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Here is the 13 (Thirteen) Interesting Reasons for being failure in exam1. No Proper Planning and Time management skillsMost of the students are carelessness towards career.“Bas Dosto ke CA ka form fill kar dete hai”So, Be serious. Else you will feel guilty throughout your life even if you do something good elsewhere.Usually, they engaged in other activities during preparation (Marriage, birthdays, family get together, poojas), parties. “All these events can be completed without you”“Don’t Waste Time otherwise Time will Sucks you.”Proper utilization of this time is really essential to clear your exam in first attempt. So in this way and to prepare an effective study schedule, time management is very important.Just do not take the text book and start reading from the first chapter. Plan your subject, your interest, have an overall feel of the Book, Chapters and their importance. Do not leave any chapter in option“Nobody in this world ever achieved anything by giving up”2. Busy in asking/arranging Study Plan and time table.One Word for these kind of students “Rest in Peace”.No one will learn you how to manage your valuable time, after all its your precious time. You need to understand your utility of time. Everyone has their own capabilities, strength and weakness. I can’t able to figure out that such kind of study plans are feasible for every students. So, plan accordingly as per your own assessments.“All of us do not have equal talent. But , all of us have an equal opportunity to develop our talents.”3. Wrong Selections of books and Ignorance of ICAI Study material, Practice Manual, RTPYou need to refer the book which is given by your Coaching teacher but without ignoring the material provided by ICAI like study material, practice manual, RTPs, MTPs etc. Nobody is asking you to read these materials wholly and thoroughly. But the main idea is to make you realize their importance.Study martial is Bhagavad Gita/Bible/Quran. First read this and then if required any reference book, particularly theory subject. Suggested are very much helpful in understanding the way Institute asks a question and expect us to answer.“You must learn to be still in the midst of activity and to be vibrantly alive in repose.”4. Confuse between attempting single group or both group in examIt depends on your preparation and availability of time along with your capability to handle both group at a time. Most of students get confused whether to give both the groups or one group at a time. No point in discussing with friends or taking advise from others. Remember you and you only are the best judge.” Be more dedicated to making solid achievements than in running after swift but synthetic happiness.”5. Poor presentation skillsThis thing is said by many Rank Holders. They say that they have scored rank because others don’t have the proper and needed writing skills. And you see, this is another main reason of failure in ICAI Exams. So work on your presentation skills from now onwards otherwise you will never realize what mistake you are committing in every attempt.“Thinking should become your capital asset, no matter whatever ups and downs you come across in your life.”6. Inappropriate Guidance & unsolicited guidance from every random personsCA Students accept every other CA Students’ advice which is actually doing more harm than good. Until and unless the advice is coming from a expert, please don’t accept any one else’s advice. Don’t even listen to them as it will distract you.“Success delayed is not success denied”7. No Self awareness/ No Proper assessment & analysisSome students are fully dependent upon coaching class. I suggest you that at least develop your own assessment and calibers. In other words understanding of prevailing examination pattern in a proper manner is also very important for a good start to your exam preparation. Understanding the structure of the exams, then its become possible to tackle the exam and be successful. Based on the structure of exam planning should be made.Self analysis is also essential to figure out that everything is going as per your plan. A well defined study plan is not a guarantee of success unless executed in proper way. So you may test your preparation by attempting some previous exam paper under ultimate exam condition or environment.” Without your involvement you can’t succeed. With your involvement you can’t fail. “8. Not practicing by writing the proper formatRough work? Rough work is how a CA Student defines his practice.Blunder, a big blunder. Have you ever seen Sachin (Master Blaster) practicing roughly? Or practicing with a poor and old bat? No he doesn’t. He practices with the bat like he is playing the Final Match. And dear CA Students you have to so the same. Trust me this habit if inculcated will reap in more benefits than any other tip being talked about here..Students solve practical problems in the text book by ticking the posting. In exams we are not provided with answers which we have to verify. We have to actually write the answers. So practice in note book and ensure that you complete full question. Don’t leave halfway.