Monthly Memo: November 2022

Monthly Memo: November 2022

Welcome back to Evolution Partners' monthly newsletter, The Bottom Line. With this series, we hope to provide you with insights into the latest news this month, from finance and technology to ESG. We also provide updates on our team and company news.

We'd love to know your thoughts - get in touch and leave a comment below. Tell us what struck a chord with you this month, and join the conversation.

In the news this month

Rishi Sunak launches "Help for Households", a campaign that aims to inform the British public on how to save energy while staying warm this winter.

Spotlight on Corruption, an anti-corruption group are requesting that the British Business Bank give full disclosure on which small businesses accessed the bounce back loan scheme during the pandemic.

Quants vs. Poets -? Emily Capon

The distinction between hard and soft skills in a business setting is a mainstay of postgraduate conversation. Graduates in liberal arts or humanities degrees are apt to ask themselves how the ‘soft’ skills of thinking critically, and analysing wide swathes of deeply-buried meaning, can be applied successfully in a professional career, especially in financial services and in management consulting. The same can be said for their ‘quant’ counterparts, whose proclivity to data interpretation and numerical competence may threaten to preclude them from as seamlessly developing the more ‘qualitative’ competencies their liberal arts peers have practised and perfected by nature of their degree discipline.?

Such a distinction, between ‘quants’ and ‘poets’, and between their associated skills, obviously lacks nuance and can be reductive. An economics graduate could easily exhibit a natural instinct towards effective communication and problem-solving more readily associated with a liberal arts background. An English graduate’s critical thinking skills can be enhanced in a business setting by the development of skills expected from a graduate with a more ‘quantitative’ background.?

The epithet ‘quants’ has been applied to those who describe themselves as strong problem solvers – in short, those whose defining, essential characteristic in a business setting is a high IQ. Their ‘poet’ peers are seen as excelling in fields requiring high EQ and RQ, ergo communication. Quant skills can typically be seen in computer scientists and mathematicians; poets naturally find their career paths in people-management and public speaking.?

In financial services and in management consulting, both types of skill are essential. People, by nature, do not fit perfectly into a single box, a single skill type, or a single personality. Graduates of all disciplines, and the consultants, managers and partners they become, are an amalgamation of a number of skills that fit into both camps. A melting pot such as this, of skills, experiences and competencies, is what makes a management consulting firm a success.?

The ‘quant’ in us, as management consultants, is the side of us adept at precise calculation, numerical estimation, equations and formulae. For a humanities graduate, these skills can seem difficult to master, worlds away from natural competencies, at the beginning of their career. To define these graduates as ‘quant’ or ‘poet’, or to allow them to apply such labels to themselves in anything more than a loose indication of habitual aptitudes, fails to recognise that the abilities both quants and poets enjoy can be learned, acquired, through diligent work and practice.?

?An ideal team of consultants is a heterogeneous mix. The ‘quant’ with near-perfect skills of numerical analysis may find building and nurturing relationships with clients more daunting, while the poet’s first attempt at financial reporting could pose its own challenges. A career in management consulting combines these abilities seamlessly within a team, if it is an effective one, and allows consultants to learn from one another and from themselves as they embark on projects requiring them to exercise muscles never used, or at least left dormant.?

At Evolution Partners, we pride ourselves on cultivating a team of consultants with diverse natural proclivities, backgrounds and experiences. We are made up of graduates of Music, Philosophy, English, Economics and Politics, to name a few, and enjoy the privilege every day of learning from one another to encourage fresh perspectives. Behind every great poet is a great quant, and vice versa.?

In a recent poll, we asked our audience whether their current profession was related to the subject they pursued at university. Often young people are encouraged to pursue subjects that they are interested in, rather than what will be the most applicable to their future career. Although there may be significant pressure to choose courses that are deemed more relevant, our poll results prove that individuals should commit to degrees that they want to, rather than feel they need to.

Out of 79 respondents, over half (53%) indicated that their degrees were not related to their current profession, showing the versatility and respective value of all disciplines.?

Team News

Evolution Partners Student Ambassador Scheme

Evolution Partners has launched a Student Ambassador Scheme!

Over the coming months, we are looking to recruit students from UK universities to represent Evolution Partners. We do not have any restrictions in terms of degree discipline or year of study, though you must have a clear interest in consulting. In return for being a point of contact for Evolution Partners at your university and helping us navigate careers events (both online and in-person), we will give our Ambassadors a comprehensive insight into the overall consulting market. With one-on-one coaching with an EP Partner, you will receive invaluable experience at a boutique management consultancy, with the ability to contribute Thought Leaderships and guest on our podcast, “Evolutionary Exchanges”. Additionally, we are looking to host a one day training session in London, where your travel expenses will be paid and an opportunity to intern with us in the future will also be available.

If you are interested, please do get in touch and email us on [email protected]

Emily's Travels

Over the past 5 weeks, our consultant Emily Capon has been working remotely from South America, visiting stunning locations and embracing the Latin culture. Starting in Ecuador and spending a few weeks there, she has recently flown to Colombia. Here’s what she has to say about her travels so far:

"I’ve been at Evolution Partners for nearly a year now, working as a consultant in the UK office. Before I joined the team on a full-time basis, I had planned to take some time to travel in late 2022. The Evolution Partners team and I arranged for me to be able to take this time travelling, working on a remote, part-time basis - fortunately for me! I’m really lucky to have the opportunity to travel around South America until Christmas, spending some time on my work and keeping in touch with the team, but also enjoying the chance to explore a completely new continent.?

Colombia has been amazing so far. I’ve had the opportunity to learn salsa in the city where it was born, Cali, and visited traditional Colombian coffee farms in Salento. I’m now in Medellín, which is fabulously lively!”

The SENsational Foundation's #WalkForInclusion2022

As it comes to the end of November, the #WalkforInclusion2022 for the SENsational Foundation comes to a close. Evolution Partner’s Hong Kong, London and Paris teams have been participating in the Walkathon from the 1st October 2022 and have collectively walked a total of 1473.3km. We are thrilled to have exceeded our initial goal of 873km and have now walked the equivalent distance of Hong Kong to Cambodia. We are especially impressed with our star walker and Hong Kong Managing Partner, Bob Chapman who averaged 10.97km per day!

We are so happy to have supported the SENsational Foundation over the past two months and believe they are doing invaluable work, raising awareness for a great cause.?

"The SENsational Foundation has helped people with disabilities in Hong Kong find employment since 2013 by offering customised training to potential candidates and to companies looking to hire them. The global Walk for Inclusion 2022 is a virtual walkathon to engage employers and the public on disability awareness, create connections and raise funds that translate into greater workplace inclusion and support for people with disabilities.”

Evolution Partners' Health and Wellness Series

This month, Evolution Partners released the second instalment of our Health and Wellness Series, which focuses on Financial Health. In addition to releasing a white paper, our Hong Kong Managing Partner and Head of Health and Wellness Bob Chapman spoke to analyst, Harsita Raja about the importance of financial wellness and what Evolution Partner’s Health and Wellness Series aims to address in our podcast, Evolutionary Exchanges.?

Our Podcast?

Get in touch with us?

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For more information about what Evolution Partners can do for your business, or for careers information, email us at: [email protected]?