Karl

How have you developed your skills since joining OC&C?

I started as an Associate Consultant straight out of college. Initially skill development is all about learning by doing, while being coached / supervised by people who have done it before. If you do enough customer interviews you will get good at them. But in the past 3-4 years I have found a lot of value in actively looking for example of colleagues who do things well and trying to learn from them. For example that could be how to answer a tough client question, or how to keep the team engaged on a challenging project week. Just the practice of thinking through who do I work with does this hard thing well, and what do they do differently than others/me is incredibly helpful in building your own skillset, and complements the continued learning by doing.

Share a specific project where you delivered exceptional value to a client.

Last year I was involved in a bolt-on due diligence for a tech client. The project started as a standalone assessment of a specific asset. But in the final week, and in particular during the final meeting, we were able to work through not just how this asset would slot into the existing portfolio, but also how that existing portfolio could be better reshaped to target specific segments based on what we had learned in the diligence. It all came together in some live debate with the CEO that gave a lot of clarity and conviction on what the business should do.

How do you ensure that OC&C’s clients receive the best service?

To me it’s all about making sure that we understand which question is most important to the client. The engagement letter and pitch and initial conversations often surface a number of questions. But getting close to the client, understanding the context, and making sure we are aligned on what they really want to see from the work is critical. We are great at answering well-defined questions, so a lot of value comes from that initial defining stage.

What strategies do you use to build trust with colleagues and clients?

If there is going to be a surprise, make it a positive one. No one likes to be told last minute that the outcome is not what they were hoping for. So be transparent on process/timeline, set expectations, share key findings as they emerge, and deliver as promised or better.

How do you balance client delivery responsibilities with business development activities?

Organization + being selective on business development. As individuals we can’t be the best at everything (every topic area, very type of project, every internal firm development activity) so we need to find the areas we are good at and that add to the firm. Being organized is just another way of saying that the demands on our time and the prioritization of those demands are clear.

How do you stay at the forefront of industry trends to bring innovative perspectives to clients?

I do some reading outside of strictly work contexts to stay up to date at a headline level. But the three things I have found work best for me are first just systematically paying attention during the calls I am in. We do an amazing amount of calls with knowledgeable people, and paying attention to not just their perspectives but also their questions is a great way to get a deep understanding of a space. Personally, I write notes and put them in once place with a fair amount of tagging so they are easy to search and I periodically write out on a piece of paper key themes in the spaces I work in based on the calls I have been on. In my experience I have had a lot of conversations that have significantly improved my understanding of a space/trend, vs relatively few articles that have changed how I think about something. Secondly, I try not to confuse ‘the latest perspective’ with the most important perspective. It’s never a bad idea to think from first principles. Finally, to the extent that I do broader reading, I try to set up alerts and other systems so that I can be quite selective in what I read and that it is served to me, rather than needing to trawl through material to find the important things.

What do you enjoy doing outside of your consulting work?

Outside work I am a father to two young kids which keeps me on my toes. I spend a lot of time in the park and on walks with the kids and our dog. When not parenting I like to eat and cook with my wife, to read on my own (mostly US history of late), and to intermittently pursue some activities like rugby, hiking, going to the gym, obstacle courses, hunting, and – next year – fishing.

What’s a small daily habit that helps you stay productive?

I used to make big to do lists of everything I could do that day. Now I write out the 2-3 things that, if I do them well, will make the day/week/month a success. And I focus my time on those things.

''I heard someone at college say that consulting is basically smart people hired to solve hard problems. That intrigued me''.