“Failure will never overtake me if my definition to succeed is strong enough”9. More of advice & less of its implementationsThe problem with the CA Student is that he is inquisitive enough to listen to the motivation being provided by the friends, teachers, peers, parents etc. but the only problem is that there is more of listening and less of implementation. There is no point of listening of you are not converting those thoughts into actions.10. No analysis of mistakesGet very specific about the reasons of your failure. Failure is there not without a reason. It’s there to give you the wisdom you need to succeed. Each failure you encounter increases your wisdom and brings you one step closer to success. If you have this mindset, you will see failure differently. You will see each failure as an opportunity to learn.Let’s take the example of people in and around us who failed and then succeeded.NameFailure termSucceeded in termShailee ChaudharyCA Final – Nov 14CA Final Rank 1 – May 15Nitin GuptaCA Final – May 10CA Final Rank 1 – Nov 10Sujoy K. N.CA Final – Nov 09, May 10CA Final Rank 1 – Nov 10Sonia RakhejaCA Final – Nov 09, May 10CA Final Rank – Nov 10Archit ShahCA Final – Nov 09CA Final Rank 3, May 10Gaurav GuptaCA PE II, May 08CA PE II Rank 18, Nov 08Monica DalaniyaCA PCC, Nov 10CA PCC Rank 21, May 11(The above is only an illustrative list and in every attempt, many failures manage to secured a rank)“FAILURE in CA Exams is NOT the End of the World. Face it”11. Tensions, Panic, Depressions, frustrations etcLook at your failure objectively, unemotionally. It takes courage and deep strength to overcome the overwhelming feelings of frustrations when you fail an examination. You should help yourself by staying strong by neglecting all the negative feelings brought by the disappointments.Success is for those people who never quit. You should look forward for good things to happen ahead of you. You should tell yourself that a failed examination may give you bad days but not bad life.12. No proper time allocation for revisionAnother basic study point is to give ample emphasis to a good revision plan. There isnothing is this world which can substitute a good revision plan. To succeed revision is must.13. Less importance given to theory potion of practical papers.Most of the students don’t give due value to the theory in the practical subject. So right amount of theory preparation in practical subjects is equally important. The best way to solve this issue is to prepare notes of frequently asked theory questions from Scanner.Give your Best Shot and 100% effort and trust God. You would come out with flying colors. ALL THE BEST.

Update : The person who posted the question has conveniently altered the question. This would make all the replies out of context. Pasting the question again here before the answer beginsMy partner is an IIT-IIM grad and wants to marry me, but doesn't want to earn or settle down. He has unstable career plans and married life doesn't fit in. Should I tell him to plan properly? If so, how?We both are 29 years old and MBAs from top B-Schools. We are in a long distance relationship since last 3 years. After my MBA I got a nice job with a decent salary.About him: He didn't want to do any job, but wanted to start his own company. I told him that I'll support him. He has interests in movie making and has made some really awesome short movies which are more than just popular on YouTube. So, in between he also told me that post MBA he wants to do further courses in this and wants to do that. But now he wants to do social work and doesn't want to earn much.He made it clear that he will earn to support himself, but won’t be able to support the family for an indefinite amount of time.He doesn't understand that if he is so unstable it will affect family in future.According to his new plans we will be in different cities. It’s almost like a long distance marriage that too for indefinite years.He wants to marry me but doesn't want to earn or settle down.My parents won’t allow me to marry this guy because he is so unstable and has no plans to earn even with an IIT-IIM degree even at an age of 29 years. Further my parents don’t want me to have a long distance marriage (staying for 6 months or a year for a genuine reason makes sense to them but not for indefinite years of marriage.)Few of our mutual friends have told me that I should break-up and move on. But please I can’t be so mean, after all I love him.At times I feel a guilt that our marriage won’t let him discover things because it will need a stable/settled life and some time he will have to give for family. One more thing when, I ask about the future as he is unstable and doesn't know much about future, he gets upset for asking him that. I don’t want to see him sad. Further, some of his friends support him for this and he thinks I am being mean.Can someone here please tell me how to ask him to plan for life and settle down or at least be stable?I am a NIT-IIM Grad who left his job in April 2013 to pursue photography fulltime. I am going to turn 29 in a month. So probably I am best equipped to explain a few things.Update : I am trying to give you the "guy" perspective taking my own life as a case study. I gave it a framework and made it as realistic as possible with all the details including the nasty ones. It got a bit long in the process.The "Take Away" is the part that is totally relevent to you and has answers to all your questions.1) Finding your passion :Over the last decade or so, I experimented with various things to figure out what i like. I wanted to work on something I loved and cared deeply and I have tried the following for various reasons.a) Writing (2004- till date, taking breaks on and off)b) Photography (2009-onwards)c) Theatre (2008-09)d) Guitar (2011-13, on and off)e) Sketching (2011-12)f) Working for NGO (2008-09)Being practicala) Already had some skills but the scope for getting paid with writing was minimal. Your book has to be a best seller if you are taking that jump. Felt was more risky having this as a sole career.b) Already had the skillset and was getting paid for assignments. My best bet.c) was going to take a really long time and I had to literally start fresh. There was a lot to add skills wise and then pay wise, it was going to take a lot of time.d) I was never that serious about this.e) I was never that serious about this.f) The end result felt good but for some reason, I didn't enjoy the process.So to summarise, a) and b) made more sense to me.Putting Financial ConstraintsMy ex-gf and dad were quite practical. So they made it a point that I should earn a certain amount every month and also plan for crisis ( have some savings) .Monthly earningsDuring my discussions with my ex, the number we agreed was around 30k per month by the end of first year. I felt this was ok. I didn't want the number to be so high that money starts dictating my choices.My own takea) Survival - 8k per monthb) Ok ok - 15k per monthc) Good - > 30k per monthd) Can take up all responsibilities like any other guy - >50k per monthCrisis planningThis was how I managed my numbers over the last 6 years.a) 2007-09 : 2 years pre-work MBA at netapp (Saved 6 lakhs+)b) 2009-11 : MBA Expenses ( Debt of 9 lakhs)c) 2 years post MBA at Reliance Industries ( Saved 12 lakhs+)Cleared the 3 lakhs loan, Q4 2011.Invested 4 lakhs in a real estate along with Dad, Q1 2012.Bought 1 lakh worth of camera equipment, Q1 2013Rest 4 lakhs in savings, Q2 2013 (when I quit)StickinessThe typical MBA mindset makes you believe you can do anything by putting a structure and working relentlessly. I believe the motivation to really take something new as a career and do it for over a decade or so needs some strong reasons.I am attached to writing and photography more due to the following experiencesa) Good amount of physical abuse during college raggingb) Being crazily in love in college (which crash landed)c) Suicide of a close team mate (This one totally shook me)The first two created a strong need to express and the last one made me re-evaluate life. Writing and photography had the ability to document memories , to give fleeting moments a form of immortality which to me seems like a super power . In some ways, they fix a broken part of me. The others don't come that close.So to summarise, writing and photography made more sense and have a deep connect. Photography was clear stand out and passes all the tests. Writing had some amount fo impracticality to it from a financial point view.I decided to take up photography and writing and bank on photography, earnings wise.Current Reality :I am doing what I love. Period.I have learnt more about life and people in this last one year than in my entire life.I get to be fearless (and not operate from insecurities) while making decisions because I have done some good financial planning.My current financial situation :a) No student loanb) Around 4 lakhs invested in real estate which is currently worth 11 lakhs+c) Around 6 lakhs in savings that fetches monthly interest.d) Around 4.5 lakhs worth of assets (camera equipment) of which 2.5 lakhs is my own and the rest is through debt which has to be paid monthly.Consistenly earning 30k+ month. Couple of months, I earned close to a lakh.The only complain I have now is that my earnings vary a lot month to month depending on work, I need to find ways to smoothen it.Take aways :a) Your guy is in the experimenting phase and probably needs some time to figure things out. When he himself is not certain, he can't give you certainty.If I were him, I would take 1-2 years time.b) Discuss with him like a mentor. You need to sit down with him and discuss why this is important for him. If you get that, you might be able to appreciate his choices. Please do not make this into a "Girl vs Passion" kind of debate.c) Discuss financial planning. That also teaches the guy some amount of responsibility and he will think of monetising right from the start. Most product managers approach their new products that way. If there is a time period where he won't be earning anything, be willing to accept that.2) Job vs passion :Job means working for someone for a certain pay. Along with a job, you get to operate as per a certain structure mandated by the company (like work for these many hours, these many leaves, etc etc) and in a certain environment.a) Pre-MBA work experience :I was one of the toppers in class (a ten pointer in four terms) and loved coding. I was recruited after 2 telephonic interviews and 3 face to face interviews for a developer role and was the only one from my college to be hired. So I had lot of expectations.Once I joined, I realised that I was doing code maintenance work. Everyone there was working on this for 2-3 years before doing something substantial. I hated that. I would have never joined the company in the first place had this been known earlier. The positive though was that the company had a great culture.b) Post-MBA work experience :Again, I got into a company which said lot of nice things about themselves and presented themselves as a product company. There was even a program for new joinees for the first year. It fit my plans as I wanted to work in the consulting / product management / general management kind of role for a technical company.Once i accepted the offer, I was shocked