Sat.Oct 17, 2015 - Fri.Oct 23, 2015

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How to be Audacious. A Guide for Prudent Consultants Like You.

David A Fields

60-second story: Four friends wander a woodsy path to find the ocean. Their goal: wade through warm, crystal waters and gape at neon sienna sunsets. Once they reach the Coast, of course. But not now. Not yet. First there’s a trail to follow. The forest byway buzzes with the everyday hide-and-hunt of insects and animals. Along the way, Ranger Dan hails the foursome as they pass below his perch amidst the treetops.

How To 218
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A Perspective on How Behavioral Economists Think We Should Deal With Reason and Emotion in Decision Making

Steve Shu Consulting

I thought I would re-post an answer to a question I was asked to answer on Quora, as it illustrates a conceptual flavor of how knowledge of behavioral economics can be applied to help navigate behavioral obstacles and opportunities. The question: How do behavioral economists think we should deal with reason and emotion in our decisions? My answer: The balancing act is tricky, and I think context and desired outcomes matter.

Examples 183
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MC on The Road – LA

Management Consulted

We spend a lot of time on the road here at MC, travelling to colleges and universities in North America and beyond, giving training and advice on resumes, fit interviews, case interviews and beyond. Ever wondered what it would be like to come with us? Well wonder no more! Last year on our trip to L.A. we brought our media team to along with us for the ride!

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Outsourcing Matrix

Tom Spencer

(Source: Flickr ). The outsourcing matrix may prove useful in the consulting case interview, either as a standalone framework or as part of a larger profitability framework. With the view to reducing costs, there are three questions that a firm would do well to consider: How long will it take to reduce major cost drivers? Are the activities strategically important?

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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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Is Hyperbole Okay?

David A Fields

A consultant asked me the following question: I’ve heard you say that you find the best consultants in the world for your corporate clients. Do you actually say that to clients? Is it over the top for me to say, “I am the best consultant on the planet at doing XYZ?” What advice would you give this consultant? At what point is tooting your own horn valuable, expected self-promotion, and at what point is it harmful self-aggrandizing?

More Trending

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MC on The Road – LA

Management Consulted

We spend a lot of time on the road here at MC, traveling to colleges and universities in North America and beyond, giving training and advice on resumes, fit interviews, case interviews and beyond. Ever wondered what it would be like to come with us? Well wonder no more! Last year on our trip to L.A. we brought our media team to along with us for the ride!

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Socialist Finds 14 Flaws in Capitalism and Seeks Help to Fix Them; Mish 14 Point Rebuttal

MishTalk

Those looking for a big laugh can find one in Philip Kotler's Huffington Post article entitled Fix Capitalism - Join Us! Kotler says "The economic system is failing to deliver rising living standards for most Americans. Most of the gains from higher productivity are going to the rich. The middle class is getting smaller, the wages of the working class are lower in real terms than in the 1980s, and the really poor continue to constitute 15% of our citizens.

Banking 61
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How Do You Get Your Foot in the Door?

David A Fields

A consultant asked me the following question: What is your experience with clients that ask you to do an introductory project before jumping into a big engagement? For instance, I’ve been asked to do $15,000 in work for $7,000, knowing that there’s a $50-100,000 project on the back end. What should I do? What follows is my answer to the consultant who asked the question: Even though this is a simple question, I’m going to give you multiple answers!

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Make a Difference

Chad Barr

This week’s reflection point: I had the wonderful opportunity to visit the Tenement museum on Orchard street on New York’s lower east side while visiting the city this week. A dilapidated dwelling, built in the early 1860’s, housed more than 7000 immigrants between 1863-1935. What makes this building so unique? Surely many people have immigration stories that can be traced through familial genealogy these days.

Groups 52
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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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Putting the Naysayers in the Spotlight

Strategy+Business

Early adopters get most of the attention from analysts and marketers, but focusing on consumers who are resistant to innovations is another way to bring new products to market.

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IMF Prepared to Bless Yuan As Reserve Currency; Reason to Celebrate? Any Real Significance?

MishTalk

IMF Blessing Coming Up Bloomberg reports IMF Said to Give China Strong Signs of Reserve-Currency Blessing. The IMF has given Chinese officials strong signals in meetings that the yuan is likely to win inclusion in the current review of the Special Drawing Rights, the fund’s unit of account, said three people who asked not to be identified because the talks were private.

Meeting 59
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How Managers Can Enable Learning from Mistakes

Gina Abudi

“We learn wisdom from failure much more than from success. We often discover what will do, by finding out what will not do; and probably he who never made a mistake never made a discovery.” – Samuel Smiles. It isn’t easy for managers to enable their employees to make mistakes or have failures. Managers worry [.]. The post How Managers Can Enable Learning from Mistakes appeared first on Gina Abudi.

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Junk or Productivity?

