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I no longer travel (too old for that crap) but things I found helpful:-

1. Complete separate set of toiletries to the ones at home to save getting them in and out of the suitcase every week.
   
2. Invest in a good suitcase because you will use it heavily. Personally I use a Rimowa which you pay through the nose for but which are indestructible (and from personal experience in the very unlikely event of major damage are repaired free of charge even when it's a clear case of customer misuse). Other brands that people rate include Tumi and Briggs & Riley while airline employees themselves use Legit and TravelPro.
   
3. Learn how to pack a suitcase efficiently. There are plenty of Youtube videos. Rolling means more can go in and wrinkles are less likely. If you have to wear formal shirts, rolling won't be possible but slipping in tissue paper between each shirt and using a shirt folder like this speeds life up. If wrinkles do appear, try hanging it on the hotel bathroom with the shower turned as hot as possible and close the door for 10 minutes.
   
4. Sign up for a frequent flyer card and hotel loyalty card at the first opportunity. If you have to travel that much, at least make it so you get something back from it. Get a good credit card too.
   
5. Invest in a high quality several metre long USB cord to charge any electronic items you may need such as e-cigarettes, personal and work mobile phones, PSPs and the like. If you think that all USB cords are one and the same think again. Do some research first - a business insider article on it is here. Often you will find a USB port behind or on the side of the TV in your hotel room. If you will need to travel via hire car, get a cigarette lighter charger too.
   
6. If travelling internationally, consider investing in a plug adaptor. There are universal ones available via Amazon. I have an all in one from CleverTrips that handles all countries.
   
7. Once you find a decent taxi driver, ask them if they're willing to transport you regularly. One McK Engagement Manager I used to know based out of Milan had his regular taxi driver rock up with two cold beers when he landed home on Friday afternoon.
   
8. It's incredibly easy to put on weight if constantly on the road. Be very careful with what you eat. Use hotel gyms if you can.
   
9. The less you carry, the easier life is. Don't fall into the mistake of having check in luggage unless absolutely essential.
   
10. Always be nice to the employees you meet at the car hire desk, security, gate, hotel reception and even more so to the flight attendents on the plane. You will see these people regularly if it's the same place every week and it's good manners anyway. You will find it pays back, they will do their best to help you out if/when shit hits the fan.
    
11. Get organised. I had to use a centralised travel booking tool (which is fine). I set up an automater on my mac to auto forward it to the google calendar I share with my now-wife so she would know what flight I'm taking and when. If they don't integrate automatically, use TripIt to help the process.
    
12. Don't forget to pack business cards to hand out.
    
13. If you suffer from Nomophobia (low battery anxiety) get yourself a monster powerbank. It's easy to get ones nudging 40,000mA now.
    
14. Got a hotel fridge? Stack it with healthy foods. Boiled eggs are healthy and have protein. Stash some fresh fruit, granola and yoghurt for a healthy breakfast. A veggie platter will last you several days.
    
15. Understand the business culture of where you're going. Countries differ widely. Example: small talk in Germany is not a done thing and they're quite formal - you should address someone you haven't met as Herr or Frau until you have gotten to know them. In most of Scandinavia punctuality is a big thing. 9am really does mean 9am, not 5 past 9.
    
16. http://www.seatguru.com helps you pick the best available seat on the plane rather than accidentally being allocated the one right next to the loo.
    
17. Try to avoid indirect flights.
    
18. Try to understand idosyncracies of flights. Heathrow - permanently delayed. City - one of the worlds best and an absolute joy to fly out of but hard to get to for many. Dallas in the summer - thunderstorms or hurricanes and delays. Phoenix during monsoon - haboob time. Chicago in the winter - threat of snow storms causing delays. Munich? Miles and miles from the city centre.
    
19. If it's winter wear your winter coat for the journey including getting on the plane because those things occupy a helluva lot of space in your suitcase otherwise.
    
20. Have a backup credit card in your suitcase in case you lose your wallet.
    
21. Consider getting a loyalty card app like Stocard. Scan all your loyalty cards in, throw the things away. Cue a thinner wallet. Consider also getting electronic boarding cards when you check in. I can't remember if android do it but apple wallet definitely does - just don't run out of battery (see earlier comment about having a powerbank).
    