to realise it was a "6 days a week" job and not "5 days a week" job. This was not revealed and it tossed all my plans for exploring things. After joining, I realised there was no program for "new joinees". The culture was totally bureaucratic and non collaborative. What hurt the most was that I was being randomly used like a filler resource everywhere and it was difficult seeing a future there or even developing some kind of expertise in a particular domain. The only positive was I could survive in a really bad place.So that made it clear for me that it was better to find something one likes and do it than do a loveless job where you had minimal control just because for money. Freedom and love over stability and money (which means I am entrepreneurship material :P). Money is not the main priority for me.Take aways :a) Most companies have their own agenda which they never disclose and sugar coat it to make it look great. This often leads to you not being used to your potential and feeling frustrated. Coming from a really background makes you not accept employers who think you are at their mercy. So you explore other options that give you meaning. Sit with your guy and understand what are his core motivators for work and what he likes / doesn't like in a job. Probably at the end of this discussion, you would arrive at the conclusion that he is more of an entrepreneur.b) If you had to choose, would you a choose a regular guy with an stable well paying job (also approved by your parents and peers) or a happy guy with an unsteady income. Remember that a happy guy can make a happy husband and that since you are earning well, you can overlook the unsteady income part (provided you really want to). Your guy is confused a bit, but eventually he will find his way and would do something that makes him happy.3) Parents :Our parents have grown in the pre-liberalisation era with limited job opportunities and therefore job was a big thing because it offered stability. Also most indians like to show off. So if you mix the two, parents want a groom who is stable and whom they can talk about to their relatives.My girl friend broke off in Feb 2014 ( 10 months after taking photography full time). Her parents considered a photographer "cheap" and were dead against me. They constantly asked this question - "What are we supposed to tell everyone?" Her uncle laughed at me and said that that they would accept me provided I take up a job. The girl loved her parents more and eventually my love story became a "Girl vs Passion" thing and went downhill. This after telling her way back in Apr 2013 that I am following my passion and taking photography fulltime and that she could reconsider our relationship if she or her parents have an issue with what I will be doing. Post April 2013, I loved her more (and without holding back) because I felt she accepted me totally and was mature. I even saw a future with her (like having a family). The break up left me with lot of pain and feeling "cheap".Take aways :a) Parents' priority is to get you married according to stable / show-off mindset. Your priority is to marry a guy as per what matters to you - Is it happiness or stability ?b) If you think, you are an independent / mature women, you ought to make decisions over what you want for yourself in life (happiness or stability) with complete ownership of risk / reward. You don't quote your parents .c) Your parents may not respect your spouse because they have been conditioned to think in a certain way. Are you mature enough to handle them and your guy (provided you decide to marry him) ?4) Marriage :Being alone is mostly about being selfish (prioritising yourself and your needs) . Being in love is mostly about the feeling. But being married to a person means you add some responsibilities and joint decision making in the mix.This is how i approach the whole thing.Love / Ego : I think you want to marry a person because you enjoy being with the person so much that you want to be with them all the time. It's about total acceptance. Where there is acceptance, there is calmness (good mental space) and that is what an entrepreneur needs.More often than not , a person's stature gets better with time and often adds to his / her ego. The same however if you bring to the relationship, you would not value the other person. Unfortunately our younger selves make choices for our older selves and we got to accept the inconsistencies.Money : To live in a city, you need a certain amount every month. What matters is you have the that much irrespective of who gets how much and plan for contingencies. For example, if you need 50k to live in a city and one of you gets 30k and the other 20k, it should n't matter. If that is not happening, you need to scale down your life style. People used to comforts have difficultly scaling down or will blame their spouse for making them sacrifice certain things. Eventually you will get into a love vs comfort / lifestyle kind of situation if there is no clarity here.I know a lot of women who think their money is their pocket money and they want the guy to spend on everything - house rent / bills / car emi / holidays / jewellery. If you have been conditioned to think that way, you will put pressure on the guy or blame him or think you are doing a favour. My ex-gf always thought she was doing me a favour. I borrowed from her a few times and returned within a few months. She occasionally called me "shameless" to borrow from a women.Responsibilities : For me , marriage is an equal relationship. I live alone and cook and take care of my house (albeit inefficiently).So I think I can do the following.a) Cooking : I love that and would love to cook for my partner half of the week easily.The other option is to have a maid if either of us feels its a chore.b) Household work : I get it done.c) Make partners life easier : I do things to make my partners life easier. I consciously make an effort to add fun , surprises into the mix.I don't like being a free rider and I don't think any person can tolerate such a partner who is a complete liability for a long time.Distance :Distance makes people drift apart. I do believe people should be ok with short term if there is a good reason. Technology helps too. I know spouses who took break for 2 years for MBA.Photography is more assignment based and so I can shift to a different city based on the needs of my partner. Not all entrepreneurs would have that privilege.Take aways :a) Love : Do you understand acceptance ? If after 10-15 years, you are ending as a CXO of a firm and he is running an NGO that supports 40-50 kids and is probably earning 50-60k, are you ok with that ? If he fails, will you stay with him or leave him? Does ego come in the way ?b) Money : I don't think money is an issue for you as a family provided you completely understand what i wrote above. You probably have to take up the role of provider and allow him time to experiment. Are you up for that ? Do you believe that men should provide for their wives and not the other way round ? Can you provide for your husband for a year or two without thinking that you are doing a favour to him? If you go ahead and he understands what you are doing for him, he would feel grateful (but don't keep it as an expectation).c) Responsibilities : Discuss with your partner how both can share responsibilities. I don't think any one can handle a partner who is a total liability and/or selfish.Is he actively interested in the relationship or passively interested in the relationship. By active, I mean you consciously make an effort to make your spouse's life better and the make the relationship fun. By passive, you don't do much and hope your spouse does everything. In the long run, you take her for granted.d) Distance : Ask your guy to choose a time frame and stick to it. Otherwise he is being a bit irresponsible.Explore options where you can stay in the same city or a city close to him or vice versa. The most important thing is to arrive at some sort of predictability here as this won't work for long term.PS : The whole point of spending 6 hours to write all this was to help you folks so that you don't have the kind of ending I had with my gf. Being an mba from a good college and older, you have the privilege of being matured. Act wisely. If you or your guy wants to personally reach out to me or talk to me, you can just google me. I am easily findable online. Btw I am turning 29 in a few weeks :D.As someone suggested to put links of my work, interested people can find my work at www.pvr.photography and PVR's photographyUpdate (30/11/2015) : Got engaged on 08/11/2015. My girl friend and now my fiance is a kickass woman - independent and supportive. It feels extremely peaceful having found this wonderful woman who accepts me for who I am - makes me feel confident and secure. As a result , I am doing a lot better in photography. I am close to shooting 50 weddings and earning 50k+ per month.

There is so much good stuff to learning from consulting. Here are the top 30+ things I would recommend learning. . . links to blog posts. Hope helpful.Hypothesis-based consulting: guessing the answers to client problems (09/26/12)What we call hypothesis-based consulting, some cynics call educated guessing. Either way, it is a smart way to break down complex or ambiguous problems, and quickly start driving towards an answer. Hypotheses start early in the process, go broad at first, but then get narrowed down quickly. It can be unnerving to some clients, but it works.Why do consultants use PowerPoint so much? (12/1/12) Good presentations are succinct. They may have a 60 page appendix, but the summary will be terse and have a point of view. Using the analogy of a tree, the presentation is the fruit. There is no reason to show off all the minutiae. You need to really boil it down to its essence. .Consulting PowerPoint Presentations: 4 Steps (12/5/12). To be clear, it is more than just making fancy graphs, but it is a large part of what we do. Executives are often very visual people. They have busy schedules and short attention spans. Sometimes, you only have 2 hours with a CXO (CEO, CFO, COO, COO, CIO, CMO) at the end of 4 month project – so you need to make sure that your presentation makes an impact.Better PowerPoint: 6 ways to make your point (4/30/12) What’s the so what?You will hear this phrase used on projects a fair amount. It is certainly not the best usage or even politely worded, but it is critical: Your presentations need to have a point . . .What is a good excel model? (11/13/12) Recently, I was given an excel model that was like the Titanic: large, slow, overly ornate, and structurally unsound. Not only was it frustrating to work with and laborious to fix, it was also a bit laughable. It did not answer even the most basic questions . . .Data analysis in 20 minutes (10/2/2014) Consultants are in the business of taking messy, unorganized data and turning it into information, and hopefully, some insights. Here is