Conversations with Consultants

Simon sits down with DUCG to discuss his journey from Oxford and Cambridge, to Partner at Boston Consulting Group (BCG). At BCG, Simon focuses on Healthcare, Operations and is an Industry 4.0 expert. He gives insight into how the pandemic has affected the supply chains of pharmaceutical companies and also advises students on how to prepare for an interview with BCG.

Join us as we sit down with Country Managing Director of Accenture, Alastair Blair as we chat about how he went from studying engineering in Trinity to then joining Accenture with a particular focus on financial services. We also chat about the future of Ireland's economy, the digital literacy and skills of young people, advice for breaking into the consulting industry and what makes Accenture, Accenture! 

We are proud to present an episode with Deloitte where we have three hosts, three consultants and three conversations all about being a consultant in Deloitte within Human Capital, Finance and Performance as well as Systems Engineering Consultants sharing their various insightful tips on why Deloitte stands out and makes it different from the rest! You can apply to their graduate roles through their website. 

Barry sits down with Trinity Alumna Muireann Kelliher to discuss her career journey starting at McKinsey & Company before entering the Corporate Realm. During this time, she worked in prestigious roles with both Glanbia and Glen Dimplex. After exploring both worlds, Muireann then went on to found her own boutique consultancy firm. Quite the career story and copious insight shared!

We were delighted to sit down with Sorcha McKenna, who is a Partner at McKinsey & Company and leads its Dublin office.  Sorcha is also a TCD microbiology graduate.

In this episode, Sorcha discusses her transition from science to consulting, how Covid-19 has and will continue to affect consulting firms, her favorite executives, and more.

We are delighted to welcome Andy Maguire as our second guest on "Conversations with Consultants." 

Andy has certainly climbed the consulting corporate ladder since graduating from Trinity with a degree in Engineering and maths. 

Since then, he has accumulated 12 years in banking and another 20 in the consulting realm. 

Andy began his consulting career with Gemini Consulting before joining AT Kearney in 1997. After one year with AT Kearney, Andy joined Boston Consulting Group.

It is with BCG that Andy has spent the majority of his career. In fact, His first stint with BCG culminated in Andy becoming Managing Partner for BCG UK and Ireland as well as being a member of its global executive committee.

After 16 years with BCG, Andy joined HSBC as their Group Chief Operating Officer, a role he held for nearly 6 years. HSBC is the largest bank in Europe with over 230,000 employees and 56 billion USD in revenue as of 2019.

Andy is now back in the consulting world as the Chair of Global Banking at BCG, while simultaneously honoring the role of Chairman of the Board of Thought Machine, a leading UK cloud fintech company.

Hermann Simon - Founder, Simon-Kucher & Partners

Once cited as the most influential management thinker after Peter Drucker, Hermann Simon is undoubtedly an expert in pricing, strategy, and marketing. He is the only German in the “thinkers50 Hall of Fame” among the most important management thinkers in the world. His involvement in this field has been characterized as being a professor, author, speaker as well as the founder of Simon-Kucher & Partners – a world-leading pricing, strategy & marketing consulting firm with over 1400 employees across 39 offices globally.

After starting out in academia in Germany, Herr Simon went on to become a visiting professor at many leading universities such as Harvard Business School, INSEAD, MIT before founding Simon-Kucher & Partners and becoming CEO in 1995. Throughout his academic and professional career, Herr Simon has published over 35 books including bestsellers Hidden Champions and Power Pricing whilst having also published an autobiography in January 2021.

Transcript: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PukeT689wVHVsC1oq_upEgfVVgkgU0q0/view?usp=sharing

Summary Notes: https://drive.google.com/file/d/13LR7K_P73Iwff_QV-76FRA0CHdXA9uAs/view?usp=sharing