22. Consider investing in a kindle when you have downtime. Also consider investing in a netflix account - you can plug the hotel TV into your laptop and watch your favourite TV series or films on the bigger screen.
    
23. Get really good noise cancelling headphones. These significantly help sleep on overnight long haul flights and also in noisy offices. I'm wearing some right now.
    
24. Consider prebuilding spotify playlists. I have calming ones, pump up ones, sleeping ones, wake up ones.
    
25. Check the expenses policy with your company, but consider getting a receipt tracker if they accept photos of them. Concur is one example of an app that does this.
    
    26). Do. Not. Fall. Behind. On. Your. Expenses. Ever. This irritates senior management a lot. Do not be that guy or girl.
    
    

27. Have an emergency medical kit. Mine has painkillers, plasters, small pack of tissues, chapstick, some of those packets to dunk in hot water when you have a cold or flu and cough sweets.
    
    
28. It sounds obvious, but make a note of the emergency exit instructions on the back of the hotel door before you asleep. From personal experience it's not fun trying to figure it out half asleep at 3am.
    
    
29. Set multiple alarms on your phone. Never trust a hotel alarm clock. They're often hard to work out and sometimes don't even go off.
    
    
30. If you have the time to visit a local site of interest, go for it!
    
    EDIT:
    
    
31. Have digital backups on a cloud (e.g. Google Drive or MS One Drive) of scans of your credit cards and passport. It would be prudent to also have a note of the phone numbers for your bank and credit card for lost cards.
    
    
32. Ref the seatguru.com thing above, oag.com will tell you which type of airplane will fly that day.
    
    
33. Pack antibacterial gel for your hands. Planes, trains and airports can be some of the most unhygenic places in the world. It means you stay hygienic and less likely to get ill. As any well seasoned traveller will tell you, the only thing worse than being ill is being ill in a hotel room hundreds if not thousands of miles from your own bed.

I'm assuming you're going to be traveling M-Th, so this is based off of that assumption.

• Clothes to pack: 4 pairs of underwear, 3 pairs of dress socks, 2 pairs of workout socks, 1-2 workout shorts/shirts, workout shoes, three dress shirts and two pairs of pants. You'll be wearing your dress shoes, a shirt, and pants on the plane on Monday, so you're good with three shirts in your bag. Pants are okay to repeat a day, especially when traveling.
  
  
• Toiletries to pack: Face wash, contact solution & case and spare pair of contacts (if needed), toothbrush, toothpaste, hair products, vitamins, aspirin, and electric razor (if you're a male). Hotels should have shampoo/conditioner/soap, so no need to pack those.
  
  
• Accessories: Portable USB charger (i have this one and it works great), phone/laptop/tablet charger/cables, NICE headphones (seriously, invest in a good pair), wireless mouse, and your standard basic office supplies (notepad, pens/pencils, etc.)
  
  
• Luggage: Never check a bag. Seriously - never. You'll want to spend the least amount of time in an airport as possible, and checking a bag is a huge time suck. I have a samsonite carry-on and after a year and a half of travel it is pretty much on its last legs. It's a nice bag, but I would seriously recommend going with Tumi if you can afford the up front investment - it will last much longer and has an excellent warranty. As for a working bag, go with a good messenger bag (I use [this one] (http://www.amazon.com/Samsonite-Xenon-Messenger-Bag-Black/dp/B007B5PP5W/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1404222685&sr=1-1&keywords=samsonite+messenger+bag) and it is great - lots of pockets, good size, and has the strap to hook over a carry-on bag, which is essential. No issues with this bag so far).
  
  
• Other advice: Sign up for loyalty programs and try to stick with one airline/hotel chain. Do some digging to find out which ones will work best for you and then see if they have "Platinum Challenges" or something similar that allows you to earn status at an accelerated rate. If they don't advertise it online, call or e-mail them and ask. The perks of having status are excellent, and if you're traveling a lot it will make it slightly more fun.
  
  That's about all I can think of for now, sorry that's a lot of text. Feel free to message me if you have any questions or want recommendations on anything I've listed above.

This things I didn't think I'd need until I tried them:

1. Far-reaching gym membership. May it be LA Fitness, Equinox, ClassPass, or HealthWorks, it's nice to have an actual gym.
   
2. External Battery. I have this one, and it's currently on sale. It's big, it's heavy, but carries a solid charge. Has three ports.
   
