In general, how should be a structured response to a creativity question in a case study ?

Hi,

It's a great question and one that many candidates struggle with, but I don't think you are really going to get what you want out of this question from a post like this. 

The theory behind this isn't complicated, but its your ability to enact that theory and think on the spot that is complicated. 

Im simplifying here quite abit, but the theory basically says that you need to employ critical thinking and the correct logic to generate a MECE breakdown. Unfortunately that's as far as the theory goes and there's no one fixed formula or way you can rely on to always get to the right answer.

To get better at this, you need to be able to practice and get quality feedback. I know that because that's how I also learnt on the job :)

Hi! Here's a couple of points that might help you. When they ask you an open/ creativity question most interviewers are looking for:

1. Your ability to come up with a MECE approach to assess all possible solutions. Example: How can Company A increase its revenues? To increase revenues, Company A can launch initiatives to increase price (and you list here all possible initiatives on price), launch initiatives to increase volumes (…), launch new revenue streams (…), etc.

2. Your ability to go through/ prioritize the options with a logical method. Example: How can Company A cut its fixed costs? I would assess each fixed cost item starting from the biggest to the smallest, etc.

Try focusing on these aspects next time! I hope this helps.

It would be helpful to work through an example really - if you can add a baseline question, in your question.

Theoretically speaking - most ‘creativity’ questions in cases are around brainstorming of ideas to ‘improve’ something. Profit, market share, revenue, etc.

Your buckets would typically follow the broad areas of improvement (e.g. Volume, Price, Cost), and then your ideas could follow a certain approach like 4P (Product, Price, Place, Promotion).

Alternatively, your buckets could be focusing on areas of the business (e.g. customer facing, operational, supplier facing).

We could go on and create many more variations of buckets - suffice it to say creativity is not really about coming up with a path-breaking and new solution to something (unless the interviewer is pressing you to think out of the box).

Now coming to out-of-the-box creativity - there is no method to it in real-life - and ideally would be a difficult beast to tame into a structured approach as well (wouldn't get called as out-of-the-box anymore if you put it in boxes, no?)

Hi there, 

What do you mean by creativity question? 

.. and then “how should be a structured response” - you mean how to structure such a response? 

The better you can explain what exactly you are after (& also why) the better of an answer you could get (aka more tailored for you). 

Best, 

Ariadna 

First, there are no creativity questions in case studies. Creativity is not being tested. Structured thinking, structured problem solving, thorough analysis, and business understanding are.

Second, you have to build an issue true, or simply “divide” the scope of potential answers in 2 or 3 large (and MECE options). Or alternatively, if you can think about it as a process (e.g. customer journey, value chain) that's something you can use instead.

Which leads me to a third point… “general” does not really work here. You need multiple ways to approach this in your toolbox. You do that by answering a lot of qualitative questions and applying my 2nd point.

Hi there,

There are two aspects to consider:

a. the content

b. the communication

Content

The content should not be too different from any other structuring question, a broad and deep deliberation of a question, e.g., what could be ways to increase customer satisfaction? You can break this down into some general top-level categories, which you then expand into some lower level ideas (top-down) or you work you way up from something more granular to something more aggregate (bottom-up). 

What you need to learn here are brainstorming techniques. Reach out. I have a free document on it!

Communication

Same with the communication. You need to communicate your insights top-down, with structure (signposting and numbering).

Brainstorming should not result in an unstructured laundry list of ideas!

Cheers,

Florian

Hi there,

First of all, I would be happy to share my thoughts on your question:

• First of all, it would be nice to hear an example from you first that I can say something about to make it more concrete.
• Moreover, I don't think there is one right way to structure your answer. Rather, what matters is that you structure it at all, and that's something I consistently fail to see in candidates.

If you would like a more detailed discussion on how to best prepare for your upcoming interviews, please don't hesitate to contact me directly.

Best,

Hagen