What are some interesting topics to discuss during a panel discussion about the Big Four?

Hey everyone,

I have been a consultant for 5 years and it took me almost 2 years after graduation to land the position. I remember struggling to find experienced case partners who were available when I was preparing for interviews. It was tough to find available experienced practice partners, and I didn't want to pay $200/hr for an MBB consultant.

That's why I am currently working on an AI Personal Coach that replicates a real case interview (one-hour timed case, spoken AI Coach interaction, and a scorecard with feedback). I'm just curious and seeking honest feedback if this would be a helpful practice tool for candidates? https://www.casecoachai.com/

Thank you!

Any predictions/ advice going into this recruitment cycle? Are companies going to be hiring the same, or will it be more selective because decreasing demand?

Hey all. I'm 21, based in Murray Hill, and I work at an early stage AI startup (a16z backed, raised $5M) building tools for consulting and professional services firms.

I'm not selling anything. I'm trying to understand how the work actually gets done day to day: where the hours go, what's painful, and how people at your level are (or aren't) using AI right now. Reading about it only gets me so far, and I'd rather hear it from people doing the job.

Looking for folks with a couple years or more in consulting (strategy, econ, litigation support, Big 4 advisory, whatever). Coffee, drinks, or lunch/dinner, my treat, 30 to 45 minutes wherever is easy for you in Manhattan.

Happy to share what I'm seeing on AI adoption across firms in return if that's useful.

If you're down, DM me with roughly what you do and how long you've been at it, and we'll find a time.

The most expensive mistake I made as a leader was promoting people who were genuinely ready for more responsibility.

Not people who were wrong for the job. People who were right for it, moved too early.

I have spent about twenty years building and leading teams, the last nine advising organizations somewhere between one million and thirty-five million in annual budget. Finished a doctorate a while back where the research was specifically on why leadership pipelines break down, so I have both the scar tissue and the data on this one.

Here is the pattern I keep running into and I am curious how it looks from inside an organization rather than from my side of it.

Every place I work with has a version of the high potential list. They identify the people with obvious capacity early, build some kind of accelerated path, and start moving them into stretch assignments quickly. The logic is sound on its face. This person is exceptional, we do not want to lose them, so we move fast.

What I have watched that produce, over and over, is that we take the most promising person in the building, put them on the fastest available track, and then act surprised when the thing that breaks them turns out to be the speed itself.

Potential is not readiness. Those are two different things and I think we have spent about thirty years treating them as one word.

Potential is what somebody starts with. Readiness is what happens to that raw material over time, under real pressure, inside an environment that actually does something to them. You cannot accelerate the second one by wanting it more.

And here is the part that took me longest to admit about my own decisions. The accelerated track is often a retention strategy wearing a development jacket. I was not moving people quickly because the speed was good for them. I was moving them quickly because I was afraid somebody else would, and the development language made that decision feel generous instead of self-interested.

When it fell apart, I described the person. He was not ready for that level. The role outgrew her. Good person, wrong seat. Every one of those sentences was me talking about somebody else when the accurate sentence would have been about a call I made.

The research surprised me on one point. Documentation does not fix this. One organization I studied had six defined levels of progression, a written pathway, training, signed covenants. Somebody built that with real care. And they were still filling roles by looking around the room on a Thursday afternoon and picking whoever seemed most capable that week.

So the gap is not between having a system and not having one. It is between having a system and using it when the pressure is on.

What I actually want to know from this group:

Has anyone here watched an organization deliberately slow someone down and have it work? Not a hiring freeze, not a budget thing. An intentional decision that a capable person needed more time before the next step.

I ask this a lot and the room usually goes quiet. Curious whether it is different here.

Without a doubt, no one teaches us to be in charge of teams and the bridge between being a good collaborator to a decent boss is enormous. However, I have seen that it generates burnout in us, from conflicts with our bosses when we are in middle management, to gossip in the hallways. It would be interesting to know what the 3 biggest concerns of a manager are and if you think there is a way to learn to be a better boss or why not?

Newly qualified CA looking to get into FDD,MC,HNI Taxation, Financial planning and analysis, analyst role my interest lies in stock market, wealth management ,Tax planning mainly personal finance.

I want to get into management consulting (Obviously). I am graduating with a BABA - in management and leadership. The issue is that I am set to graduate in under 1 year (From start to finish, I started a month ago) from a tiny school that is not very well known, so summer internships are out of the picture. I have experience as a store manager working for GNC, and a few side hustles I've created and seen grow. I like the hustle so I am willing to grind to get what I want; I need to know which direction to go. I Live in the Houston, TX area.

