Alec Hudnut is an alum of Harvard Business School and McKinsey. He is now a managing partner at Vici Partners, a firm of experienced professionals focused on helping clients improve execution and dramatically grow earnings, and in this episode, Alec discusses the work they do at Vici Partners. You can connect with Alec on https://www.linkedin.com/in/alec-hudnut-8562071, or email him at ahudnut@vicipartners.com Key points include: 02:30: The fee model at Vici Partners 05:52: The 100-day sprint su...
Apr 12, 2021•38 min
Annie Scranton is the founder and president of Pace Public Relations; she has been a producer at the CBNC, an assistant booker at Fox News, a booking producer on Good Morning America with ABC News, and has a Masters in Public Relations. In this episode, Annie shares her experience and knowledge in public relations. Annie can be reached through https://www.linkedin.com/in/anniescranton or her company website http://www.pacepublicrelations.com Key points include: 10:00: Becoming a known expert 17:...
Apr 11, 2021•53 min
Sam Gupta has nearly two decades of experience in commercializing technology solutions, building multi-million dollar technology practices, and managing large enterprise software programs to drive digital transformation initiatives. He is the principal consultant at ElevatIQ, Inc., and in this episode, he talks about manufacturing enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. Sam can be contacted at https://www.linkedin.com/in/samguptausa/ or the website https://www.elevatiq.com/ Key points includ...
Apr 10, 2021•48 min
Neil Gardner a digital strategy consultant who helps clients to design and implement digital transformations, and he is the founder and principal of NMG Advisory. As an advisor to CIOs at regional banks, he helps move their teams from cost center to value creation center. Neil can be reached through https://www.linkedin.com/in/neilmgardner/ or https://www.nmgadvisory.com/ Key points include: 00:35: What a CIO does and how much bank revenue it costs 04:17: Infrastructure operations organization 0...
Apr 09, 2021•37 min
Jessica Lackey is an ACC Coach, a McKinsey alum with an MBA from Harvard MBA, and a Fortune 500 Operations Leader. In this episode, she talks about the mature integrated planning process and the nuts and bolts of the traditional SAP processes. Jessica can be reached at linkedin.com/in/jessica-lackey or through her website https://www.jessicalackey.com/ Key points include: 01:47: A perspective on sales and operations planning (SNOP) 08:56: Common issues in the sales and operations planning proces...
Apr 08, 2021•30 min
Drew Kerr is the founder and president of Four Corners Communications, a company that provides pro-active strategic communications and coaching for digital media companies, high-growth startups, and consumer research firms. In this episode, he shares five key communication rules. Drew can be reached at linkedin.com/in/drewkerr or his website www.four-corners.com . Key points include: 03:52: The money line 10:58: Using a story 14:02: The power of the headline 19:20: Concise and active 23:39: How ...
Apr 07, 2021•30 min
Susan Drumm is an Umbrex member and the CEO Advisor, Leadership Coach, and founder of Meritage Leadership. She has graduate degrees from Harvard Law School, Carnegie Mellon, and an M.A. in Drama from London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, and today she shares the first episode from her podcast, The Enlightened Executive. You can find Susan’s podcast at http://EnlightenedExec.com. Key points include: 06:50: Why focus is learned 10:31: The first step in focus training 13:47: The role of multita...
Apr 07, 2021•28 min
Hung Nguyen is a McKinsey alum and a principal at OUTLAST Consulting, a purpose-driven professional development + strategy firm focused on fueling innovation and empowering diverse talent. Prior to OUTLAST, she headed the Digital Center of Expertise at BP, where she piloted user-centric ways to recruit, develop, and deploy talent. Today, she talks about diversity inclusion and strategies companies and individuals can use to improve inclusion awareness. Hung can be contacted through her LinkedIn ...
Apr 07, 2021•40 min
John Jeffcock was a captain in the British Army; he is now an author, a consultant, and the CEO of Winmark, a world-leading C-suite network business that interviews and profiles Chief Executive Officers from across the global corporate landscape. Key points include: 02:45: How Winmark helps members make connections 09:40: Networking during COVID 11:04: The big topics of discussion at networking events 15:14: How to make effective connections 24:40: How the selection of content is made John can b...