a simple example of excel clean up. . .Why consultants love best practices (6/10/12) Management consultants use the phrase “best practices” often. Perhaps too often. A few pictures that help explain why best practices are so popular with consultants and clients. . .How consultants interview clients (11/4/12) This week my team interviewed more than 20 people, everyone from VPs down to the analysts and clerks. The interviews were a gold mine of insights – especially since we were still in the early days of the project and collecting data. My throat was killing me, but these interviews helped us get our bearings on the client’s business, the personalities, and the politics. Every consulting project has interviews and here are my top interviewing tips . . .DMAIC: A great consulting tool for process improvement (4/28/12) Ask any consultant, and I mean ANY consultant (strategy, process, IT) and they will know what DMAIC stands for. It is an abbreviation for Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve,Control. It is a tool often used in process improvement projects. . .SIPOC: Consulting framework to untangle problems (2/14/13) SIPOC is an ugly sounding acronym, but it is a useful way to think through problems. Clients often present consultants with complex processes that seemingly don’t have a start or a finish. Sometimes, the best thing is to stop digging. Take a step back and think through the problem. Untangle the problem in a more structured way . . .Consultant’s tool: what is a maturity model? (7/1/12) What really surprises me is that many clients have trouble explaining what is exactly wrong and what they want done. They often talk about symptoms – flat revenues, dropping margins, or increased receivables – not the root causes.A maturity model gauges the client’s maturity in a number of areas and points out the areas of improvement. It’s actually a simple thing that often looks like a report card or an excel table. It looks simple, but there is good stuff there. . .Lean means no waste. No TIMWOOD (2/11/2014) Lean is obsessively focused on doing only what is critical and what is valued by the customer. The way of thinking inherently believes in opportunity cost. You should only do what matters (to the customer). Put another way, if the customer wants 100, you should deliver 100. If you deliver 110, you wasted effort. . . The lean fundamentalist asks, “What is the customer really willing to pay for?” Anything more than that is really waste.Six Sigma: Consultants eat your own dog food (3/15/2014) Do you have boring, low-value added parts of your business that need to be standardized? By squeezing out the variability (read “craziness”) out of the process, you will be more efficient. Reduce the variability in the boring parts of your work to allow more time, freedom, and margin to innovate and deliver real value to your clients. . .Clients hire consultants to GET TO YES (12/6/12) Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In written by Roger Fisher and William Ury is perhaps the most famous book on negotiations. It’s been endorsed by people who use these lessons daily – diplomats, lawyers, and business people because this stuff works. Fortune 500 organizations have a terrible time implementing these simple things and, as a result, often hire management consultant for help . . .Consulting advice: Help your clients save face (4/4/14) This is a simple concept that is critical for consultants and sales people to understand. Never put your client in a situation where you are directly and publicly disagreeing with them. Never box them into a corner where they might be ashamed of the situation. Never embarrass them. It’s a very Asian business culture concept of harmony, and it is super-applicable to consultants. Some of the most deadly phrases . . .How consultants do industry research (5/12/12) Management consultants need to be quick learners. Junior analysts are routinely asked to support proposals and projects across different industries. The good ones are fast, and proficient with Excel and PowerPoint. The great ones get up-to-speed quickly on the industry dynamics and can add in industry specifics to the pitch. . .4 reasons why management consultants love data (4/15/12). Management consultants are always on the prowl for good data. After all, it is the stuff that client recommendations are made of. To a cynic, it might seem obvious. The title of this post would be a kin to: “Why chefs love ingredients” or “Why district attorneys like evidence” or “Why gardeners like sunlight.” Even so, what exactly about the data do consultants love so much?Saying YES to clients can get consultants in trouble (8/29/12) When the client asks for something – new research, some ad-hoc analysis, an extra workshop – it usually seems like a reasonable request. After all, they pay the bills and shouldn’t they get the most out of their consultants, right? Experienced consultants and lawyers will tell you there are many reasons why being overly agreeable can create problems. . .Pauses: a consultant’s public speaking tip (4/20/12) Good speakers pause. After they finish one thought, they don’t rush to the next sentence. They don’t rattle off useless verbal fillers (uh, ah, um, well, so, right, hmm). Instead, they embrace that millisecond of silence, harness the awkwardness, and force the listener to pay attention. Many people call it the pregnant pause. . .What is scope creep? (1/29/13) Generally, this means that the client wants more work done for