3. Multi-port chargers. Make life easier on the road, and when your client stations you in a conference rooms, they come in handy (for you and your team). I can recommend: Directly into the wall or with an extension cord. Note: I don't have a love for Anker, particularly, but they were all on sale for prime day one year, so I got everything Anker. And their customer service is really solid.
   
4. iPad.
   
5. Noise Cancelling headphones. My go-tos are Bose QC35, but the Momentums and QC30s are pretty awesome too.
   
6. Houseshoes. Judge me, but I love my faux-fur lined $5 slippers from Kohl's. On longhaul flights, I'll get changed into sweats, and slippers. I get weird looks, but I've been told it's actually halfway smart. And it makes hotels feel just a little bit more homey.
   
7. Long phone/ipad chargers. Like the 2.0m ones. Yeah, absolute game changer to me.
   
8. Travel wallet. I like keeping everything in one place, so I can grab-and-go. It rarely gets switched up, it has all my membership cards for airlines and hotels in it. Tickets and printouts and all go in there as well.
   
9. 4-wheel carry on. I know there's been some discussion about dimensions vs. utility, but I think the 4-wheelers are easier to move and navigate with. Maybe it's because the majority of the weight somewhat stays on the wheels, or that if I want to schlep it like a 2 wheeler, I can, I dunno, I prefer them.
   
10. Medications and Vitamins. I'm on a regular vitamin regimen, and when I travel I check for allergies in the places I'm going to, just in case. Especially with some allergy meds you'll have to start taking them a few days before you go.
    
    

For sure!

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I've had several roles in the technology space, from the strategy around a complete digital transformation (ripping out a clients current ERP, CRM, MES, PLM, and HR to implement an API-riddled "modern ecosystem" so those systems could share data), to implementing a continuous improvement framework and sustainment model around a technology implementation. What really got me interested in PM was my first role where I took a custom mobile application from design to deployment while running an Agile team for ~2.5 years. I've been searching for PM jobs on and off for the better part of a year until this opportunity came through the pipeline.

​

As to why I made the switch, I really enjoy working through all the cross-functional portions that comes with launching a new piece of technology. During the lifecycle of a product/feature you have to do strategy (what is the product-market fit), design/development (work with engineers to build a feasible product), and launch work (empower Product Marketing and work with them to find the correct segment/marketing materials). In my experience consulting teams usually focus on one portion of that work, but seeing the lifecycle through falls under the PM because they're there for the long haul.

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Career aspirations include moving along the PM track and eventually leading a team of PMs. Consulting gave me a strong skillset mostly because I had mentors driving my career development, and providing standards to work towards. One of the most rewarding things I found was returning the favor to the new crop of consultants. Definitely looking to do that in my new position once I get more settled down and we build out the PM team a bit more.

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Speaking on career aspirations, if money is one of your main motivators for becoming a PM I might suggest a different line of work. I got a small pay raise to $122,000 living in an expensive area, but the compensation trajectory is much higher if you stay in consulting (i.e. assuming everything had gone well this year I was looking at a raise to $145,000 base). In the short term compensation may be similar if you get a PM job with a FAANG company (especially at the MBA level where everyone is competing for top talent), but if you hit partner you leave your PM counterparts in the dust.

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Getting this role was really luck-based (in addition to practicing for PM interviews for a year). I was initially contacted by a recruiter for this role and ended up hearing nothing after two weeks. So I found someone in the company on LinkedIn and reached out to them (we had gone to the same school). Turns out that person would be my boss and was interested in talking with me! The rest is history (after some harrowing interviews). I guess the moral of the story is if something seems interesting don't stop at the first roadblock.

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I haven't started the PM role yet so what I like/don't like is TBD, but what I really enjoyed working on the custom mobile application was being "the guy" that everyone comes to with questions/ideas/complaints. One minute I'd be talking with customers about how to use the app, the next I'd be talking with our engineering lead about how I could ever design something so stupidly, and finally I'd get called into the office of the program head to run the numbers with her and see if we were really saving $5 million annually in operations cost. It's stressful, but being the ingress point keeps you constantly on your feet.

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Did you know that psychedelics were legal in the 50s/60s and used to treat alcoholism/depression? I sure didn't! I've been reading How to Change your Mind and it has been mind-blowing (pun intended) charting the rise and fall of psychedelics in both research and counter-culture terms.