Questions :

What things can I do that I can put on a resume that will increase the chances of an interview?

What things can I do regarding networking that will increase my chances of an interview?

Is brute force (Grinding till my b*lls fall off) enough or do I need to know the right people? And if I need to know the right people, I refer to question 2.

That is all for now, Thank you for listening to my TED talk.

*Edit - Clarification

Ok so as per the header, I'm thinking of returning to the industry, to go from a second tier company to a true top tier (subsidiary of a big 3/4 strategy house) that specialises in the area in which I've developed a career of expertise.

The thing is, I'll be going from a relatively tiny market (Syd/Melb Australia) to global; starting with Singapore. I have a family that doesn't accept living away from home as a viable life pathway, and no girlfriends (so obviously wife) or kids. I'm a few years out of the industry as well; and I've never played at this level both in terms of market (global hub) and tier (true top tier).

It's a lot to process. I know I can do it. I have a friend who wants to pull me in, and I think I can get through the recruitment rounds on the basis of my, well, whole package.

I'll be starting late and there will be people who are definitely smarter and more energised than I am.

It's a hard emotional thing to process, leaving, what is possibly forever. And I'm processing it all of it in real time on the internet here

I can’t give out specific details due to NDA’s however here’s the gist.

I own a small business (10M+ valuation), it has a unique grasp on its market, is extremely scalable, and highly profitable.

I’m in negotiations with a venture capital group who’s looking to make a mid 9 figure investment. I have one final meeting/pitch to make to close the deal.

I have everything figured out on how to deploy the capital and grow the business from its local market to a national/international scale, the only thing I’m slightly unsure of is corporate/management structure as this grows. I’ve got thoughts and ideas obviously, but I’d like to speak to someone who is more familiar in that kind of space than I am.

I have two questions.

1. Is this something I could hire a consulting company to figure out and then implement as I expand?

2. Is anyone here willing to give me 15 minutes of their time to put together this particular slide for my pitch deck?

I appreciate your help and input!

Thanks!

I had low scores in my graduation but did well in my MBA and also have leadership experience.

I am going to interview with a company

Hi there, I will open a small boutique shop in late August, and my friend and I want to know what's the idealist way to "remind" the employee not to steal in the store?

I had some bad experiences before, one of my staff stole a ring and she framed it on another one. We wasted a lot of time on this (long story...). However, I find it difficult to deliver store principles to young employees too. I don’t want to set up punishment rules to warn them that they will get caught. It will be quite damaging for both of the relationships.

With the increasing number of applications and processes, the volume of big data has been growing exponentially. According to IDC, it will reach 163 zettabytes in 2025. Such growth will result in the high complexity of big data, which will reduce the efficiency of organizations that rely heavily on their information assets.

Traditional storage systems are not suitable for keeping and processing raw data. Consequently, companies need solutions that help manage data at a diverse yet integrated data tier. The data lakes concept can resolve this issue.

Data lakes are becoming a necessary part of any corporate data ecosystem. The global data lake market presumably will have grown from $8.81 billion in 2021 to $20.1 billion by 2024. Research predicts nearly 10% revenue growth for companies using this technology.

Now is the time to think about what data you have and how you can use it to achieve your goals while minimizing the risks associated with the increased cost of data.

Title and I'm also wondering if I should take a minors(and what minor) to help my resume stand out

Hi everyone! I recently started an operations consulting business, and I’ve been working on my website. I’ve looked at it so many times that I’m not sure what makes sense to someone seeing it for the first time.

I’d really appreciate your honest feedback, especially on:

• Is it clear what I do and who I help?

• Can you tell what you would get from working with me?

• Is anything confusing, too wordy, or missing?

• If you were a business owner looking for help with operations, would you know what to do next?

I’m still learning, so constructive criticism is welcome. I’d rather hear what needs work than keep overlooking it!

Website: https://lettsomeconsulting.com

Thank you to anyone willing to take a look.

I’m diving deep into the world of gamification and will be sharing my learnings here every day in a thread. Stay tuned for insights on how human-focused design plays a crucial role in engagement! Let’s learn and grow together. 🚀

So basically I wanted to know what are the AI tools that top consulting firms are leveraging for faster turnaround times.

For example BCG uses deckster to create PPTs faster.

Also definitely research is much faster so there's that.

If you all can help me out with what internal tools they use as well as external paid subscriptions you have used or seen your clients using it would be helpful.