport test?
Invest in assets. This is a big thing for me. I know too many people who make $$$,$$$ on their income statement, but don’t take the right steps to save, and put that money in assets (dividend paying stocks, rental properties or cash-flowing businesses) which will help them get retired. You have to own assets without liabilities. In non-accounting talk, you need be an owner of something – not just a productive worker. Financial freedom is about the balance sheet – not the income statement.
Consume less (buy less stuff) and invest more (in assets that make money for you). Things are really not important. As Dave Ramsey often says, “We buy things we don’t need with money we don’t have to impress people we don’t like”
Invest in writing. This is a surprising one for me. Have enjoyed writing this blog enormously – honea my thinking and catalogs my thoughts. If anything, I urge you to start putting your thoughts on paper, putting it online, finding your voice. It’s fun, evergreen, and helps you grow. Most important, it creates a community – a tribe – of like minded people like you (readers) to talk to and learn from.
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I turn 45 this year and honestly, my 40s > my 30s > my 20s. When people say, “Aw, I wish I were ____ years old again”, I honestly, don’t get that. Enjoying the journey too much for that kind of romanticism. That said, I do think a lot about time and really enjoyed these time quotes.
Love quotations. They encapsulate so much in so few words. They have stood the test of time – handed down person-to-person, paper-to-paper. Honestly, most any smart thing you want to say, has been said more eloquently before. There are tons of online tools for quotes, but my favorite book (yes, those still exist) is the Yale Book of Quotations here (affiliate link). Great resource for your library or office. It’s in hardback, but you can get a used copy for probably $5. For those who are looking to create a bit more gravitas, wisdom, and perspective – read and enjoy quotes.
So what do these icons have to say about time?
Let me know if you have any gems on the subject of time to add to the list. Also, which is your favorite?
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Have you ever heard the tale of the Cobbler whose children have no shoes? What about the doctor who preaches healthy living and takes a smoke break in between seeing patients? Or the consultant who tells their clients how important it is to invest in improving their business, yet the consultant isn’t willing to make […]
5 Mindset Shifts to Go From Struggle to Success: A Consultant’s Guide is a post from: Consulting Success
This is my least favorite expression in all of consulting. “Are you sure?” Built into the question is a lack of trust, glibness, superficial concern with accuracy over meaning, and honestly, a bit of disdain.
It’s a superficial question. It’s the kind of question that is asked out of (bad) habit and does nothing to really add value other than adding stress. It is the medieval idea that slaves work better when you crack the whip a few times. It’s silly and if you are doing the kind of work where that kind of motivation works: 1) the work you have is boring 2) your people are probably more of a liability than an asset 3) it’s not management consulting.
It drops the conversation to the lowest level. It’s the kind of question you ask unprofessional people. People who are sloppy and have disappointed you before. Those who don’t care about the quality of their work, who don’t proof-read, take feedback, socialize their finding with client, or take initiative. It’s the find of question you ask a forgetful dog, or a stupid robot:
Yes, we need motivation. Don’t get me wrong we are all motivated by different things and it is true that many consultants are motivated by the “fear of failure”. Me too. That is what drives me to work until 2am, or revise a document endlessly. Professional services is more of an identity than a simple job. We are judged on the quality of our ideas and actions. It’s got your name on it. You should care. If you don’t know what a great consultant should look like, look here.
No, there are better ways.
For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.” – H. L. Mencken
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