Finished!

Well, not exactly... but today was the end of the first half of the GP program. It seems like time is flying by. The past two weeks have reminded me of coming to the end of the semester at college when all your projects and assignments come due. In addition to our regular workload, there were also a couple longer-term projects that had to be finished before the break. Consequently, the days (and nights) have been packed and sleep was lower on the priority list. However, though there was a lot of work, it wasn't too stressful, which makes a big difference.
A couple of the sessions we've had recently include Present with Power and Strategic Problem Solving. The Present with Power session was focused on communicating with impact. The consultant shared a number of really valuable principles to keep in mind when creating a presentation and was also a rich source of tips and tricks. I was amazed how quickly he could take a situation and craft the perfect way of communicating, quite a skill to have. After this session, the bar was really raised for our next presentations! Shortly afterwards, we had to individually present an overview of our local practice - what kind of work we do and what our local market was like. Hearing each person describe their work highlighted a number of the similarities and differences across territories and also gave me a much better understanding of the range of services PwC provides, especially in the Advisory line of service.
The Strategic Problem Solving module presented a framework for approaching a problem and was based on the McKinsey model of analyzing an issue. The theory they presented - define your key question, construct an Issues Tree that addresses everything you'll need to know to answer your question, organize the research, conduct the analysis, and determine the results - was very logical and was especially helpful in showing how a large question or issue could become manageable with the right approach. It was a 2-day session, with most of the time allocated to team exercises. In our teams, we were given a large, business case and had to apply the strategic problem solving concepts to solve it with the final output being a presentation of recommendations to the company's board. This project was one of the culprits that contributed to the lack of sleep, as most teams were in the office until past midnight finalizing their results/presentation. The exercise led nicely into our coming strategic projects.
While the first half of the program is structured to teach us various analytical, leadership, and communication tools, the second half is focused on a strategic project where we can implement and practice much of what we learned. However, the stakes are higher because each strategic project is sponsored by one or more senior partners who have a vested interest in the output. There are 3 project teams in Berlin and the one I am working on is developing a strategy for the Public Sector in Germany. It is sponsored by the leader of the German Public Sector. Luckily for our team, his office is in the same building as GP, so hopefully we'll have plenty of opportunities to interact with him during the course of the project.
Well, that's a summary of the program content of the past couple weeks. In the next day or two I'll also post more about some of my recent weekend trips. I'm coming back to Baltimore this Saturday and will be around for almost 2 weeks, so hopefully I'll have a chance to catch up with many of you during that time.