Martinka Consulting

I was speaking with the owner of a small technology company who told me his company’s software products improve productivity for their customers. While on a trip I saw a TV commercial for a technology company looking to hire people. They encouraged applicants to join a team not making “useless apps and games” but creating software that adds value for their customers.

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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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Bran Ferren on the Art of Innovation

Strategy+Business

Bran Ferren's companies, Applied Minds and Applied Inventions, produce breakthrough innovations in record time, with an extraordinarily consistent track record in a variety of industrial and consumer areas. This Thought Leader interview describes how business leaders can cultivate the kind of enterprise that routinely creates miracles.

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Headline #1: "Most Americans Have Less than $1,000 in Savings"; Headline #2: People Saving Too Much is Now a Problem

MishTalk

A pair of conflicting headline stories caught my eye. One headline says Americans have too little savings while the other says we are saving so much that it's a problem. Let's have a look. Most Americans Have Too Little Savings MarketWatch reports Most Americans Have Less Than $1,000 in Savings. Americans are living right on the edge — at least when it comes to financial planning.

Finance 59
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Your Role as a Coach

Gina Abudi

Do These 3 Things Your role as a coach is to accomplish three things: Regularly meet one-on-one with employees; collaborate with each employee to set professional development goals and developing action plans to achieve those goals. Help them secure challenging projects that enable for developing their skills. Enable your employees to learn for themselves.

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The power of fear

Seth Godin Blog

Fear will push you to avert your eyes. Fear will make you think you have nothing to say. It will create a buzz that makes it impossible to meditate. or it will create a fog that makes it so you can do nothing but meditate. Fear seduces us into losing our temper. and fear belittles us into accepting unfairness. Fear doesn't like strangers, people who don't look or act like us, and most of all, the unknown.

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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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Be Your Own Activist Investor

Strategy+Business

Many companies today are threatened by activist investors. Before they start to circle your company, apply their best practices. Here are our top 10 pieces of advice for taking control of your cost base -- not to cut back, but to build a more resilient and capable organization.

Company 44
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Mayor of Barcelona Prepares New Digital Local Currency

MishTalk

The new mayor of Barcelona, ​​Ada Colau, says Preparations Underway for New Local Digital Currency. The objective of the currency, whose name will be decided after a participatory process, is to "promote local businesses." Libre Mercado says the plan looks more like a publicity campaign for Barcelona. The Bank of Spain called the currency "impossible besides undesirable".

Banking 58
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Leading Change – Start at the Top!

Gina Abudi

While it is essential to ensure that everyone in the organization is engaged in change, it is really important to ensure that engagement starts at the top with senior leadership. The most successful change initiatives have support and commitment from the CEO and the rest of the senior leadership team. This support is essential since [.]. The post Leading Change – Start at the Top!

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What are corporations for?

Seth Godin Blog

The purpose of a company is to serve its customers. Its obligation is to not harm everyone else. And its opportunity is to enrich the lives of its employees. Somewhere along the way, people got the idea that maximizing investor return was the point. It shouldn't be. That's not what democracies ought to seek in chartering corporations to participate in our society.

Culture 42
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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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Breaking Bad Barriers

Strategy+Business

In her new book, journalist Gillian Tett convincingly shows how companies can be constrained by silos that inhibit collaboration -- and how they can break out of them.

Company 44
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As Draghi Hints at More QE, German Bond Yields Hit Record Low Negative Yields; Economic Madness

MishTalk

Quantitative easing in the eurozone to the tune of €1.1 trillion has not raised consumer price inflation as the ECB had expected. But neither bureaucrats nor central planners ever evaluate the effectiveness of their programs. Rather, when something does not work, they do more of it, until it does work, with no regard for the economic bubbles or other negative consequences.

Banking 57
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Business Valuation Adjustments

Martinka Consulting

In the May/June 2015 issues of Brueggeman & Johnson Yeanoplos’s Litigation & Valuation Report , there’s a short article on the valuation adjustments a business appraiser makes. They state an overriding objective is to “ask whether a company’s past earnings represent its future earnings potential to a hypothetical buyer.” If not, they have to adjust it to do so.

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The two-review technique

Seth Godin Blog

As you work on your project (your presentation, your plan, your speech, your recipe, your.) imagine that it's the sort of thing that could be reviewed on Amazon. Now, write (actually write down) two different reviews: First, a 5 star review, a review by someone who gets it, who is moved, who is eager to applaud your guts and vision. And then, a 1 star review, an angry screed, not from the usual flyby troll, but from someone who actually experienced your work and hated it.

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ABM Evolution: How Top Marketers Are Using Account-Based Strategies

In times of economic uncertainty, account-based strategies are essential. According to several business analysts and practitioners, ABM is a necessity for creating more predictable revenue. Research shows that nearly three-quarters of marketers (74%) already have the resources needed to build successful ABM programs.