10 things I learnt from my first job - A kaleidoscope of consulting memories!

As I complete 13 years of corporate career this month, I reflected on my journey and penned down the top 10 learnings from my opening innings that have stayed with me.

I started my career in management consulting and it took me on a rollercoaster ride across the length and breadth of India. I must admit that time changes one’s perspective and the following version of my truth today may have been tinted by the decade that went by.

Industry #1: Aviation – New airport in a metro city sought business development support to generate demand for their cargo terminal operations. The project involved mapping the industries that operate in the hinterland of the metro city, understanding the motivations of decision makers from various fields, recognizing the common threads in their requirements, and building a persuasive pitch. While this was an exciting business development work and it helped deliver an immediate boost to the cargo business pipeline, the more sustainable benefit we delivered was to showcase the need for a business development function and shape the job description for this function.

Learning #1 – Capability building is the best form of value addition for any organization as it is the only way to sustain business performance and leave a legacy.

Industry #2: Chemicals – A corporate group with multiple chemicals business units sought corporate strategy and restructuring inputs. In a process manufacturing setup, pricing and profitability of the business is tightly connected with the inputs. As a conglomerate, this family controlled a large share of chemical manufacturing ingredients used to make industrial and agricultural inputs. Their business was stagnating in the face of strong competition. We built a corporate restructuring plan that would help each new entity leverage an end-to-end value chain to become competitive in their respective demand segment.

Learning #2 – Nothing unites like adversity. It took competition to unite a splintered family business and prioritize survival over individual ego.

Industry #3: Auto – Client sought business strategy to revive growth in their stagnating business. Client’s core strength was re-engineering technology and process IP shared by an international partner to manufacture a low-cost variant relevant to India market. Their challenge was not having an R&D department that could innovate from scratch to build a new product pipeline while their existing products were in the decline phase of their product lifecycle. Options before them were either to build the R&D capability or to seek new technology partnership with an international partner. Since the original successful products were pioneers in their market segments, the revered founder and chairman of the business had developed a blind belief in his firm’s technology prowess.

Learning #3 – It takes courage to be brutally honest about what makes you tick, and strategy can only be built around a unique strength.

Industry #4: Pumps – The client sought help to step up effectiveness of their channel partner engagement. I got an opportunity to travel to different Indian states in India to interact with dealers and learn how they viewed their relationship with their principal, the brand. I got a firsthand exposure to the entrepreneurial spirit of small and medium scale businessmen who dominate the Indian retail landscape. I experienced the pride of first-generation entrepreneurs and the aspiration of second-generation entrepreneurs to expand business to new heights. The traders were well-networked in their territory and had a deep understanding of the consumer profile and trends in consumption.

Learning #4 – The value of an intermediary in a product supply chain stems from their understanding of end consumer’s unique needs. The debate of mom & pop stores vs. organized retail boils down to whether the former is fulfilling customized needs of a niche customer segment.

Industry #5: Coal mining – Client roped us in to do commercial due diligence for an international coal mine being acquired by them to fuel a power generation project. We built a comprehensive financial model capturing discounted cash flows to estimate the value of power generation project powered by imported coal. In principle, the value of this project would determine the valuation that our client could pay to acquire the coal mine.

Learning #5 – A deal happens only when either one of buyer or seller is more desperate than the other. The less desperate party in a deal decides the valuation. Financial model serves the buyer in reverse engineering the input assumptions that justify the discovered valuation.

Industry #6: Rare Metal – A client approached us to assess how demand for a rare metal could grow if it were to be made available at lower price. The client needed to decide on a capital expenditure that could reduce operating costs. This was an exciting problem statement of tracing a hypothetical demand curve for the rate metal. We studied multiple use-case industries where the properties of this metal are superior to the cheaper alternative being used. We had to reach out to experts in a wide array of highly technical fields to study materials evolution. No amount of reading could substitute the wisdom that resides in the minds of technical experts especially when it comes to assessing commercial feasibility.

Learning #6 – Nothing beats good old field work when it comes to persuading people to share information. If you land up on a person’s door, there is a good chance that the person will talk to you.

Industry #7: Transformers – A transformer manufacturing client sought to improve throughput at their plants. A thorough five why analysis revealed that frequent changes in order prioritization was the underlying issue. Order re-prioritization was the result of demanding clients pushing for faster delivery. The transformer that gets deprioritized will be parked while the priority order is assembled. This resulted in an asynchronous and inefficient production line. The client did not have clarity on whether they would be positioned as a cost leader or service differentiator.

Learning #7 – Cost leadership and service differentiation would involve different approaches and this positioning was an essential boundary condition for the problem of throughput maximization. Defining the boundary conditions of a problem is an integral part of framing the problem.

Industry #8: Shipyard – A top corporate group sought our perspective on whether to invest in a shipyard (ship manufacturing) facility. Shipping is a cyclical industry (one with recurring peaks and troughs) and the trick lies in predicting where the industry is at present in the market cycle. A detailed analysis of shipping demand and supply revealed that the global shipping industry was nearing a cyclical peak and would soon start to decline. We advised the client not to invest at that point of time. 2 years down the line, we were proven right.

Learning #8 – Certain high capex industries like shipyards are cyclical in nature and in such industries, the core competency lies in ability to judge where the industry is in the cycle at a given point of time.

Industry #9: EPC – An engineering, procurement and construction firm engaged us to build a risk assessment framework for EPC projects that would determine the premium to be charged. This involved tracing the approval hierarchy for a new project proposal in the firm and building a framework that captures the criteria used by various function heads to assess the project.

Learning #9 – The decision frameworks that reside in the minds of experienced function heads can and must be codified at appropriate intervals to enable systemic capability building for the organization.

Industry #10: QSR – An international quick service restaurant chain that offers healthy food approached us to assess product-market fit for India entry. We analyzed the restaurant landscape in top cities, met entrepreneurs who were running similar small outlets, conducted customer surveys, and concluded that there was a clear gap for an organized health QSR offering. Where we saw an opportunity, our client perceived risk as nobody had yet succeeded with similar offering at scale.

Learning #10 – It is one’s perspective that determines how a fact is interpreted. Where a pessimist sees risk, an optimist sees opportunity.

Management consulting offered me a great launch pad with rich learnings on how the corporate world works. I also picked up a few life skills along the way - storytelling, financial modeling, quality research, and stakeholder management. Last but not the least, I discovered that consulting is not my cup of tea as I was yearning to own and manage things end-to-end. This is when a young ambitious ecommerce firm found me and I discovered my Ikigai. Yet if I could start over again, I would choose management consulting any day!