Independent Consulting Services

I write. He edits. She approves. They present. And the client still says: “I didn’t get the point.” Welcome to consulting ,where your deck won’t save you. But your clarity will. In a 2024 Bain & Company report, 83% of consultants across strategy, risk, and healthcare roles said communication clarity was more important than technical know-how during client reviews. And a LinkedIn Global Workplace Study found that among consultants aged 22–35, “executive communication” is the #1 skill gap during performance appraisals. Whether you’re a student aiming for BCG, a business analyst at EY, or a healthcare consultant decoding diagnostics for a Tier-2 city hospital, your ability to structure, simplify, and sell your message is what sets you apart. Cheers to our 3 months Leadership Communication program delivered at Deallus for all the senior consultants. Here are my secret beans from our training program : - Minto Pyramid Principle (Think: Top-down thinking) How to use it: ➡ Start with the main recommendation or conclusion. ➡ Back it up with 2–3 grouped arguments. ➡ Use logic and hierarchy to order them. Instead of: “First we did X, then we found Y, hence we suggest Z” Say: “We recommend Z because X and Y indicate…” Bridging Technique (Especially during tough conversations) How to use it: ➡ Acknowledge the question ➡ bridge it to your message ➡ deliver your point. “That’s a valid concern. What we’ve seen across 4 client projects is…” Use this during steering committees, Q&A rounds, or when you’re cornered. Contrast for Clarity (Great for decision-making slides) How to use it: State what something is, followed by what it is not. “This is not just an app upgrade. It’s a workflow redesign that improves patient handover by 40%.” Especially in healthcare consulting — where stakeholders include doctors, government officials, and global NGOs — communication is not a luxury. It’s a lifesaving skill. If you’re leading a consulting team or preparing your analysts for client-facing roles, I design hands-on Leadership Communication Programs to help your team think, write, and speak with executive clarity. DM me or drop a comment — let’s make your team unstoppable. Btw, what’s your way of communicating well in the world of corporate. #training #communication

You don't have a project manager title but you're being asked to act as an unofficial project manager at your organization. Where do you start? 1️⃣Begin with the end in mind. For those coming from education, we call this backwards planning. If your deliverables are due December 1, talk with your team to determine how long each step in the process should take. Set up a schedule based on that discussion. Now you know when each part of the process should be completed to stay on schedule and will help define the project's milestones. 2️⃣Have a clear end goal or deliverable. There's no way to start a project if you don't know where you're heading. Confirm this goal with the stakeholders and project sponsor. Anything outside of that final goal is considered out of scope and will mess with your scope, budget, or schedule. Politely say no. 3️⃣Manage your risks. This has two components: One, communicate any issues and have a plan for how and how often you're going to do that. This keeps the team on the same page. No surprises. Two, have a plan for what you will do when something goes wrong. Because it will! No project goes completely according to plan. 4️⃣Document everything. Whether it's notes of what happened in a meeting, a possible risk coming down the road, a delay from a vendor, whatever. Document it and make those notes easily accessible for the team at all times. 5️⃣Communication and transparency. Having a clear communication plan of when and how information will be communicated to the team is key to the success of any project. Also make sure that all project documentation, data, and timelines are accessible at all times to the team members. Transparency can help to catch problems before they become major issues and reduce frustration for team members. These five items should help you get started as an unofficial project manager! #projectmanager #projectmanagement #professionaldevelopment #careertransition

