Page 126 - The McKinsey Mind

04 (083-102B) chapter 4 1/29/02 4:50 PM Page 101

Interpreting the Results 101

EXERCISES
• Get a copy of an annual report—preferably from your own
company. Based on the information in the annual report,
decide whether the company’s stock is a good investment.
Give five reasons why, in order of their importance.
• Thinking about your own organization, what are the five
or six issues on which the CEO should focus? How does
your job affect these issues, and what could you do to have
more impact?
• Make a list of the strengths and limitations of your organi-
zation. Put them into a MECE categorization. Think about
whether your organization’s recent projects have played to
those strengths and limitations. How could future projects
be better suited to them?

CONCLUSION

As we’ve shown, interpreting the data has two components. Inter-
nally, you piece together the facts into a coherent picture that leads
you to a recommendation. Externally, you assemble certain facts
into an end product that you will use to communicate your rec-
ommendation to your client. At this point, you have seen the prob-
lem-solving process from start to finish. We believe that if you
follow the recommendations we have made so far, you will be able
to improve the quality and speed of decision making in your orga-
nization. Your work doesn’t end there, however. Now, you have
to communicate your ideas to the critical decision makers in your
organization, and possibly to the organization as a whole. For that,
you will need the presentation strategies in the next chapter.