June, 2017

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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 268
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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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The 4 Types of Innovation and the Problems They Solve

Harvard Business

One of the best innovation stories I’ve ever heard came to me from a senior executive at a leading tech firm. Apparently, his company had won a million-dollar contract to design a sensor that could detect pollutants at very small concentrations underwater. It was an unusually complex problem, so the firm set up a team of crack microchip designers, and they started putting their heads together.

Research 195
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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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State of AI in Sales & Marketing 2025

AI adoption is reshaping sales and marketing. But is it delivering real results? We surveyed 1,000+ GTM professionals to find out. The data is clear: AI users report 47% higher productivity and an average of 12 hours saved per week. But leaders say mainstream AI tools still fall short on accuracy and business impact. Download the full report today to see how AI is being used — and where go-to-market professionals think there are gaps and opportunities.

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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.

Training 165

More Trending

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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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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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Use Work Samples to Seal the Deal

Successful Independent Consulting

Let’s face it, consulting often gets a bad rap. It’s perceived as nebulous, too theoretical, too touchy-feely. Plus, it's expensive. To combat this bias, use work samples and deliverables to show prospective clients how you do what you do. Demystify your process. This goes a long way toward removing uncertainty and skepticism. For 10 years as an independent change strategy consultant, I used this tactic to win several projects.

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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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Less Stress, More Success: Accounting Best Practices & Processes for 2025

Speaker: Duke Heninger, Partner and Fractional CFO at Ampleo & Creator of CFO System

Are you ready to elevate your accounting processes for 2025? 🚀 Join us for an exclusive webinar led by Duke Heninger, a seasoned fractional CFO and CPA passionate about transforming back-office operations for finance teams. This session will cover critical best practices and process improvements tailored specifically for accounting professionals.

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The Ways Your Brain Manages Overload, and How to Improve Them

Harvard Business

Information overload is everywhere , from non-stop news to rat-a-tat email inboxes. At the receiving end of this deluge of verbiage is the human brain — your brain— metaphorically endowed with a vacuum cleaner that sucks up information; a container for short-term memory; a blender for integrating information; a memory bank for storing long-term information; a garbage disposal for getting rid of information; and a recycling machine extraordinaire.

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Why you should become a consultant

Jacq Hackett Consulting

Why you should become a consultant. I speak to a lot of people who think about becoming a consultant. For some they’ve reached a point in their career where they’re looking for a new challenge; others are facing another unsettling restructure and think about getting out; and some have been offered voluntary redundancy but are not ready to retire – they still have a lot to offer and see consultancy as a way to continue to make a contribution.

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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.

Training 133
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3 Steps to Win Consulting Projects Even When Circumstances Change

David A Fields

You’re a happy camper. Why? Because you’re (hypothetically) on the brink of signing a doozy of a consulting project with PlumCo. Then, outta nowhere, PlumCo’s sales nosedive and your buyer informs you, “Sorry. We can’t do anything right now – all discretionary spending has been cut.” Apparently you’re discretionary. Now what?

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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.

Survey 85
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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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Use Stories from Customers to Highlight Your Company’s Purpose

Harvard Business

Leaders commonly try to influence their company culture with a lofty statement of purpose. But despite the time and money an organization pours into crafting its own special statement, the result is often vague and generic — it sounds like every other well-meaning company’s purpose statement. One simple way around this is to highlight specific stories that illustrate the values leaders want to emphasize.

Hotels 134
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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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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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What is the Link Between Authentic Learning and Learner Motivation?

Clarity Consultants

The best learners are the ones who are self motivated. They are eager to discover, to ask questions, and to take in the new information that can potentially change their lives. Creating motivated learners, from a corporate learning perspective especially, may seem like an uphill battle. But it's not impossible. Read on to see how the concept of authentic learning can help your hr training and development programs become more accessible, more relatable, and more influential within your learning a

Training 127
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How To Get The Attention Of Top Executives: The “Sidestep” Method

Tsavo Neal

This post is a guest post written and submitted by Carl Friesen, founder of Thought Leadership Resources. Do you ever get the feeling that your most ideal prospective client organizations are like fortresses designed to keep you out? Their senior leaders are guarded by receptionists, personal assistants, voicemail and a never-ending series of meetings.

How To 74
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Uncooperative

Tom Spencer

In economics, perfect competition is hailed as an ideal. It is a situation where a large number of firms each produce a similar product, and so consumers can get what they want at the lowest possible cost. The cult of competition starts early. At certain elite high schools in Sydney, student exam scores are publicly displayed so that every student can see where they rank against each other.

Culture 60
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Do Undergrad Clubs and Experiences Matter on my Consulting Resume?

Management Consulted

It’s the question of our time – how far is too far to go back on my consulting resume? We get questions literally Every. Single. Day about consulting resumes, and we’re happy to answer them (you can email us here !). But today, we’re here to answer one specific question: do undergrad clubs/experiences matter on your consulting resume?

Resumes 124
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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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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.

Study 134
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Why Startups Have to Think Differently About Their Skills Gap

Strategy+Business

With both cash and time in short supply at startups, skilled women seeking to restart their careers are a valuable talent pool.

Talent 65
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The Benefits of Blended Learning

Clarity Consultants

In your journey to develop and implement a successful leadership and professional development program, it’s possible you’ve come across the term Blended Learning in recent years. There’s quite a bit of confusion around this term, but understanding the basics will help you and your company know whether learning with technologies is a good fit for your program.

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Content Upgrades for Consultants: Generate More Leads Through Your Thought-Leadership

Tsavo Neal

Do you want more leads to come through your consulting website? If you think your site-wide lead magnet is diluted and not specific enough to entice prospects to sign up for your list, you may be right. You may be leaving a lot of leads on the table. Site-wide lead magnets work OK — but you want to be generating new leads every single day instead of every week or month.

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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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Blockchain For Managers

Tom Spencer

No matter one’s professional background, these days it is almost impossible to escape at least a very basic introduction to “blockchain.”. At its core, blockchain has the potential to give every individual access to data, processes, and the ability to transact with others on a scale that was never before possible. From a strictly mid-20th century point of view, the introduction of blockchain is the next step in a future foreseen by Peter Drucker.

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Non-Target School Applicant Looking to Break into Consulting in Chicago

Management Consulted

This week, we’re letting in you behind the curtain into one of Jenny Rae’s Power Half Hour sessions with rockstar Stephanie. Stephanie is a non-target school applicant looking to break into consulting in Chicago. Keep an eye out for Stephanie; she’s got a bright future ahead of her! What’s a Power Half Hour session? It’s a high-level career path guidance session (or resume review/networking advice session) with an ex-MBB consultant.

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Male and Female Entrepreneurs Get Asked Different Questions by VCs — and It Affects How Much Funding They Get

Harvard Business

There is an enormous gender gap in venture capital funding in the United States. Female entrepreneurs receive only about 2% of all venture funding , despite owning 38% of the businesses in the country. The prevailing hope among academics, policy makers, and practitioners alike has been that this gap will narrow as more women become venture capitalists.

Study 134