Today's episode will make you better at developing a strategy, and evaluating other people's strategies. Roger Martin is one of the world’s most sought-after experts on strategy, and the author of "Playing to Win", one of the most popular (and most actionable) books on learning the art of strategy. He’s written extensively for the Harvard Business Review; consulted for dozens of Fortune 500 companies, including P&G, Lego, and Ford; and written 11 other books on strategy, leadership, and clear thinking. In our conversation, we cover: 🔸 The five key questions you need to answer to develop an effective strategy 🔸 How most companies get strategy wrong 🔸 How to avoid “playing to play” instead of playing to win 🔸 Real-world strategy examples from Figma, Lego, Procter & Gamble, and Southwest Airlines 🔸 Why you need to either differentiate or be the lowest cost 🔸 Shortcomings of current strategy education 🔸 Much more Listen now 👇 - YouTube: https://lnkd.in/gTyPQZus - Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gKWWm-Fp - Apple: https://lnkd.in/gCing92Q Some key takeaways: 1. Strategy is an integrated set of choices that compels a desired customer action. 2. Great strategists aren’t born; they’re made through practice. Even if you see yourself as more operational than strategic, remember that strategy is a skill that anyone can develop over time. Just like any skill, it improves with practice. 3. To win in business, you must be either a low-cost provider or differentiated. If you’re neither, competitors can “bully” you and take market share. Two questions can help you figure out whether you’re winning in these ways. First, could you match competitor price decreases and remain more profitable than them? If not, you’re not a low-cost provider. Second, could customers essentially flip a coin between you and a competitor? If so, you’re not differentiated enough. 4. Use the Strategy Choice Cascade to define and implement effective business strategies. This framework consists of five essential questions: a. What is our winning aspiration? Clarify what you aim to achieve with your strategy. This guides all subsequent decisions and actions toward a clear objective. b. Where will we play? Select specific markets, segments, or niches where you will compete. Focus is crucial; trying to be everywhere can dilute effectiveness. c. How will we win? Determine your competitive advantage. You must either offer customers superior value or operate at a lower cost than competitors in your chosen areas. d. What capabilities must be in place to win? Identify and build capabilities that are critical for executing your chosen strategy effectively. These should be distinctive strengths that set you apart from competitors. e. What management systems are required to ensure the capabilities are in place?

2024: Creative is the new targeting. 2025: Creative is STILL the targeting. The rules of the game haven’t changed—creative remains the driving force behind high-performing ads. My 6-step creative process continues to deliver results. Want to steal it? Here’s how it works: Step 1: Research The foundation of every great ad is research. - Analyze historical performance data. - Study your competitors. - Gather customer feedback and reviews. - Organize insights around your customers' pain points to create messaging that resonates. Step 2: Brief A great creative starts with a great brief. - Include ad copy, visual examples, aspect ratios, and audience targeting details. - Make it prescriptive—clear briefs lead to better execution. - Prioritize tasks based on performance metrics and deadlines. Step 3: Production & Editing Your designers bring the vision to life, producing the creative and making necessary post-production edits. Step 4: Quality Assurance (QA) Before launch, ensure every creative aligns with your brand and messaging. Make final tweaks to avoid mistakes later. Step 5: Launch Content Deploy your ad creative on the chosen platform(s). - Monitor performance metrics closely. - Use consistent naming conventions to simplify analysis. Step 6: Analyze Performance Measure success against your KPIs: - Spend amount, purchase amount, and cost per purchase. - Creative-specific KPIs like video hooks, average play time, and click-through rates. Compare results to benchmarks, extract insights, and return to Step 1 to refine and optimize continuously. Creative is—and always will be—the key to scaling your ads. Let this process guide you to consistent wins in 2025 and beyond. — If you’re looking for help in ad creative development to maximize performance, please DM me.

Should you turn ON camera while talking to a client/ in client calls ? Yes, you must. When you are working from home/remote, it's important to show your face to people to build trust, authenticity & a real connection. Turning on camera can elevate client interactions & project outcomes. Camera bridge the gap between virtual & in-person meetings. Seeing faces fosters a personal connection, build rapport & trust with clients. This helps in building productive discussions. While you are ON the camera, your message is accurately conveyed. You will be more attentive, reducing distractions & improving collaboration. You can share screen, show the presentation & discuss ideas. In IT Industry, visual collaboration is paramount. You, on camera ( visual cues) minimises the chances of miscommunication. Seeing team members & clients promotes transparency. You don't need to look in the eye of your camera , just be you. It strengthen relationships among your peers and create a sense of belonging with the team. Being camera-ready exhibits professionalism and preparedness. It conveys that participants value the interaction, enhancing the perception of the company's commitment. So, from now on, turn on your camera in client meetings ( Exceptions are OK in some circumstances when health issues or personal emergency). I would rather say, show up in each & every single meeting that even when you are absent or on sick leave, they will remember your face by your name. 😀🙈 #showup #clientsuccess #beyou #visualcommunication #meetings #professionaldevelopment

