Resume Developing Professional – the BCG Way

Developing Professional – The BCG Way ( A )

Prole

 The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) is a global management consulting frm and the world's leading advisor on business strategy. BCG was ounded in !"# and is a private frm comprised o $%&$$ total sta  woring in & o*ces in + countries% with ,$& revenues o -&.$$ billion. BCG partners with clients in all sectors% industries and regions to identiy their highestvalue opportunities% address their most critical challenges and and tran trans sor orm m thei theirr busi busine ness sses es.. BCG' BCG's s e/pe e/pert rtis ise e incl includ udes es unc uncti tion onal al practices

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development%

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advantage

(globali0ation)% inormation technology% mareting 1 sales% organi0ation% opera operati tion ons% s% stra strate tegy gy%% soci social al impa impact ct22 and and indu indust stry ry prac practi tice ces s such such as consumer consumer 1 retail% retail% energy% energy% fnancial fnancial institutio institutions% ns% health health care% care% industrial industrial goods%

insurance%

public

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technology%

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telecommunications BCG's Business 3ervices Team is an integral part o a successul global global frm and is compos composed ed o talent talented ed proe proessi ssiona onals ls in the areas areas o  4inance% inance% 5uman 5uman 6esour 6esources% ces% 7normatio 7normation n Technology% echnology% 8egal% 8egal% 9areting 9areting%% :perations% and 6is. BCG's BCG's ;nowle ;nowledge dge :rgan :rgani0a i0atio tion n wors wors in close close collabo collaborat ration ion with with consultant case teams and other groups within our frm to help create% retrieve% organi0e% and analy0e the nowledge that enables BCG to deliver superior business value or clients. Specialties

Consumer insight% corporate development% corporate fnance% digital econom economy% y% global globali0a i0atio tion% n% growt growth% h% inorm inormati ation on techno technolog logy% y% innova innovatio tion% n% mar maret etin ing g 1 sale sales% s% opera operati tion ons% s% peop people le 1 orga organi ni0a 0ati tion on%% post postme merrger integration% ris management% strategy% sustainability% transormation

BCG
Talented Candidates =erormance reviews and development =romoting

Consultants Career Develop!ent at BCG

BCG consultants go deeper to solve our clients< biggest challenges and mae a positive% lasting impact on their businesses and the world.  The biggest characteristic o BCG's career development is the practical use o toplevel resource. >mployees could accumulate their nowledges through the pro?ects and discussions with e/perts inside or outside the company. Pro!otion

Career progression or BCG was as ollow associates to consultants to pro?ect leaders to manager and at the end as o*cers ( include vice presidents and senior vice presidents ). @ll the proessional were always considered or promotion not strictly by tenure but within a time window. But not only in that situation% when their superiors elt that they had the ability to perorm at the ne/t level and had the potential to continue developing sill can be promoted to the ne/t level. ;ris 5olland% as the head o global apprenticeship said that it need to be at least two years o gaining e/perience to be able to mae the maret more open up.

Consultant fee"#ac$ an" Perfor!ance %evie&s

 They try to help our consultants develop the competencies to conduct and deliver highAuality research and also en?oy the process. 7t
succeed they still help them trasition to more productive and en?oyable settings or the frm.

Bac$groun" ( conte" )

=roessional development  

3ta*ng  The mentor believed this give the opportunity or the consultant that have to be proactive to build sills. @nd the best way to develop the abilities and insights is on the spot  in case teams. 7n real case% someone needs to now their strength and weaness in their department. @nd let the sta*ng department nows i someone need to develop more at some point o their weaness or to get better at their strength. 3ome people lie to be a specialist and another wants to be a generalist. =eople who is specialist in their department means they wor hard and they were actually good at it. They are so committed that they get respect immediately. But some people believe business ?udgement develops aster i your are a generalist.



Training Besides CC advisor% incoming consultant were assigned mentors% BCG o*cers who acted as inormal counsellors to the consultants. 4ormal training helps the proessionals in picing up sills% sociali0ing% building a networ and developing a sense o BCG as a frm.  Training was not limited only to entry level consultants. 4ormal training sessions were oered throughout proessional C ) own below describes schematically how proessional were e/pected to develop on each o BCG
7n this system their proessionals learn primarily through apprenticeship and provides recruits with a support system at BCG but then still e/plain that e/perience is the best teacher ater all. The 'entorship

7n large o*ces% mentors were ormally assigned to consultants based on interest and e/periences. 7n smaller o*ces% the assignment process was inormal% with consultants choosing to confde in senior colleagues with whom they elt comortable. The dierent between mentor and CC advisor are inormal and ormal and rom mentors have a nonevaluative role. There is no time limit with mentor sharing. @nd the role o mentor eep evolved as the consultants growing to progressed. @t the frst si/ month meeting the consultant ?oining the BCG% mentors e/plore ?ust a ormal frst e/pression Auestion. @t the , month progressed% mentor started to as more detail developmental strengths Auestions. 7t
the

Auestion are about how was their progressed based o their strength reviews and is it helpul or them. @nd they should be promoted by the month ,+ and i not they need more reAuent conversations with their mentors.  The our BCG consultants are osh Coopersmith% >ric Hong% 9ichael Ielson% and 9adeleine 8agarde. A osh Coopers!ith 'entor * 'atthe& Glass!an