Apr 06, 2021•33 min
Adam is a decorated combat veteran and a cybersecurity consultant who started his career with the U.S. military; he was part of the team working on the Global War on Terrorism before starting a private practice where he advises government agencies and the private sector. He is now the CEO of A.R. International Consulting, LLC and a national news on-air analyst. Key points include: 02:53: Training with NATO and being deployed to Afghanistan 07:01: Getting set up as a federal contractor 10:25: Set...
Apr 02, 2021•38 min
Braden is a startup entrepreneur, an action-oriented and strategic operator, and consultant with operational expertise in a broad range of experiences across crypto, hedge funds, software technology (SaaS), commercial real estate, management consulting, luxury retail, and more. In this episode, he discusses his purpose, working with Bridgewater and Knotel, and time management. Key points include: 03:06: Braden’s operating value 08:29: The list of operating practices 10:18: Installing and elimina...
Apr 01, 2021•43 min
Spish Rurak is a McKinsey alum, the president of Rurak and Associates, and a noted advisor and consultant to consultants. Spish works with many consultants from top-tier firms based in the U.K. and has served as a career transition coach to several thousand management consultants. Today, he discusses the challenges of the remote job search and interview and how to overcome them. Key points include: 02:05: The differences of the job search during the pandemic 09:41: Supply and demand channels 17:...
Mar 31, 2021•1 hr 7 min
Steven Pressfield’s books have been hugely influential on my life and it was a real thrill to welcome him on the show. Steve is the author of Gates of Fire and about a dozen other novels, mostly historical fiction set in the time of ancient Greece and Rome. He’s also the author of the modern classic The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles. Steve’s latest book is A Man at Arms , a fantastic deliver-the-message tale about a retired Roman legionnaire who has bee...
Mar 31, 2021•36 min
Marcia Nuffer has an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. As McKinsey’s Chief Learning Officer, Marcia was responsible for building one of the most lauded global leadership development programs in the world. She has over 25 years of strategy and leadership development experience and runs her own company, BlueShor. Key points include: 05:15: Roleplaying in training 12:35: The McKinsey Academy 17:57: The Senior Training program 20:38: Examples of exercises for ...
Mar 29, 2021•49 min
Aneta Key is an independent consultant who has established her own firm, Aedea Partners, where she helps organizations design rollout and usher programs like digital transformation, or strategy rollout, or change management, and culture change. She also designs and facilitates decision-making offsites. Aneta can be reached through her website, www.aedeapartners.com and she is active on social media. Key points include: 03:27: Applying gamification to business scenarios 14:18: Capability building...
Mar 26, 2021•33 min
Sally Dominguez is a former architect, award-winning inventor, and author. She is a sustainable resilience expert and 10XInnovation Strategist. Today, she discusses her book, EPIC Resilience, and explains the strategies in the book for developing a personal resilience and growth mindset to not only survive but to thrive in constant change. Key points include: 01:23: The Singularity University. 05:06: How to be resilient emotionally 07:56: Identifying values and purpose 11:15: The power of authen...
Mar 19, 2021•40 min
Episode 383: Adam Braff on Forecasting Adam Braff is a former McKinsey partner; he runs a data and analytics consulting firm called Braff & Co. where he advises investors, boards, and senior leadership teams on extracting maximum value from their investments in data and analytics. Today, we talk about forecasting. Key points include: 02:17: What Adam learned from running a forecasting contest 07:04: The problem with overconfidence 10:42: What differentiates a good from a bad forecaster 16:23...
Mar 18, 2021•35 min
In today’s episode, I host a panel discussion with Jennifer Hartz, J. Andrew McKee, Jay Altizer, and Ashutosh Dalvi . They share insights, advice, and their own story on taking the leap from a comfortable salaried position to becoming an independent consultant. Key points include: 01:13: The decision to become an independent consultant. 08:40: The positives and negatives of the transition 14:32: Advice to those making the transition 21:22: Cash flow and workflow 25:40: People who should not go i...
