#123 McKinsey Partner to Indie Freelancer - Adam Braff on writing online, the gig economy, consulting skills, consulting
Adam Braff grew up in a house where writing was always encouraged. His mother published a newsletter, and his father was a data analytics consultant. He started out as a lawyer, but after the dot-com boom led to a surge in demand for consultants, he decided to make the switch. He now runs his own consulting firm and writes regularly on a variety of topics. Braff himself became interested in consulting during the first dot-com boom. He transferred from MIT to Brown in order to study linguistics, and eventually became a strategy consultant at McKinsey.
Relevant Links:
- Adam's Website and McKinsey Essay
- Tom Critchlow's Writing
- Venkatesh Rao's The Art of Gig
Timestamps
0:00 Audio Intro
0:48 The scripts Adam grew up with
3:54 Shifting from MIT to Brown
5:33 Becoming interested in consulting
7:25 What was it like from 1999 to 2002?
9:08 Adam's path to becoming a partner at McKinsey
11:56 Leaving McKinsey
14:05 What kept Adam at McKinsey for 10 years?
16:06 What do people get wrong about McKinsey?
18:49 Decentralization and the emergent order
21:46 The new ideas in customer experience Adam helped shape
24:06 Going into the finance industry in 2009
25:23 Turning data into insights
27:20 How to influence other executives to embrace the "hypothesis first" framing?
28:44 The 2 skills from the consulting world that are missing elsewhere
30:28 Teaching the importance of feedback
33:22 Development Group Leaders
35:21 Lessons from working at a hedge fund
42:01 Did the world of billions inspire Adam to go solo?
42:56 Becoming a freelancer
46:52 Should you clearly define the services you're offering as a freelance consultant?
50:18 The role of Adam's writing
51:44 Did the nature of Adam's projects shift over time?
53:14 The best part of the self-employed life Adam didn't expect
54:15 AI & The Future
58:10 The forecasting contest
📕Buy Paul’s Book (Published Jan 2022): The Pathless Path
📲Connect + Follow Paul
- Twitter: @p_millerd
- Paul’s Newsletter: Subscribe to Boundless
- Paul’s YouTube: Subscribe
🙏Further Ways To Support The Podcast:
- I use Transistor to host this podcast. It rocks. Launch Your Here
- I record high-quality video using Riverside: Sign Up Here
- Become a sponsor of the Podcast / Newsletter
- Want to upgrade your Zoom studio? Check out Kevin Shen’s Dream Studio Course
- Want to launch a course? Podia or Teachable are both great
- Web Hosting: Skystra Fast WordPress Hosting
- Host your own community" Circle 14-day free trial
