June, 2017

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The Right Consulting Firm Design for Maximum Profit

David A Fields

The design of your consulting firm determines your bottom line profit. If you’re a solo consultant, you might think that firm design doesn’t apply to you. You’d be wrong. It applies to you too. Reading articles should be fun, so here’s a tune to hum for the next couple of minutes: Walk Like an Egyptian.

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6 Ways to Move Beyond the Commodity Mindset

Consulting Success

I was about 25,000 feet up and seated on the right side of the DCH-8 plane. Looking out the window below, I could see beautiful turquoise water and the sea speckled with islands. The flight was short. Only 30 minutes to reach my island destination. I was meeting one of my first business mentors. A man named Kyoji, who had grown up on this island but had spent 40+ years travelling around the world building several international brands and businesses.

Retail 240
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Technology Ain’t Going to Solve Your Problems

Markovitz Consulting

I was at a conference for internet retailers two weeks ago and was overwhelmed by the software and hardware solutions promising to solve all their operational problems and turn their ecommerce businesses into a highly profitable, eight figure monsters. They’re lying. Technology is not, by itself, the answer. If you have a broken process and you add technology, all you get is a faster (and more expensive) broken process.

Software 178
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The 3 Secrets of a Successful Consulting Interview Suit

Management Consulted

Everybody knows you should dress conservatively for a job interview. A straightforward interview suit is the way to go, and that goes double for a management consulting interview. We won’t assume you’ve been living under a rock and don’t know that navy blue and charcoal gray suits are your interview suit standbys. But there’s so much more to dressing to impress than that.

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PowerPoint Best Practices for Creating Stellar Presentations

Mastering data visualization in PowerPoint will help accelerate your career because it positions you as someone who can present data that drives business decisions forward. think-cell's PowerPoint Best Practices eBook was created specifically for professionals aiming to master the art and science of data-driven storytelling. What’s inside: Practical Insights: Uncover valuable tips for crafting engaging and persuasive presentations.

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Ready for the Results? Best Practices Survey Reviewed at June Meeting

Women in Consulting

By: Amy Huson. We all need a reality check now and again, and the annual WIC Best Practices Survey is a great place to start. Mark your calendar for Thursday, June 15th when Survey Program Director Jen Berkley Jackson of The Insight Advantage and Deb Siegle of Strategic Marketing Solutions will share this year’s results from your consulting peers. So now is the time to join WIC if you want to know more about things like: Total revenue for 2016.

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More Trending

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How to Work with Internal Influencers to Win Consulting Projects

David A Fields

The good news: you’ve struck up a relationship with the decision-maker at a prospective client. Let’s call her Denise, the corporation’s CUO (Chief Unspecified Officer). The bad news: Denise asks that you chat about the project with Elliot Intheweeds, the SVP of Unspecified Stuff. Elliot is an influencer.

How To 186
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2 Time-Tested Keys to Becoming a Successful Consultant

Consulting Success

I have never considered the option of failure in anything I’ve done. Whatever I have set my mind to, and really wanted, I have achieved. I remember one day back in university I faced an interesting challenge. I had enrolled in the Asian Studies Program. Unfortunately, many of the required courses were as dry as a camel’s tongue after crossing the Sahara Desert without water.

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Design for Your Strengths

Strategy+Business

If you want to succeed at anything truly difficult, you have to design a learning process that builds on the things you do best. Through experiences such as his training in Olympic speed skating, and in his coaching of and working with others, John Coyle has come to recognize four key rules inherent in designing for your strengths: Accept your weaknesses; recognize your specific strengths; solve the right problem (which is not necessarily the problem other people have diagnosed for you); and, fi

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Can I go from Teach for America to Consulting?

Management Consulted

Today, we’re here to talk about a little known path into management consulting – transitioning over to the industry from Teach for America. Many of you have heard of Teach for America, but for those of you haven’t, TfA recruits the best and brightest undergraduate students to teach in low-income school districts for two years after they complete their undergrad studies.

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How to Stay Competitive in the Evolving State of Martech

Marketing technology is essential for B2B marketers to stay competitive in a rapidly changing digital landscape — and with 53% of marketers experiencing legacy technology issues and limitations, they’re researching innovations to expand and refine their technology stacks. To help practitioners keep up with the rapidly evolving martech landscape, this special report will discuss: How practitioners are integrating technologies and systems to encourage information-sharing between departments and pr

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Navigating New Realities in Business, Geopolitics, and Technology

BCG

Article Wednesday, June 21, 2017 Nearly 100 leading European executives gathered in Versailles for BCG’s eighth European Strategy Leadership Summit. Here are eight takeaways from the event.

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The Intimacies of Remote Working

Actionable

Actionable is a completely remote working environment—many of us have never met in person. And yet we know each other on a deeply personal level. The post The Intimacies of Remote Working appeared first on Actionable.co.

Culture 52
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11 Steps to Bring Your Hobby Into Focus

Chad Barr

For as long as I can remember, I always had a hobby or two that kept me curious, excited, enthusiastic and fulfilled. I remember the fish breeding aquariums in my parents’ home, building amplifiers and various sound systems for playing my electric guitar in my various bands, and I even remember a period of experimenting with macramé hanging plant holders.

Energy 52
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Are You An Early Adaptor?  Virtual Reality Online Training May Be For You

Clarity Consultants

There are so many ways to teach a student in our modern age of learning. From massive online courses to social media peer study groups, we are always surprised and excited to hear about the next big thing in learning and development. What's next on the horizon for forward-thinking companies and learning with technologies? Virtual Reality training may be the learning tool that businesses need to bring their online training to life.