Mar 17, 2021•46 min
In this Episode of Unleashed, I chat with Surbhee Grover. Surbhee is the consultant who runs the firm Steel and Graffiti, she has also recently launched a personal care brand love,Indus.com ; and today we discuss the whole process of creating a brand from product formulation to promotion. Key points include: 05:58: Evolving past the concept 10:18: The market research journey 12:34: Product formulation 17:54: Dealing with intellectual property rights 20:57: Cost of development 32:34: Developing t...
Mar 16, 2021•47 min
Stefan Kolle is the co-founder, Managing Director and Chairman of the Board of Futurelab, a company that helps businesses improve their marketplace through meaningful innovation in customer experience. On today’s show, Stefan shares a few case studies and we discuss customer centricity and customer experience. Key points include: 02:19: Assessing the state of customer experience 05:18: Voice of the customer exercises 09:18: The changes Futurelab has helped companies make 20:23: The growth of Fut...
Mar 15, 2021•26 min
In this episode of Unleashed, I offer a few tips on how to use units strategically to emotionally engage your clients and avoid numerical overload. Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at: www.umbrex.com .
Mar 14, 2021•8 min
In this short 2-minute episode, I share a LinkedIn trick that you can use to show people how to pronounce your name. Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at: www.umbrex.com.
Mar 13, 2021•2 min
In today’s short episode, I share a few tips on sending connection requests on LinkedIn. 01:47: Reaching out cold 02:35: Avoiding becoming spam 04:15: After 200 requests 04:50: Customized notes on the LinkedIn App Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at: www.umbrex.com.
Mar 12, 2021•8 min
Ali Ahmed is the founder and principal of Green Strategies, a company that helps clients discover sustainability opportunities. He is a recognized sustainability and energy management leader who has developed and managed more than 50 global energy and sustainability programs. In today’s episode, we discuss carbon. Key points include: 01:37: An overview of carbon credits 06:27: The companies buying carbon credits 09:02: Carbon credit audits 13:38: Carbon offset interpretations 21:42: How the soil...
Mar 11, 2021•50 min
Stacy Sifleet, an alum of A.T. Kearney, helps manufacturers, distributors and service-based companies improve their profit through targeted price strategy while providing customers with the services or products they want. She is here with me today to explain how she implements and improves customer value strategies. 01:34: How customer value applies to the B2B realm 07:54: Defining groups of customers by profitability 11:39: Communicating the tier status to the customer 16:34: Maintaining servic...
Mar 10, 2021•27 min
Tami Lucey is an independent travel consultant, or as she describes herself, “a worldwide business travel hassle remover.” We talk about her four decades of work as a corporate travel agent, how the industry has changed, and her focus on working with the entertainment industry and individual consultants. 02:06: The benefits of a personalized service 04:57: The limitations of Google search in booking travel 07:47: How Tami structures her fees 11:05: What’s included in Tami’s fees 15:12: What it m...
Mar 09, 2021•32 min
Lessons learned from collecting payment on over 1,500 invoices: 1. What to include in the contract 2. Questions to ask after the contract is signed 3. What to include on your invoice 4. How to follow up after sending your invoice Unleashed is produced by Umbrex. To learn about our global community of independent management consultants, visit www.umbrex.com
Mar 08, 2021•24 min
You get an email with an article you want to read, but you don’t want to be distracted right then. The solution is a “read-later” app. The two most popular are Instapaper and Pocket. Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at: www.umbrex.com
Mar 07, 2021•3 min
There are a few reasons why you should check how your email name appears to others, and in this short in-between-isode, I explain how it should be done in G-Suite and Microsoft. Key points include: -The professional impression -Search solutions Check this link to Gmail and Microsoft for more information. Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share...
Mar 06, 2021•4 min
Divya Agarwal recently left McKinsey to become an independent consultant. At McKinsey Divya was an Associate Partner in Organization and Transformation. “Transformation” is a bit of a buzzword that can be hard to pin down. In today’s discussion, Divya explains what McKinsey means by the term, the types of transformation projects, and how to set up a successful transformation office. Key points include: 01:52: What McKinsey thinks of the term ‘transformation” 03:54: Most common types of transform...
Mar 05, 2021•34 min