Is Process Management the Key to Strong Risk and Compliance Management? So many organizations struggle with Risk and Compliance management! A quick scan of the headlines and you'll see another organization getting in trouble with the regulators. I was a consultant in the banking industry for over 25 years and have seen the struggle first hand. In my opinion, the root cause of failure is the lack of a semantic structure (a framework that defines and organizes data in a meaningful way) which exhaustively identifies every process the organization performs to provide consistent business context. According to ISO 31000, risk is defined as the effect of uncertainty on an organization's objectives. How are objectives accomplished? Through Process, of course. Organizations that must manage risk have a risk repository, many times a GRC platform, which stores their risk data such as regulatory obligations, controls, etc. The core challenge is that they typically have a size fit all process taxonomy (such as APQC) for business context which doesn't capture the nuances of their business. The result is that risk data is built on interpretations and assumptions which makes it unreliable, risk reporting for executives is inaccurate, and there is massive confusion for everyone that has a role in risk management. To address this, organizations need to create and maintain an inventory of every process they perform in each organizational unit. This approach leads to Business Integrated Risk Management, where risk management is performed through a common business-oriented lens. The Benefits include: -      Clean risk data by aligning all risk types to a common language of "What" processes the organization performs across all risk types. -      Operational efficiency by defining processes in the 1st line (risk owners), 2nd line (risk oversight), and 3rd line (risk assurance) in a standardized way. -      Enhanced decision-making through accurate risk reporting, allowing stakeholders and the customer they serve to make informed decisions. -      Accurate risk reporting to leadership so they can make accurate risk mitigation decisions. This also sets up organizations to leverage the power of AI through Digital Twins and AI agents to continuously scan the environment and perform automated risk assessment which could eliminate many risk management challenges. This is such a common sense approach, why has this simple solution evaded many organizations? To learn more about this approach, check out my book Digital Transformation Success https://a.co/d/2QSq8qf

Consulting firms don’t need a new strategy. They need to rebuild from first principles. Incremental adjustments aren't enough. AI is reshaping the value proposition of consulting. Client engagements are transforming: → From static deliverables to continuous partnership → From "trust our analysis" to "let's co-create solutions" → From quarterly check-ins to real-time collaboration → From knowledge transfer to capability building Reinvention requires abstraction and clarity. We must first clearly define each foundational element driving how consulting firms create and deliver value: Core Strategic Foundations → Value Definition: How the firm identifies problems, frames solutions, delivers impact, and continuously validates outcomes aligned directly to clients’ strategic goals. → Insight Engine: Frameworks, methodologies, and capabilities that generate distinctive, actionable insights. → Competitive Moat: Unique proprietary data, benchmarks, industry-specific insights, or defensible intellectual property competitors cannot easily replicate. Economic & Commercial Model → Economic Model: Hourly billing, fixed-fee, subscription retainers, outcome-based fees, aligning incentives directly to client value created. → Commercial Engine: Lead generation processes, structured proposal methodologies, pitch execution, pipeline management, and growth-focused client expansion systems. Talent & Governance → Talent Architecture: Hiring, training, retention strategies, compensation banding, fractional expert networks, hybrid teams, and agile/remote workforce structures. → Governance Structure: Partner-led, equity-based, hierarchical or agile structures shaping decision-making, accountability, incentives. Client Relationships & Delivery → Relationship Infrastructure: Account management, executive touchpoints, trust-building activities, structured feedback loops, and relationship governance strategies. → Delivery System: Operational structure, processes, tools, and methodologies used to consistently produce and deliver client outcomes. Operational & Knowledge Systems → Operating System: Project management systems, standardized processes, financial reporting mechanisms, resource allocation models, and delivery quality frameworks. → Knowledge & Technology Core: Internal knowledge bases, AI-driven insights, digital twins, residual data (systems smarter after every client interaction), and proposal libraries. With these foundational elements clearly defined, we can now rethink each with an AI-first mindset. The consulting firm of the future won’t emerge by default. It will be built by design. Consulting leaders please share your insights: → Is there an essential element missing above? → Which elements are most critical to redesign? → Which components would benefit from deeper exploration?

Tax day may be one day, but tax planning is 365 days a year. Here's all the areas you gotta be looking out for: - RMD Planning - Tax Loss Harvesting - Tax Bracket Management - Roth Conversion Planning - Asset Location Strategy - Medicare IRMAA Planning - Filing Status Optimization - Social Security Tax Planning - QBI Deduction Optimization - Retirement Contribution Planning - Backdoor Roth IRA Strategies - Equity Compensation Planning - Capital Gains Realization Planning - Charitable Giving Optimization - Tax Entity Selection & Structuring - Estimated Tax Payment Projections - Multi-Year Tax Projection Modeling - Tax Planning Summary Reports All of which should be done in tandem with the tax advice from your CPA. If your advisor is spending more time trying to sell you on insurance and high fee funds while overlooking this, it's time to talk to a new financial planner.

