Little about me:
- 7 years in Strategy Consulting at a Tier 2 firm
- Cofounded small practice and scaled it from 3 to over 30 people globally
- Varied experience across Corporate & Growth strategy, M&A (CDD), and cost optimisation
- I am the lead for the graduates at my firm so I know exactly what to look for in CVs, interviews, case interviews etc.
AMA - I'm pretty transparent
Certainly! Here's a breakdown of what you can share or ask in an AMA (Ask Me Anything) session with a Strategy Manager focused on Corporate & Growth Strategy:
Key Areas to Explore:
Career Path Insights:
CV and Interview Tips:
Corporate & Growth Strategy:
Leadership and Team Building:
Personal Development:
Feel free to ask specific questions or dive deeper into any of these areas!
Sources: Q&A: Corporate Strategy Manager at F100 Entertainment Company (came from Non-MBB Management Consulting), Corporate/Tech Strategy Career Path, Post MBA?, Case Competition on Resume, Unorthodox Path to Corporate Strategy Position
From where you're at, how over/under stated are the fears about AI and consulting? Should juniors entering consulting be afraid of the future of the industry?
Additionally, how entrepreneurial would you say consulting is - especially given that you were able to start your own practice
My honest is answer is I have no idea how this is going to play out. One thing I am confident about, however, is those that claim "AI will kill consulting" are wrong. Consulting was born out of people trying to help solve business problems. Business will always have problems that they a) do not have the capability or b) the capacity to solve.
There are several lenses to look at. From a consulting perspective, it will most certainly have to evolve . I think the traditional consulting pyramid model will go away and the economics around deals will also change. I think consulting will shift towards a 'value based' model. Where they get paid for the value delivered, and fixed price will become mintority. In reality, this means that bad consulting will die. Fluffy, BS consultants that know how to 'work the system' will struggle. Deep industry, or functional expertise will become absolutely essential and demand for niche consulting will boom.
For a client perspective, the majority of large corporates are terrible at integrating new tools. The difference between tools used in the startup world and corporates is stark. So those that are slow to adopt will really struggle. The real crux will be the corporates that idenitfy use case that actually deliver ROI (not many have as of yet). Hence why I think its hard to tell how this will play out.
For juniors, I think the bar for you guys has never been higher. Foundational skills (excel, powerpoint, research) are becoming increasingly less valuable. So the speed at which you have to become industry fluent is faster than ever. Having said that, you guys will also be the most technilogically fluent generation ever. So if you can become fluent in AI tech, I think thats a real competitive advantage. Think about it, how many people over the age of 40 actually know how an LLM works? Or how to prompt well? So i think theres a real opportunity for junior people to become indespensible if they can build agentic workflows and help senior people automate basic tasks. Partners spend SO MUCH time answering emails. If you could help them cut this by 30% - you quickly become the most important person in the team.
Thanks for doing this! A few questions...
The answer to this question is the most common answer in consulting. "It depends". If I am on a client project. The morning usually starts planning for the day ahead of our morning standup. If we are in analysis execution mode. The morning usually involves ensuring everyone has clarity on their tasks for the day. Ensuring they understand what good looks like by EOD. Clarity and empowering your team is execute is everything when managing a team in my opinion. If we are preparing for client meetings/workshops - then its reviewing the materials, preparing talking points. Ensuring everyone is clear on their role in the session so all bases are covered. For juniors - we usually give them each a topci that they are responsible for. If a niche question is asked by the client that I cannot cover, I rely on them to back me up with data, analysis and evidence
I need to head out now - I'll answer the rest of your questions later!
Cheers
3. I covered it in my answer above. We are all looking at ways to integrate AI into our workflows. As well as build tools that we can take to clients. I believe that consulting firms will increasingly become product-first companies augmented by consultants. Which will require fundamentally different skills sets to a) develop and b) deliver to clients - especially within strategy.
4. This question is a little too generic to provide anything meaningful to you. So if you want to follow up with something more specific please do so.
5. For me personally, the work itself hasn't changed massively. The type of projects are still the same and likewise the output that we deliver. What has changed is how we get there and the quality that we need to produce. AI has cut lead times on so many different aspects. From research, all the way through to quality assurance. The majority of clients are also familiar with how consulting works nowadays. They know the frameworks, the data we have etc etc. So the expectations and value they are expecting is much higher.
Opinions on VCA role especially as my first consulting internship?
I got kicked out of university for the stupidest thing (rather not say why as I dont want to get doxxed, but its not what youre probably thinking nor is it anything unethical / immoral). I was in pursuit of applying to consulting grad roles when it happened ha! i have a relatively strong CV nonetheless with good brand names and an incomplete (target) university degree. What do you think I should do? I really liked the idea of working in strat consulting and moving into industry :(
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