Driving Strategic Impact: Mastering Management Consulting Skills
| Date | |
| Apr 28–30, 2020 | $6,550 |
| Dec 7–9, 2020 | $6,550 |
Liz N. Schultz
Senior Associate Director, Learning Solutions
+1 212-854-7613
liz.schultz@gsb.columbia.edu
"An invaluable program that provides clear insights, frameworks, and tools for effective problem solving in any area of a business or industry."
– Past Participant Sergio Arias, Sr. Consultant at Softtek
Driving Strategic Impact is organized around the core skill of structured problem-solving, which takes participants through five phases of a strategy project: defining the problem, structuring the problem, conducting analysis, developing recommendations, and communicating for impact.
These core skills are supplemented with additional sessions on managing strategy projects, working with diverse teams, and influencing skills. In this way, Driving Strategic Impact offers an effective and multi-faceted approach that can be implemented as soon as participants return to work.
Our approach is built on the following building blocks:
- Strategy consulting toolkit: A set of tools, frameworks and best practices laid out in easily usable formats, such as checklists, templates, or step-by-step approaches that you take back with you for future use.
- Real-life case study: Lee will present a sanitized case study of a real strategy consulting project she led while at McKinsey. You will be asked to solve this client’s problem using the consulting toolkit. At each stage, you will be able to compare your solution with other participants, and then compare with the outcome of the real project. This exercise allows participants a hands-on view of the end-to-end process of strategic problem-solving.
- Consulting scenarios: Specific consulting situations where you will be asked for ideas on how you would approach these situations. We have especially designed these to challenge your thinking and make you see how our instinctive approaches to solving problems often lead us down wrong paths. Discussions will follow each scenario and reveal specific tools that you can use to address similar situations in real life. This will allow you to gain tangible, hands-on understanding, and key insights in an experiential manner.
- Role-plays: Exposure to consulting scenarios that simulate typical client-consultant interactions. These role-plays allow you to test your own understanding of situations and to learn ways to prepare for these situations with clients where your credibility and impact is at stake.
- Consulting stories: True-to-life stories to effectively understand and internalize a point. Associate Dean Angela Lee, faculty director of the program, will share candid stories from her consulting experience to bring the learnings from the program to life. Rich insights and inspiration can be gained from these real world informal recollections of the high and low points in a consultant's journey.
IMPACT
Driving Strategic Impact gives you hands-on practice and real-time feedback via in-class exercises, real-life strategy cases and a dynamic exchange between participants and the instructor.
Summary of Benefits
- Establish an understanding with sponsors and key constituencies on the need for a strategy project, and the appropriate approach and resources to be deployed
- Concretely define the scope of a strategy project to enhance the prospects of a successful outcome
- Rapidly identify core business issues and focus your problem-solving effort in the right direction
- Efficiently gather the right information to build a relevant fact base, extract information from internal and external sources, and synthesize it to drive key conclusions
- Develop recommendations that provide the highest value to the organization among feasible alternatives
- Develop a compelling storyline to organize and communicate your findings and recommendations
- Use a range of influencing tactics to win support from key stakeholders
- Develop trust-based relationships with your sponsors, clients, managers and colleagues
Upon completion of this program, you will earn three days towards a Certificate with select alumni and tuition benefits. Learn more.
PROGRAM STRUCTURE
For a complete program schedule and curriculum, download the program agenda.
Sample Session Titles
- Problem Definition and Problem Structuring
- Making Smarter Decisions with Imperfect Information
- Deriving Insights from Data
- Synthesizing Ideas & Developing a Storyline
- Managing Strategy Projects
- Building Trust-Based Relationships
PARTICIPANT PROFILE & TESTIMONIALS
Driving Strategic Impact is designed for mid- to upper-level executives who work in corporate strategy, internal consulting, business development, strategic account management and product management, who are charged with resolving strategic issues within their organization or for external clients.
Technical or functional professionals who frequently inform and guide strategic decision makers within their organizations will also find this program valuable.
Alumni and up to four of their colleagues are eligible for a 25 percent tuition benefit for programs lasting up to seven days. More on the Alumni Tuition Benefit.
Typical Participant Mix
Hear from Past Participants:
Jose Carlos Linares
President & CEO, Open Technology Group
"The tools I learned in this program will allow me to implement at least three strategic initiatives during the next six months."
Luiz Heeren
Managing Partner, InReach Global Consulting LLP
"Great content, great teacher, great networking opportunities. This program is useful to improve professional and personal skills."
Avery Toland
Business Strategy and Brand Consultant, Dharma Co
"A program that will challenge you and create better team players."
Vince Bertram
President and CEO, Project Lead The Way, Inc.
"This program is an exceptional model of blended learning. It is practical and provides essential tools that one immediately appreciates in professional settings."
Eva Bentsen
Hospital Director, Gentofte Hospital
"The level of lectures, participants, and impact in this course is very high."
Sergio Arias
Senior Consultant, Softtek
"An invaluable program that provides clear insights, frameworks, and tools for effective problem solving in any area of a business or industry."
FACULTY
Angela Lee, Faculty Director
Associate Dean and Chief Innovation Officer
Angela Lee is an educator & entrepreneur who inspires in both the classroom and the investment arena. As Associate Dean and Chief Innovation Officer at Columbia Business School, Angela is a highly rated professor of strategy, leadership and innovation. As Founder and CEO of 37 Angels, her mission is to close the gender gap in angel investing through a month-long boot camp that teaches the art of deal sourcing, diligence, and valuation. 37 Angels evaluates 2000 early stage startups each year to invest in 10. Prior to joining Columbia, Angela was a strategy consultant at McKinsey & Company and then a boutique innovation consulting firm. In all of her work, Angela is known for demystifying complex topics and curating opportunities.
Angela is a sought-after expert on CNBC, Bloomberg TV, and Fox Business Network and is regularly featured in media outlets such as Forbes, Huffington Post, and Fast Company. Entrepreneur Magazine recognized Angela as one of Six Innovative Women to Watch in 2015, Inc Magazine recognized her as one of 17 Inspiring Women to Watch in 2017, and Alley Watch named her as one of 100 NYC Tech Influencers You Need to Know.
Along with Angela, additional Columbia Business School faculty contribute to and teach in the program.