Good strategic workforce planning is different from operational planning... ...because it looks much further ahead to determine what kind of workforce is needed to deliver the company’s long-term strategy. It can be a valuable and natural extension of the business strategy that yields a major competitive advantage, positioning a firm for sustained growth and innovation, no matter the changes to come. Key takeaways on the four principles to achieve that: 💡 It is future-back, not today-forward - the best leaders take a future-back approach—they envision the distant future and then build a plan to achieve it. They understand that good strategic workforce planning often enters an uncomfortable space where some aspects of the “how” are unknown. 💡It is uneven - Successful strategic workforce planning often involves focusing differentially on a few job families—groupings of roles with reasonable skill overlaps. The best plans focus exclusively on large or scarce workforce populations that expect to see change. 💡It is learning-based - leaders can guard against incorrect assumptions by making the plan easily adaptable and updating it each year based on what they’ve learned. They will watch carefully for the right signposts and distinguish between offsetting forces (e.g. leaders might make assumptions around increasing headcount due to business growth and decreasing headcount from automation productivity gains) 💡 It is simple enough to be repeatable - When leaders make the workforce plan too granular, it becomes a bureaucratic, wasted effort that the business resents. The best processes are tied to annual strategic planning. They feel like a light addition to thinking through the strategy’s people implications. Overall: A good strategic planning thoughtfully assesses both human and financial capital. HR teams can help the business define the future at the job family level in the same way that finance supports forecasting major P&L and capital lines. #workforceplanning #strategy

🚀 Day 28 of 100 Days of Product Management: The Consultative Approach to Product Management in Industry 4.0 🚀 Hello LinkedIn community! Industry 4.0 is transforming how businesses design, develop, and deliver products. As advanced technologies like IoT, AI, Digital Twins, and Automation redefine industries, product managers must shift from traditional methods to a consultative approach—advising, collaborating, and co-creating solutions tailored to customer needs. ✍ Daily Insight: In Industry 4.0, customers are no longer just buyers—they are partners in innovation. A consultative product management approach focuses on deep engagement, solution-driven strategies, and continuous iteration to align with complex business challenges. ⭐ What Does a Consultative Product Management Approach Look Like? 1️⃣ Customer-Centric Discovery Move beyond basic requirements gathering; conduct in-depth consultations with customers. Understand their business goals, pain points, and how Industry 4.0 technologies can drive impact. Example: A manufacturing company adopting IoT-driven predictive maintenance benefits more from a consultative approach that tailors the solution to their specific equipment and operational needs. 2️⃣ Technology as an Enabler, Not a Feature Don't just sell technology; help customers unlock business value through AI, automation, and smart data. Guide customers in understanding what problems the technology solves rather than focusing on technical specs alone. Example: Instead of pitching an AI-powered supply chain tool, consult with customers on reducing downtime, optimizing logistics, and increasing operational efficiency. 3️⃣ Collaborative Solution Building Work closely with customers, engineers, and data scientists to co-create solutions. Use Digital Twins & AR/VR to simulate real-world applications before deployment. Example: A smart factory solution should be built in partnership with plant managers, IT teams, and operational leaders to ensure real-world applicability. 4️⃣ Continuous Value Delivery Adopt an iterative, data-driven approach—leveraging real-time customer insights to refine and evolve the product. Use customer data, IoT telemetry, and predictive analytics to offer proactive recommendations and drive continuous improvements. Example: A fleet management platform using AI-based routing optimization can be improved by actively consulting customers on traffic patterns, fuel efficiency, and real-time driver behavior insights. ⭐ Why This Matters for Product Managers 📌 Shift from “Feature Building” to “Solution Advising.” 📌 Develop long-term partnerships rather than transactional relationships. 📌 Make data-driven recommendations that shape customer success. How is Industry 4.0 influencing your approach to product management? Have you implemented a consultative product strategy? Share your thoughts! #Day28of100 #ProductManagement #Industry4 #ConsultativePM #AI #IoT #DigitalTransformation #100DaysOfProductManagement