Man, I'm so late to this thread but hope this doesn't get buried--what you talk about is covered at great length alongside a TON of other empirical evidence and research in a book I love called "The Happiness Advantage."

The argument there is: we think achieving goals makes us happy, but in reality, achieving a state of happiness in life helps us achieve goals. It's a ton of eye-opening research, advice, etc. that I've passed along to others as well as the book itself. Cheers!

Hello!

Last week I was interviewed for an internship role at BCG. This was my first ever case interview, and actually the first time that I've solved a case by myself. I study engineering physics, I don't have much of a business sense and I had practically no time to prepare, so I went in with the mindset that this wouldn't be one of my greatest performances. But to my surprise, it actually felt like both of the case interviews went alright (they also have an "online case" with multiple choice questions, which went horrible, but it seems like the result from this test doesn't really matter too much).

Yesterday I got the info that I didn't make the second round, which I expected, but that they "saw a lot of potential in me". They therefore gave me the ability to apply again this spring, even though their protocol says that you can only apply once a year. They told me to prepare as much as possible, and that's what I intend to to, but I'm no really sure how to go about it. I've bought this book (which hasn't arrived yet) based on a recommendation from BCG, and I've found a friend to study case solving with.

So now to my questions:

• What are your recommendations as to how I should prepare?
  
• How should me and my friend go about case studying? Are there any good resources of example cases that we can use?
  
• Do you have any other book recommendations?
  
  Based on the feedback I got I should focus on improving my case-solving structure, polishing my business judgement and acquiring some more "business savviness". The things they specifically like about me include analytic abilities, mental math, drive and curiosity.
  
  Thanks in advance!

My favorite topic - I'm a headphone nut (not Bt headset) and never put my phone to my head... I also compulsively listen to podcasts and music in transit so have them in all the time. That said, I've never seen a mute button on a cord. I'd love that and have thought it for years but I compulsively use the phone's mute.

My favorites (...and always buy these on sale):

• For calls, the best are Bose MIE2 (or similar). I like them because they're comfortable and you can still hear ambient noise when they ar ein your ear. for this reason I think they're pretty shit headphones for airplanes - it's almost impossible to make laptop/ipad movies loud enough.
  http://www.amazon.com/Bose-MIE2-Mobile-Headset-Black/dp/B007WQ9LSC/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1421263685&sr=8-11&keywords=bose+earphones
  
  
• Overall my go-tos are Klipsch S4i-II. They are noise isolating so I can use them as headphones when napping on a plane, and there is no issue getting great sound no matter the ambient noise. For this reason though, on calls I need to leave one ear out so I do not speak too loud.
  http://www.amazon.com/Klipsch-Image-S4i-II-In-Ear-Headphones/dp/B008X8HZZO/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1421263865&sr=8-3&keywords=klipsch
  
  
• From time to time I find unopened Blackberry headsets in desk drawers- these are great fall-backs as they isolate sound and are high quality. Far superior to Apple's ear-ejection models.
  
  
• For pure sound quality and isolation I've always been a fan of Etymotic. I got them years ago to fit under a motorcycle helmet and have kept using them. I have not bought a pair in years but like their products.
  
  
• Biggest disappointment has been Plantronics BackBeat Go 2 Bluetooth headphones. They make the cord just long enough, and sticky enough to get caught on clothing even more than wired headphones. Super annoying.
  http://www.amazon.com/Plantronics-BackBeat-Wireless-Earbud-Headphones/dp/B00DIOALPE/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1421264259&sr=8-11&keywords=plantronics+bluetooth
  
  

The Jabra Evolve 65 is great, but the 75 is potentially even more comfortable (they're both fine) and I've read that it has a slightly better mic (both are good)...for only a little bit more money:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072JWYJMC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_ghYBCbE8ZAECK

a review of the 75 and 65:

https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-wireless-headset-for-the-office/

Make sure to update the firmware when you get it--it helps.

Also, to the other point mentioned, all the noise cancelling is going to help for your noise to not be heard by the people you're speaking to. Besides good audio quality and volume, not too much you can do to get rid of noise from the other end.

​

Personally I've found there to be few helpful books which directly relate to management consulting / business strategy. The only one that I've found really helpful is:

• Winning - an overall look on business strategies and philosophies used by Jack Welch (former CEO of GE)
  
  But here are some books that are very helpful in developing people / soft skills essential to effective consultants:
  
  
• Getting to Yes - an incredible book on negotating skills.
  