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Savings Consultants Are Needed in Today's Market More Than Ever

Savings Consultants are needed in today’s market more than ever. With an increase in expenses, businesses are looking for opportunities to save. Often unknown to businesses are savings in expense reduction, specialized tax savings, specialized savings including medical underpayments, health benefits cost reduction, zero cost processing, and more. Blue Coast Savings, with over 20 years in business, assists Savings Consultants in helping these companies move toward more profitable businesses.

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11 Types of Strategic Maturity: Which One Describes Your Company?

Strategy+Business

A quick interactive diagnostic tool shows whether your strategy is coherent, how well it stacks up against your competitors, and how you can improve it.

Company 65
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Amazing Progress Illinois Style: Welcome to the Obama Expressway!

MishTalk

Yesterday, in response to alleged “progress” on Obamacare I penned Mish’s Rule of Progress. Today, I am pleased to announce even more amazing budget progress in the state of Illinois. (more…).

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How Can I Keep Our Strategic Planning Process Simple?

Leadership Planning with Liz Weber CMC

The most common question a strategic planning client asks is: “How can we keep this simple?” The question is being asked typically for one of two reasons: 1) They’ve experienced at least one long and painful planning process, or 2) They’ve never actually created an effective plan. So, though they realize there is a need to go through the strategic planning process, they’re lost as to how to do so simply and effectively.

How To 53
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Leader Self-Reflection — The Importance of Looking Inward

Actionable

My conclusion is that it is often the leaders themselves who need the repair job, and who could most benefit from self-reflection. The post Leader Self-Reflection — The Importance of Looking Inward appeared first on Actionable.co.

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TOOLS and METHODOLOGIES for developing DECISION SUPPORT PACKAGES

This White Paper targets opportunities for Management to develop proficiency in the Decision Framing and Analyses element of input to Decision, & Risk Analyses for Major Project Funding Decisions.

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The Best Writing Advice

Chad Barr

Content creation is one of the key essentials to increasing our intellectual property (IP) and credibility while strengthening our thought leadership and global reach. Yet many are stuck in writer’s block mindset and procrastination. During a conversation I had this morning with a client, she shared her quest for advice as to how to best write amazing content.

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Time Management Strategies for Independent Contractors

MBO Partners

Finding a balance between creating your own schedule and completing everything on your to-do list can be challenging as an independent professional. Follow these five tips for effective time management.

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The New Class of Digital Leaders

Strategy+Business

Strategy&'s 2016 study of chief digital officers (CDOs), which analyzed the presence of such leaders among the world's 2,500 largest public companies, revealed that 19 percent of these companies have now designated an executive to lead their digital agenda. This is up from just 6 percent of companies in the 2015 study. This new class of CDOs often encounter several key obstacles upon assuming their role: ad hoc digital initiatives spread throughout a large organization, lacking central oversight

Study 58
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Two Italian Banks Fail: Bail-In Rules Changed to Protect ECB and Political Class from Losses?

MishTalk

On Friday the ECB Shut Down Venice-based Veneto Banca and Banca Popolare di Vicenza as failed or failing banks. The bailout cost is purportedly €5.2 billion ($5.8 billion), but costs nearly always exceed initial projections. Under the announcement, senior bondholders and depositors will be protected. (more…).

Banking 60
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Why You Need to Use Case Studies in Sales and Marketing (and How to Start Now)

Case studies are proof of successful client relations and a verifiable product or service. They persuade buyers by highlighting your customers' experiences with your company and its solution. In sales, case studies are crucial pieces of content that can be tailored to prospects' pain points and used throughout the buyer's journey. In marketing, case studies are versatile assets for generating business, providing reusable elements for ad and social media content, website material, and marketing c

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Burnout at Work Isn’t Just About Exhaustion. It’s Also About Loneliness

Harvard Business

More and more people are feeling tired and lonely at work. In analyzing the General Social Survey of 2016 , we found that, compared with roughly 20 years ago, people are twice as likely to report that they are always exhausted. Close to 50% of people say they are often or always exhausted due to work. This is a shockingly high statistic — and it’s a 32% increase from two decades ago.

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Get Unstuck — Developing an Agile Mindset

Actionable

Organizations today need an agile mindset to thrive in the business landscape, which is increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. The post Get Unstuck — Developing an Agile Mindset appeared first on Actionable.co.

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The Freedom to Choose

Chad Barr

I am in my studio this week creating my amazing new product called The Digital Empire Academy. I am very excited about it and I know you will be as well. As I was thinking about the main outcome my clients would potentially receive from this product, the one that kept coming up was the freedom to choose. I am grateful for living in a place that provides me freedom to choose.

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The Chinese Consumer’s Online Journey from Discovery to Purchase

BCG

Article Wednesday, June 21, 2017 In China, online shopping is a chaotic yet seamless adventure—one that blurs the lines between entertainment and ecommerce.

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The Art of Remote Collaboration: How to Successfully Whiteboard with Remote Teams

Just because we're working with a distributed team doesn't mean we have to abandon time-tested tools and methods like whiteboarding. Digital look-alikes often cramp creativity and all but eliminate the humanity of shared interactions. Hardware solutions are also limiting and, of course, expensive and immobile. In an increasingly digital and remote-first world, it’s important for us to select tools and processes that allow us to mitigate if not eliminate the above problems.