Hypothesis-First Thinking Can Save Your Business
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In 2015, Facebook released information showing that its users were far more engaged with video content than any other kind of media. This sent ripples through the entire media ecosystem. Suddenly every company was talking about "pivot to video." Companies like Vice and Buzzfeed laid off writers and started producing more videos. The problem? The Facebook data wasn't real. Facebook shared inflated data and avoided owning up to it for several years. I have some sympathy for the companies that blindly followed Facebook's advice. However, they should have treated it like a hypothesis, not gospel. They should have asked the question: Can we improve our businesses by shifting to more video content? And then tested it. I teach people how to do this in the third module of Think Like A Strategy Consultant around a real-world case (randomly about Facebook too). So, before you follow the latest trend, get excited about that buzzword, or implement the latest strategy the "cool" company just announced, maybe test it first? |
Paul Millerd
Freelancer, creator & writer
One of the challenges I've faced with teaching the skills in Think Like A Strategy Consultant is that the best way to learn them is by getting intensive feedback from others either learning these skills or who are good at applying them in their work. Many of the students taking the course are doing so independently. My average student is in a big company or consulting firm and is frustrated with their organization's lack of support and training. Despite that, they want to get better at these...
I love breaking down interesting charts. One of my favorite resources to help you make sense of charts is McKinsey’s Chart of the Day. Each day, they share a chart on a newsworthy topic, providing the perfect opportunity to practice. Here's a recent one on the global women's health gap: In our workshops, we like to teach people to think about charts using the 10-second test. Look at the chart above. Time yourself, 10 seconds. Can you understand it? If not, maybe it could be better. Here's a...
Time management isn’t about frantically ticking tasks off a to-do list. It’s about maximizing your productivity and effectiveness while maintaining your well-being (although some of my former managers disagreed about this last part :-)) When I think about time management, I think about the three 3 Ps: Prioritize - figure out what matters Plan ahead - figured out when to do it and execute Productively - figure out how to efficiently and effectively do it Prioritization tactics: The Eisonhower...