Category: Consulting skills

Career Planning: How to Become an Executive

Career planning usually elicits one of two kinds of reactions in people. Some people find the concept of career planning so abstract or dull that they don’t understand what it means. And other people - the ambitious, the competitive, the self-motivated - are often so presumptively oriented to their own career advancement that they fail…

The Power of Words

The power of words – it’s something we talk a lot about in the world of consulting. Whether it be verbal or written, consultants need to be masters of language to make strong recommendations. But it’s not just consultants. Everyone stands to benefit from the power of words. Words have meaning on their own, but…

Business Impact Analysis: Steps & Why It’s Important

Business impact analysis is used to predict the results of a disruption to a business and to develop mitigation and recovery plans. Business impact analysis involves risk assessment, scenario planning, and analysis of investment in prevention relative to cost of disruption. In this article, we’ll define business impact analysis a bit further, run through a…

Blended Learning: What Is It?

Education is changing rapidly in the face of evolving technology, new learning models, and post-COVID social distancing requirements. In the midst of these changes, a new model of learning has emerged: blended learning. Both higher education and corporate learning are utilizing blended learning models to improve how people learn. Blended learning promises to give students…

Strategy vs Tactics: Key Differences and Uses

Strategy vs tactics is a debate as old as business – which is more important? The dichotomy is not a distinction without a difference. Business strategy and tactics are clearly different concepts. At the same time, it’s hard to say that one is more important than the other. Categorizing particular action items in your business…

5 Hour Rule: A Learner’s Success Model

The 5 hour rule of success essentially states that the most successful people in the world – think Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Mark Cuban, etc. – dedicate an entire hour every day to learning or practicing new things. When you envision how busy with meetings and speeches and presentations these types of people are, this…

Supply Chain: Keeping Business Moving

A strong supply chain is one of the most important aspects of any business. Companies differ in what they sell and how they sell it, but supply chains are an area of commonality. Why? Nothing makes it into the hands of customers without a supply chain. Think about the items you interact with on a…

Energy Sector Overview: Trends, Innovation, & Challenges

Energy sector companies are involved in research, discovery, production, transportation, and distribution of energy. The energy industry includes a wide variety of activities and companies. However, when describing issues related to energy sector trends, innovation, and challenges, there is one critical bifurcation. The energy industry consists of 1) non-renewable energy (oil and petroleum, gasoline, natural…

How to Ask For a Promotion

Asking for a promotion can be a nerve-wracking prospect. Of course, it can also be one of the most transformative events in one’s career. There are many employers that do a good job of actively promoting employees into the roles where they can best contribute. And many companies, such as most consulting firms, use an…

Experience Curve

Chances are, if you were to hear the term “experience curve” on the streets, you would have no idea what it means. You might think of a learning curve, but what is the meaning of the experience curve? In plain English, the experience curve is a business term that says that per-unit production costs go…