Essential ideas for brainstorming?

Hi there,

I would be happy to share my thoughts on your question:

• First of all, can you please provide a proposal that I can review? There is no point in coaches presenting their approaches when it is you who is currently preparing for the interviews and wants to learn how to do it.
• Moreover, while there are many different options to your questions, it really depends on the specific client situation you are facing.

You can find more on this topic here: How to succeed in the final interview round.

If you would like a more detailed discussion on how to best prepare for your upcoming pre-interview assessments and/or interviews, please don't hesitate to contact me directly.

Best,

Hagen

Hi!

Your question is a little bit too broad. The ideas would depend on the specifics of the case. It is one thing to create ideas to improve profits of an Airline industry, other to do the same to a Packaged Goods one - and if you’re mentioning the same points for both, you’re doing it wrong.

What I advise you to come up with good ideas regardless of the case is:

1) Learn the basics of industries that often are cased. You may find it in casebooks, websites and even here on Prep Lounge.

2) Use a MECE structure to force you come up ideas. In case you feel lost, you may rely on known ones such as the 4Ps, or BCG matrix (whatever makes sense for that specific case). That also helps you communicate your ideas in an organized manner, which is key, often overlooked and may cost you an offer. Studying for the first part of the case (structuring) should help you with that. 

3) Use a proxy to come up with ideas. For instance, you may know little about executive train services, but you probably know a little about the executive airline one.

4) After each case related to an industry you don’t know much about, invest 10min to research it and do the brainstorm part again using what you discovered. 10/10 times you’ll find opportunities to improve and this exercise will help you consolidate this ideas in your mind.

Good luck in your preparation, feel free to contact me if you could be benefited by professional guidance.

Best,

Mari

Hey!

It depends on the exact question! For my mentees it often helps to keep some frameworks in mind - this does not mean that you are using them / present them to the interviewer. However, it helps to brainstorm. 

examples I often keep in mind, independent of category: 

• Market Expansion
• Product Innovation
• Customer Retention & Acquisition
• Operational Efficiency
• Partnerships & Alliances
• Digital Transformation
• Regulatory & Compliance Optimization
• Talent & Workforce Management
• Pricing Strategies
• Brand Positioning & Awareness
• Sustainability Initiatives
• Risk Management & Mitigation
• Process Automation
• Supply Chain Optimization
• Customer Experience Enhancemen

Alessa :)

When you're asked to brainstorm on something, I recommend this approach: 

1. Clarify the scope / objective: Candidates often go heads down (or start talking) without clearly understanding the question. If it's obvious, jump right in. If not, ask a few questions. Let's assume you're brainstorming ways to drive revenue growth. Make sure you know over what time period, for which segments/products/locations/geographies, and have a magnitude of growth that would be "good enough" ($5M vs. $500M is big difference). Some of these things may have already been addressed. If it's unclear at this point. ASK AWAY!
2. Ask for a few seconds to organize your thoughts: You may to always get it, but it's a good idea to take 30secs before you jump in.
3. Develop 3-4 MECE categories
4. Ideate with your interviewer
5. Prioritize 1-2 ideas 

Please restart your case prep. This is nowhere close to where you need to be.

Remember, brainstorming is NOT a random list of ideas.

Brainstorming is "quick" frameworking. It's still highly tailored and organized like frameworking.

Please work through the following:

The Most Common Pitfalls in Case Interview Preparation
 

Dos and Don'ts in a Case Interview
 

How to Shift Your Mindset to Ace the Case

End-to-end case interview training – from beginner to advanced 

Hi there,

It's a two step process:

1. Learn brainstorming techniques

Rather than learning a fixed set of ideas, focus on learning brainstorming and ideation techniques. There are several systematic ways to improve your ability to create broad, deep and insightful brainstorming answers (that's what they want to see). You need to learn them and understand when they are useful.

I discuss many of them in my book but also do offer a free course on it. Reach out if you are interested.

2. Internalize it and practice

It's like going to the gym. If you want your muscles to grow, you need to put in the effort.

It's the same with brainstorming. Practice high-quality brainstorming drills and questions with and without taking time. 

During skill building, take some time to think about your answers and gradually decrease the time you take to think about them.

All the best,

Florian

Hey there, 

Brainstorming is really an extension of structuring. You still want it to be structured and MECE and not a random set of ideas. 

Also, it needs to be nuanced and relevant to the case prompt and questions

Feel free to reach out if you'd like to practice brainstorming 

All the best