The Consulting Offer Season 2 Part 10
Watch Kevin P.Coyne, ex-McKinsey Director and Worldwide Strategy Practice Co-Leader, mentor and train Alice Qinhua Zhou and Michael Klein for their McKinsey and BCG case interviews. Alice successfully joined McKinsey NYC at the conclusion of the program.
Kevin P. Coyne was a director and co-leader of both McKinsey’s Worldwide Strategy Practice and CEO Transitions Practice. At the time, he was the youngest associate at the firm and one of the youngest Principals appointed. He was the only person ever admitted directly into the Harvard Business School from his junior year of college, Rice University, which he attended by special permission before graduating from high school. Kevin has co-written 6 Harvard Business Review articles, 12 McKinsey Quarterly articles, 2 bestselling business books and articles across influential business publications. He spent time in the Federal Government as an Executive Assistant and sole policy advisor to the Deputy Secretary of the United States Treasury in the Reagan Administration.
Alice Qinhua Zhou is a 26 year-old candidate from Yale University. She attended Fudan University where she graduated 1st in her class. Alice has a strong track record of leadership at Yale, having served as President of the consulting club and editor-in-chief of a peer-reviewed journal. Alice has no full-time work experience. Coming off a McKinsey internship decline and unsuccessful Bain internship, Alice is interested in both McKinsey and BCG for a full-time associate position in NYC.
Michael E. Klein is a 30 year-old candidate from McGill and Brown University. Michael has a very strong analytic profile balanced by an equally artistic side: he was a candidate for ‘Canada’s Got Talent’ where he sang Prince lyrics accompanied by a harpist. Michael has limited work experience as a business journalist. Going into his very first interviews, Michael will have to prove he can use his technical skills to seamlessly understand and solve business issues, while demonstrating his leadership acumen in the fit interviews.
This seemingly simple case tests the candidates understanding of cost-volume-profit analyses, changes in market structures and evolving consumer segments.
Alice provides a premature answer because she does not take sufficient to understand how the type, and behaviour, of the counterfeiter will change with the new technology.
Kevin guides Alice to the correct answer. Yet, Alice struggles to explain the reasoning behind the change in her decision in a clear and concise manner.
Alice selects the correct bill denomination for earliest replacement, but for the wrong reason. She is focusing on the circulation value of the currency, which misleads her.
In this insightful scene, Kevin analyzes the problem using cost-volume-profit analyses, economic principles and consumer segment analyses.
Kevin teaches Alice the importance of stepping back to look at the big picture, by explaining why the solution to the case would have led to a sharp rise in counterfeiting.
Kevin discusses the case and pinpoints a common weakness of candidates: they are too logical at the expense of applying business judgment to generate insights.
Kevin talks about the problems of following logic trails in cases and how they lead to mistakes.
Kevin designed this case based on his work experience at the US Treasury. The case exposes a common mistake candidates make: they assume being logical will impress the interviewer. That is an incorrect assumption. This inference-type case requires Alice to examine the evolution in the manufacturi...
