BCG - The Boston Consulting Group

Terrilyn Consultant Chicago

Henning Consultant Munich

Dana Associate Washington, D.C.

This month I wrapped up a project and started a new one. I was relieved to have a week of downtime while I was waiting for the new assignment to begin.

The mission of the now-ended project was to help a major U.S. retailer think about how to rationalize its store portfolio. The decision is now in the hands of the board, but if it acts on our recommendations, both the company and the industry will be reshaped. The project has been a great reminder of why I took this job. It is exhilarating yet daunting to have a hand in helping a company make such a decision.

I am now helping a client evaluate a potential acquisition target. The deadlines are tight, and there are many continually moving parts to this project. To ensure that things stay on track, I am essentially the "process cop" for the team.

Attending the steering committee meetings is awesome. I get to watch some of the top executives ponder the fate of their business and the industry. Not to mention that I also get to advise them. It's a little intimidating to engage in a debate about a U.S. business with the head of that business. But it is also pretty cool when I am able to sway his opinion.

Talk about making an impact! One of the teams I worked on received a note from the chairman and CEO of our client that said, "You have pushed our thinking forward significantly and changed the way that we think about our business. We will never be the same, and we owe it to BCG." How cool is that?

I am now working with a consumer packaged-goods company. We will help it make its pricing process more active and systematic.

Every project I have worked on has required a different technical skill set. One piece of my module on the current project will require me to become a regression guru. I have been drawing on BCG's extensive knowledge-management resources to get up to speed. I have also had conversations with several colleagues who have done something similar. The learning curve is quite steep, but I hope to climb it quickly.

Work continues on the pricing project, but I have also been energized by two projects that go beyond my regular consulting role. The first was a project to build a playground for a school on the South Side. At 8:30 a.m., the entire Chicago office descended on the site, ready to tackle a mound of bolts, beams, and tools (think of an Ikea bookcase times 100). We knew we could apply our consulting know-how to achieve great results for our clients: the kids of Ariel and North Kenwood-Oakland.

Then the monsoonlike rains began (and did not stop). Despite the rain, spirits and camaraderie remained high. Assistants barked orders to consultants. Consultants worked shoulder-to-shoulder with partners.

The second project was a retreat I helped plan for the African-American consulting staff. The purpose of the retreat was to kick off the African-American Consultants Network, build relationships, and put our heads together to devise ways that we can collectively and individually address some of the relevant issues.

I have been impressed by the enthusiastic support we've received from some of the firm's most senior partners, who recognize and acknowledge that BCG must do better when it comes to African-American representation at the firm.

We are making strong headway on the pricing project. With agreement from the client, we have changed course a few times, but each change has brought us closer to the best answer and unearthed new findings.

One of the keys to being a good consultant is to be flexible and know when to change-another is to internalize and help the client put into operation the learning at each stage. We are helping our client learn a tremendous amount about its organization and what it takes to be world-class in pricing.

One of the best (and sometimes most difficult) things about working for BCG is that I rarely use the same skill twice. I am always learning, growing, and being pushed out of my comfort zone, which is one of the main reasons I took the job. But climbing the learning curve at warp speed and at a moment's notice can be quite daunting.

This month I became an IRI expert. And although I have not reached guru status, I have become quite good at running regressions. Even though these skills are relatively new, they are helping me make an impact. My IRI data pulls and the resulting regression analyses helped dispel a widely held organization belief.

I returned to work with my battery recharged after spending time with my family and getting some much-needed rest. I'm glad my battery is full, because we hit the ground running as soon as I got back.

Consultants are asked to solve challenges that clients, although they are experts in their fields, have had trouble resolving. I am pleased to say that with the help of the principal on the project and contributions from the client, I have made significant progress and will be able to make a recommendation on a long-term pricing plan. We have a few preliminary options on the table and have developed an estimate of how much they are worth.

The next major task will be to get buy-in and ideas from the sales force and the other people in the organization who will have to put the plan into operation. This phase will be important to the longevity of our recommendation.

The team, including the client, has had many debates and brainstorming sessions on what the pricing strategy should look like. These discussions have been an important source of learning for me. Each one has brought us closer to the best plan of action: one that reflects a deep understanding of the client's business and industry and one that can be put into practice.

The consumer packaged-goods pricing project ended just in time for first-year summer internship interviews. I made the rounds at the University of Michigan, the University of Chicago, and Northwestern (both business school and undergrad). In total, I gave my case more than 50 times.

Fortunately, each candidate's response was different enough to keep it interesting. There is no official "right" answer, but my favorite interviews are the ones in which the candidate shows a lot of creativity and completeness of thought, turning the interview into a roll-up-your-sleeves conversation.

This month also brought the start of a very interesting project. I am now working for a major U.S. specialty retailer. The team has been charged with helping to compress the time between the conception of an idea and a garment's appearance in stores.

While BCG is a generalist firm, my biggest challenge was to identify the area in which I was most interested. As a result of this project, I have determined that my interest is in apparel retailing, so I am really looking forward to getting to work.

In one month, I have become intimately familiar with how garments are manufactured and how fabric is produced. I have acquired this knowledge by interviewing more than 30 members of the client's management team and suppliers, reading books, and scouring the Internet.

The project has been extremely fast paced (70 to 80 hours a week) and has required a lot of travel (four days a week) as a result of the short time that we have to diagnose the problem and devise initial recommendations, including a preliminary implementation plan. We have a lot of ground to cover.

This project has been an example of the nonhierarchical nature of BCG. Both the senior partner and partner have been in the trenches with us, producing their own PowerPoint slides, editing mine, and sending e-mails late into the night.

Although late nights and a lot of time away from home are not ideal, it is easier when you are working with people who are working just as hard as you are and are very appreciative of your efforts.

In addition to becoming a connoisseur of fashion and garment manufacturing, during the past two months I have developed a new appreciation for the client's hometown. We have not gone to the same restaurant twice. As we have become local food critics, the team members have had an opportunity to do quite a bit of bonding and have some fun. Building strong team camaraderie makes it easier (and more fun) to work as hard as we have and to be on the road for as long as we have.

We hope to start implementing our recommendations within two months. It will be very rewarding to take part in bringing the vision to reality. We determined the opportunity for time reduction by, among other things, conducting numerous interviews, analyzing and bringing together disparate pieces of data, and building models.

The result, once it is implemented, will be a radical departure from the status quo. It will require a major cultural change. It will also require the client to be willing to break the compromises in its current reality. I'm looking forward to being part of the team that helps it cross that bridge and dispel the notion of "easier said than done."