@t age , osh Coopersmith received his bachelor
Dnder a senior vice president in BCG
9atthew Glassman% who had mentored  consultants over his  years with the frm% ?oined BCG
a. @t frst he elt a little pessimistic about how osh maybe will not see or help or not to bother to as the manager to solve a problem. b. Hellnown about osh personality% and always encourage him c. By the time past% or ne/t pro?ect 9att can see the dierence with  osh behaviour and started to see help and advice. d. Thins osh taing the program or a wrong purpose e. >ven though 9att thins osh is smart and hard woring% he hope  osh will learn to with the team. B +ric Wong 'entor * 'ichael ,ao

>ric Hong ?oined the research and development department o a large manuacturing organi0ation in Cleveland% :hio% upon his graduation at 9assachusetts 7nstitute o Technology ( 97T ). >ric started an 7nternet startup that is designed to collect% collate% and provide inormation on the lasts in automation engineering. 7n une ,$$$ >ric ?oined BCG to learn something dierent other than manuacturing engineering and moved to 5ong ;ong. 9ichael 8ao as his mentor was slightly cold and rigid mae him believed that its not going to be a good help or him to manage. @t his frst pro?ect% an automobile manuacturer that ended in anuary ,$$% >ric received his evaluation o our rom CC review. The reason were  a 8ac o presentation and client sills in ?ust business basic training. # 5e need to be open to receiving eedbac rom the mentor. c 6euse to tal to mentor and choose to develop and wor on his

weaness by himsel   The second staed or >ric was in 9arch ,$$ % on a astmoving post merger integration pro?ect in manuacturing. @t @ugust ,$$% >ric got his second CC review a perormance evaluation o two. Because o his hard wor and dedication with the team members. But then other problems that bother >ric is that about how people mae him a specialist at E manuacturing case EmanuacturingF. 5e still need to develop more outside the manuacturing case and his wie thin that what he been doing will simply unsustainable or their marriage. >ric Hong reveals that he is not comortable woring in the manuacturing sector% and his seniors try to get him a position outside o it but cannot.

>ric believed that he need to wor on his personal by him sel and didn
Hith the same manuacturing bacground that he had with >ric in Dniversity o Iew 3outh Hales% 9ichael 8ao ?oined as a vice president with BCGric eectively i eep his personal proud individual too long. C 'ichael -elson 'entor * ,arisa ."gen

@t age ,! Ielson chose BCG to try management consulting based o  how he loved the people% culture and intellectual history o the frm that may ft him well. 5is frst pro?ect% a strategy case or manuacturing client% made him elt that he was unable to do a proper analysis on a client due the time sharing. 5is training program ended in 3eptember ,$$$ with a three on his perormance review. 5e was araid i he too to much wor in analysis or a consumer good client would lead the team to thin that he might be arrogant and aggressive. Ielson then received a our or his ne/t pro?ect review because o his lac o presence in client situations% slide writing% communication and nowing how deep to go in analysing problems. But then Ielson was surprised o how helpul his mentor% 8arisa%  or her suggestions or what he need to improve and how direct she was. ue the ne/t big pro?ect Ielson was surprised or a two o his perormance review and got invited rom the team manager to do ollowon wor or the same client. But the moment when Ielson thins he do the great ?ob or the pro?ect he received a perormance raning o our. CC advisor e/plain Ielson that he need to fnd some way to stand out and reaching out or

help. Hhen his pro?ect ended in ecember ,$$% Ielson eel that he need to consul about his up and down perormance to his CC advisor% 8arisa. 8arisa said ranly that he need to wor hard to improve his weaness so that he can be promoted or the ne/t period.  The review about Ielson  a. b. c. d. e.

Dncomortable ob @raid o being missed interpreted as arrogant and aggressive Iot confdent Hea in presentation sills and business nowledge Hea in analytical sills

'entors Perspective ( a#out 'ichael -elson ) * ,arisa ."gen

@ter nine years ?oined at BCG Iew Kor o*ce she had received awards or her sill and dedication in mentoring BCG@ 9B@% 8agarde began woring as a consultant in BCGric =eret as her mentor. 5er frst pro?ect and second she got a perormance review a one and a two on her dedication to the wor% drive to succeed% team spirit% and humility. 3he eeps doing the great ?ob perormance even ater the third pro?ect mae her an e/pert. @t wor her colleagues always e/pected her to be awesome% this all attention mae her en?oyment less un than beore.  The review  a. 3he elt di*cult to confde with >ric or a consul b. Good at wor but didn
>ric =eret ?oined BCG in !! as a vice president. @ter successully managing the o*ceric ?ust tried to oer her about his e/perience and simple advice. 9adeleine 8agarde told >ric that she elt out o place in a consulting environment. Then >ric helped her thin this through and consider taing a position at another BCG o*ce or a short sabbatical.

Pro#le! "enition

BCG ?ust ocus on the corporate perormance and proft. @t some point it lose it
9entor at the BCG need to be trained as well

/

5ow they choose the mentor or the company should be based by

the interpersonal and technical sill rom the mentor /  There need to be a group mentoring program / :b?ective measurement is the ey o the mentoring system