We're back... and Happy New Year! 🥳
1,000 subscribers | What we've been up to | The plan for 2024
👀 What to expect: ~500 words / 3-min read
`👋 Hi and welcome to the 218 new consultants who’ve subscribed to Boiling The Ocean, your free bi-weekly copilot for everything Strategy Consulting. If you haven’t yet subscribed, join 1,173 bright, questioning minds looking for the latest industry trends, productivity hacks and novel tech tools.
Exec Sum
What we’ve been up to
BTO surpasses 1,000 subscribers - thank you!
Launching Resources 🗂️
The plan for 2024 🛫
AI prompts to make you more effective
Shout out to Som T and Ethan J for referring fellow consultants. Join them and refer using your unique code below:
Community Updates
Did you miss me? 😘
Things have been a little quiet around here of late (sorry!). That’s because I’ve been heads down furiously coding over the past couple of months.
For now, the details are under wraps 🎁 but you can get a sneak peak of what we’re building below:
Updates about this (and other tools!) will come out in the coming months as part of the usual newsletter.
Welcome to the Community 👩❤️👩
Shout out to all those who’ve signed up over the last couple of months. BTO now counts >1,000 subscribers which is super exciting! Here’s to much more to come.
Launching resources 🗂️
Everything you need to break into consulting and excel in the industry.
What’s included:
Assessment Test Providers
Interview Prep & Case Libraries
Job Application Tools
And coming soon: 🧰 Tools & 🌱 Impact
The plan for 2024 🛫
BTO will be back gracing your screens on a bi-weekly basis (mostly… no need to overpromise 😋).
Excitingly, having already been working away behind the scenes, Strategy Corner is formally joining the team to take BTO’s content and growth to the next stage - super excited to see where this collaboration takes us!
As we take on the rest of the year, we’ve got some exciting resources, tools and software in the pipeline. And, of course, we’ll continue delivering the latest news content, industry analysis and productivity content straight to your inbox
Industry News
The Headlines 📈
China alleges Consultant spied for MI6
China has detained a foreign national, identified only as Huang, on accusations of spying for the UK's MI6. This individual, heading an unnamed overseas consulting firm, allegedly provided Britain with sensitive intelligence, including national secrets, since 2015. This incident follows China's broader crackdown on international consulting firms and heightened security measures. Read more.
Big 4 promote young blood in India
Driven by rapid revenue increases and service line expansions, Big 4 firms are infusing fresh, young talent into their Partner ranks, with the average age of new partners falling from 38-40 just 4-5 years ago to 33-35 today. This has primarily served as a retention & performance tool, with the majority of these promotes being Non-Equity Partners (NEPs) so as not to overly dilute the profit pool for more senior partners. Read more.
Consultancies head to AI-focused Davos
The development of a robust international AI governance framework, the evolving geopolitical landscape and the climate crisis are all set to be dominant topics at the WEF’s 54th annual meeting in Davos. The consulting industry is seeking to play its part on this global stage, with McKinsey, BCG, FTI, LEK, Deloitte among many others participating. Read more.
The News 📰
Head of EU PE to become Bain CEO - Christophe De Vusser, the first European in this role, takes over from Manny Maceda. Bain's revenue doubled under Maceda, focusing on digital advisory and acquisitions. De Vusser brings experience from Procter & Gamble and as a partner in Bain's Brussels office. Read more.
Deloitte rolls out AI Chatbot - ‘PairD’ is in the process of being rolled out to 75,000 employees in Europe and the Middle East for tasks like creating presentations and writing emails and code. Developed internally, this tool aims to enhance productivity, although caution has also advised for the accuracy of its outputs. Read more.
McKinsey settles $78m over opioids - McKinsey has settled claims that its work with Purdue Pharma contributed to the U.S. opioid crisis. This settlement, which still requires court approval, includes establishing a fund to reimburse insurers and others for opioid-related costs. McKinsey denies wrongdoing but aims to avoid prolonged litigation. Read more.
Alvarez & Marsal announces DiligenceGPT - A&M has launched DiligenceGPT, a generative AI platform designed to enhance PE diligence processes. This platform, developed by A&M's PE Performance Improvement group, offers rapid insights by analysing documents, helping PE practitioners efficiently evaluate investments. Read more.
Best of the rest: Roland Berger moves into Water Consulting, Microsoft adds Copilot key, PE targets UK accounting firms, Grant Thornton UK CEO steps down, Accenture acquires German pricing firm.
Chart of the Week 📊
Open-source AI models are catching up with private ones:
This week’s edition is brought to you by:
Case With AI revolutionises case interview prep with a 100% AI-powered, interactive chatbot. Tailored to each user, it offers personalised coaching and precise feedback aligned with MBB benchmarks. Find out more.
Working Effectively
Tech Tools 💾
This research paper shows how to improve ChatGPT’s answers by 50%:
The Coffee Break ☕️
From Soren’s newsletter, our current favourite thing.
Contribute 🛣️
That’s all folks. Don’t forget your timesheets.
[INSERT CONSULTANT HERE] & Strategy Corner
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appreciate the link to Bsharat's thoughtful paper - thanks!
Congratulations on 1000!