the same amount of money. It’s not pretty and it’s no surprise that consultants dread it. It usually means late nights, grumpy analysts, dissatisfied clients, and potentially lower project margins. All bad things. . .Structuring problems: Consultants use buckets (05/16/13) Consultants use buckets. I know it sounds pedestrian and unsophisticated, but it’s harder than it looks. When you are trying to crack a complex problem, inevitably you will start to group things. Structuring problems forces you to organize your thoughts, and reflect on what your key messages will be. It is the first step in turning data into insights.Frameworks: Distill your thoughts until they are 80 proof (1/21/14) Consultants are structured thinkers. They may not have as intuitive a grasp on the topic as the client – after all, the client has been living in this field their entire life – but consultants excel at piecing together bits and pieces of data until it starts forming an outline of a story. . . .The best short-answer to give clients? It depends (5/13/2013) “It depends” is a phrase you hear a lot in both business school and management consulting. To some, it might seem like a boring half-answer, timid, or worse – mentally lazy. As weird as it might seem, it is often the best short-answer to give a client.Cracking the case interview (8/11/2013) This format of interviewing is tough, but also a lot of fun. The interviewer gives you the problem and background, and it is up to the candidate to think through the problem, and selectively ask questions to solicit the information needed to get to a solution. 70% IQ, 30% EQ.Resumes are bait (11/7/13) I was on the recruiting team at a Big 4 consulting, and we looked through hundreds of resumes every year and 90% of them went into the trash. We probably spent less than 15 seconds on a cover letter and 30 seconds on a resume. Basically, the resume review was quick and violent.The way I see it, the entire purpose of a resume is to get invited for an interview. Period. Getting an interview means the fish took a bite at the bait. Resumes = bait.Finders, Minders, and Grinders (1/28/14) Managing a Professional Services Firm by David Maister is a consulting classic. For those interested in the economics of partnerships and want to know how managing partners think of their business model, you have to read this book. There are three archetypal roles that roughly line up with these job titles in the respective industries. . . finders (partners, principals), minders (senior managers, managers), and grinders (senior consultant, consultant, analysts)Consultant, what’s your leverage model? (3/16/2014) Leverage is how consulting firms make money. As I discussed in a previous post, professional services firms – lawyers, accountants, marketers, consultants – are built on organizational pyramid structures. There are fewer partners than analysts, no surprise. The ratio of finders, minders, and grinders (senior, middle, junior resources) affects the types of projects they can handle and also their profitability. . .18 excel modeling tips. (12/11/2015) This week I coached a new consultant in creating an excel model. Here are some of the words of advice I gave him. I wish I knew these pointers 20 years ago. . .Consulting proposals: 12 common mistakes. (12/19/2014) . In consulting, writing proposals and statements of work are the lifeblood of the firm. It is akin to fisherman throwing out nets, or farmers planting seeds. If you are not putting together proposals and pitching potential clients, you are dead. . . .Competitive Intelligence 20 tips (10/28/2014): When I was working overseas, I was on a competitive intelligence project. It might sound super-crafty, and Mission-Impossible, but it was not. It was actually quite boring. Lots of meetings to share information, and try to piece together the competition’s strategy and tactics. Very ethical and process-driven initiative.Data Analysis in 20 minutes (10/2/2014). Consultants are in the business of taking messy, unorganized data and turning it into information, and hopefully, some insights. Here is a simple example of excel clean up, and the steps to copy, paste, filter, sort, and cleanse data. For most consultants, the data cleansing would 7-10 minutes (takes some trial and error) and the graphics would be another 10 minutes, if (s)he knew what graph they wanted to make. . .Consulting formula: Think + write + communicate + revise (8/04/2014) On a large project with so many moving parts, people, stakeholders, and organizational history that I sometimes get lost in the activities, status reports and project management mess. Stop. I need to come back to the basics of consulting. This post is written to myself, for myself. Gotta get back to basics:IT implementation worst practices: healthcare.gov (11/3/2013) IT implementation is “bread and butter work” for consulting firms. It often involves dozens of consultants, multiple locations, and sometimes 2-3 years for a full roll out of an enterprise resource plan (ERP) like SAP or Oracle. These are big hairy projects that cost dozens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars. It’s big money.What is RACI? (05/18/2015) This is a tool consultants use on any project which requires clear definition of roles and more communication on a new process. When you have more than a handful of people involved, it’s very easy to get confused and make incorrect assumptions on who is doing what. Confusion = frustration = lack of adoption = failure.