Category Archives: Problem Solving

Using MECE to Solve Problems

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I just completed by 5th book of the year, The McKinsey Mind by Ethan Rasiel & Paul N. Friga. I committed to read 24 books this year, so I’m behind by one book. The McKinsey Mind seeks to describe the process that a McKinsey strategy consultant follows when on assignment. I’ve been interested in the process of problem solving and the methodical way in which McKinsey consultants frame a problem, determine a hypothesis then confirm or deny the hypothesis. There were a host of take-ways from the book so I’ll just focus on one key concept, MECE – Mutually Exclusive Collectively Exhaustive. MECE is a way of problem solving by organizing or grouping information into subsets where the Read more [...]
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What Are Your Top Concerns For the Week?

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If you’ve owned a business for any length of time, you’ve noticed that things can get a bit hectic from time to time. You can get pulled in many different directions and it can be difficult to know what to tackle first. Pretty soon months have gone by with no real progress. I like to use the following methodology to determine what to focus on and to make progress on those initiatives. I bucket items into two main categories: priorities and concerns (what keeps me up at night). I then order these into the top 3 for each category. Note: It’s a good idea to check with your colleagues to make sure you don’t have a blind spot which is causing you to focus on something you shouldn’t. I Read more [...]
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New Year’s Resolution – Couple Month’s Late

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I know it’s mid-February, but I don’t think it’s ever too later to have a New Year’s resolution. My resolution has to do with reading. My goal is to read 24 books in 2012 or 2 books per month. I’m already behind by 2 books, but I just finished my first one today – The McKinsey Engagement by Paul Friga. Mr Friga provides a framework for team problem solving and gives real life examples from various McKinsey consulting engagements. He uses the acronym TEAM FOCUS to describe the approach. T – Talk E – Evaluate A – Assist M – Motivate F – Frame O – Organize C – Collect U – Understand S – Synthesize There are so many valuable take-aways Read more [...]
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