Management Consulting | Steve Shu | Perspectives

Coping With the Transition from Management Consulting to a Startup

4 Jul

I wrote the following post (edited slightly here) in response to someone on Quora who indicated that they were having a hard time coping with the transition from management consulting to a startup in terms of the more experimental nature of the ... Read more »

How to Become a Go-To Person Within a Consulting Firm

25 Jun

I was asked to answer a question about how to become a go-to person when employed within a consulting firm. Here are some thoughts based on my past experience: Be known as a consultant that gets things done on projects ... Read more »

Reflecting on Your Consulting War Stories Builds Character

18 May

I don’t claim this to be a good war story, but it is a war story has had a deep impression on me. Early on in my career, I was asked by the managing partner on the project to help ... Read more »

Does a Person Need Passion or Expertise to Start a Consulting Firm?

18 May

Here are the situations regarding two people I know: Person 1 is terribly bored by the work he does in radiology, but he’s extremely good at it, and organizations like product companies, health systems, and providers seek out his consulting ... Read more »

What Should an Experienced Consultant Watch Out for During a Consulting Engagement?

29 Apr

Here are seven things on my list: The problem statement for the engagement and the scope of work should always be in focus (including the value of the project); refine the problem statement as necessary. The engagement structure consists of ... Read more »

Lifehacks for New Management Consultants

29 Apr

It’s been nearly twenty years since I started management consulting. I tried to quickly reflect on lifehacks that really helped me in my first year so that other, new consultants might benefit from my learnings. Here are a few to ... Read more »

A Bread and Butter Method for Identifying the Right Organizational Structure

1 Sep

A common approach is to identify different options for organizational structure and then analyze tradeoffs (e.g., pros and cons or degree attractiveness by objective). That said, I wanted to share another perspective that has carried me a long way. It ... Read more »

A Helicopter View of a Management Consulting Proposal

31 Aug

I’ve often been asked by new consultants to provide insights on structuring a proposal. Here’s a conceptual, high-level summary of a typical proposal: Executive Summary and Overview – often articulates background relevant to the proposal, such as current issues and ... Read more »

A Couple of Perspectives for Consultants on Startup Consulting

30 Aug

Startup consulting is a challenging thing to do. Some considerations: Think about which startups have enough money to be able to afford consultants. They may have raised some significant venture money (say post Series B or C round). If partially ... Read more »

I’ve finally released Inside Nudging: Implementing Behavioral Science Initiatives

22 Jul

Inside Nudging is written for management professionals and scientists to feed their thinking and discussions about implementing behavioral science initiatives (which includes behavioral economics and finance) in business settings. Situations include the incubation of innovation centers, behavioral science overlay capabilities, and ... Read more »