• How to Argue and Win Every Time - not as argumentative as it sounds, this is a great book which is hugely helpful on how to present your positions and how to get the best outcome for everyone in a situation.
  
• Influence - brilliant book on the ways in which we are influenced to do things.
  
• The 48 Laws of Power - a very Machiavellian put pragmatic look on the ways in which personal power is gained / lost.
  
• Vital Lies, Simple Truths - how to recognise self deception that we're all prone to and how to overcome its limitations
  
• The Blank Slate - a mindblowing book on human psychology and what we're naturally predisposed to be. Helps you to better understand people and their motivations in not just business but all aspects of life. Read from Part 2 onwards.

Here's a Bain video with rehearsed interviews that I think does a really good job of showing how a perfect interview goes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbP8QKlXjKg

This is a BCG case they have online that shows a "transcript" of a pretend interview (they also have more practice cases on their site) that also shows how an excellent interview candidate performs:

https://www.bcg.com/en-us/careers/path/consulting/driving-revenue-growth.aspx

I would read, at a minimum Part 3 and Part 4 of this book:

https://www.amazon.com/Case-Interview-Secrets-Interviewer-Consulting/dp/0984183523/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1535150447&sr=8-3&keywords=case+interview

Here's a preplounge math tool to get better at math:

https://www.preplounge.com/en/mental-math.php

For business background, start reading Bloomberg Businessweek. A lot of their articles are very case-like scenarios.

You could also read through cases (without a practice partner) and absorb the kinds of problems/solutions being implemented to get more business sense.

I used this book:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Interview-Success-Edge-Teach-Yourself/dp/1444138871/ref=sr_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1540850999&sr=1-8&keywords=interview+teach+yourself

I'm sure the content is covered in other books but it has the most common questions and, if you are able to answer them, then I think you're in a good position for the 'normal' interview questions.

The actual preparation I do is write answers to the common questions (and any my research indicated might come up) then try to talk through them (out loud) with myself, and then practice with a partner. I also recorded videos of myself giving the answers to check delivery was ok - this taught me that all these youtubers are actually quite talented as my delivery was terrible initially and is only 'ok' now.

I find the most important point is sort out the logic in my own head, that way if I get lost (easy to do when monologuing) I know where I'm headed.

Current junior who is planning to start casing for the first time this summer in preparation for full-time recruiting.

I'm planning to read Case Interview Secrets, listen to Victor Cheng's LOMS, and read How to Get Into Consulting Firms (Link). After this, I plan to run 40ish cases over the summer.

​

Does this sound like a good study plan, or should I add another book like Crack the Case System (saw it in the wiki) to the mix? I'm also actively avoiding Case in Point so that I don't end up learning the same frameworks as everyone else and I am hoping this will lead to me being a bit more creative than other MBB applicants.

One that's overlooked a lot but I found more helpful than Cheng/Consentino is "How to get into the top consulting firms: a surefire case interview method."

http://www.amazon.com/How-Get-Into-Consulting-Firms/dp/0615279899

Not a shill, but just want to spread the cookie butter love:

Trader Joe's Speculoos Crunchy Cookie Butter,NET.WT.14.1oz(3 Jars) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BYNY9GS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_bHm0BbF0PWM4P

Funny you asked, I actually released my first book centered on an Introduction to Consulting last week. I'm still working on getting my website set up and was going to do a free kindle promotion the first week of December, but in case your interested now, here is the link.

https://www.amazon.com/Jack-All-Trades-Master-Some-ebook/dp/B07JX5CXTS/ref=sr_1_30?ie=UTF8&qid=1540912904&sr=8-30&keywords=introduction+to+consulting+book

Used this for the last three years while traveling regularly for work. Does a great job. Just make sure not to steam your suit if it's fused--those must be ironed.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ORC2Z2S/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_RFSTBbBW6SFA0

This book has been instrumental for me https://www.amazon.com/48-Laws-Power-Robert-Greene/dp/0140280197
Useful to understand scenarios where people acted differently than you would expect and position yourself well

This is the one I have, bought it in 2015 and still going strong.

Link

Jack of all trades master of some

I believe the author is a redditor too.