The course

The reading list

The books behind the method

The course stands on its own, but these are the books our modules draw on. Each one is cited in the chapters listed, with where to start.

1. The Pyramid PrincipleBarbara Minto, 1978

   Barbara Minto argues that a message should open with its answer and group its supporting reasons beneath it. That is the logic of the answer-first close, and reading it makes the Synthesis anchor easy to apply.

   Start with: The early chapters on how to build the pyramid. Cited in How a case runs, Framing, Synthesis, Delivery
2. The McKinsey WayEthan M. Rasiel, 1999

   Written by a former McKinsey consultant, it describes how teams structure a problem around a hypothesis and test it, the working habit a case interview is built to see. Read it for the method behind the cases; it gives no interview advice.

   Start with: The chapters on how teams structure and test a problem. Cited in How a case runs, Synthesis, The story bank
3. Case in PointMarc P. Cosentino, 1999

   Marc Cosentino's book is the long-running guide to what a case interview looks like, with many practice cases. Its frameworks are worth knowing as vocabulary, while this course asks you to fit a structure to the client.

   Start with: The part describing the interview itself, then a handful of practice cases to hear the rhythm. Cited in How a case runs, Framing, Case types you will meet
4. Competitive StrategyMichael E. Porter, 1980

   Porter's five forces are a useful lens for second-order effects such as buyer power and rival response, provided you use them to ask questions about this client and do not recite them as a template.

   Start with: Chapter 1, on the structural analysis of industries, where the five forces are laid out. Cited in Commercial judgement, Case types you will meet
5. Getting to YesRoger Fisher and William Ury, 1981

   Fisher and Ury's advice to look for the interest behind a position helps when an interviewer pushes back, and their point about facing the problem together describes the rapport the rubric rewards.

   Start with: the chapters on separating the people from the problem and on focusing on interests, not positions. Cited in Delivery, The story bank
6. Say It with ChartsGene Zelazny, 1985

   Zelazny starts from the message and the kind of comparison before choosing a chart, which is the logic you run in reverse to read an exhibit in under a minute.

   Start with: Start with the five kinds of comparison and the chart forms that suit each.. Cited in Rigor, Synthesis
7. The McKinsey MindEthan M. Rasiel and Paul N. Friga, 2001

   Its chapters follow the order of a piece of consulting work, from framing a problem through designing and interpreting the analysis to presenting the result. That is also the order of a case, so it shows why each stretch exists.

   Start with: The opening chapter on framing a problem, then the chapter on presenting your ideas. Cited in How a case runs, Framing
8. Made to StickChip Heath and Dan Heath, 2007

   The Heaths' chapter on simplicity warns against burying the lead and asks you to find the core of the message. That is the discipline of cutting a close to the answer, two reasons and a step.

   Start with: The first chapter, on finding the core and not burying the lead. Cited in Synthesis, Delivery
9. Case Interview SecretsVictor Cheng, 2012

   Victor Cheng, a former McKinsey interviewer, sets out the standard case format and the other formats you may meet, with issue trees and hypothesis-led working. It is useful for hearing these ideas in a different voice from ours.

   Start with: The overview of the case interview, then the section on the standard case format. Cited in How a case runs, Framing
10. Playing to WinA. G. Lafley and Roger L. Martin, 2013

    Lafley and Martin give you the test for ranking ideas: ask what would have to be true for a choice to be right, then test the doubtful conditions first.

    Start with: The "what would have to be true" analysis. Cited in Creativity, Case types you will meet
11. SuperforecastingPhilip E. Tetlock and Dan Gardner, 2015

    Tetlock and Gardner describe how good forecasters split a hard question into smaller ones they can estimate, the decomposition step of the estimation method, and why they keep updating their numbers.

    Start with: The appendix listing the ten commandments for aspiring superforecasters, where breaking a problem into sub-problems comes second.. Cited in Rigor, Delivery
12. Bulletproof Problem SolvingCharles Conn and Robert McLean, 2019

    The clearest book-length treatment of splitting a problem into an issue tree and then prioritising the branches, which is the step that turns a tree into a plan with a hypothesis.

    Start with: Chapter 3, on problem disaggregation and prioritisation. Cited in Framing, Creativity
13. Lateral ThinkingEdward de Bono, 1970

    De Bono treats creativity as a set of deliberate procedures, including reversing a problem and using a random stimulus, which is the discipline you need when the obvious ideas run out.

    Start with: The sections on the provocative methods, in particular reversal and random stimulus. Cited in Creativity
14. The Innovator's DilemmaClayton M. Christensen, 1997

    It shows why a client's best customers and own finance team screen out whole categories of ideas, so you know where to look when the client says they have tried everything.

    Start with: Chapter 1, on the disk-drive industry, where the mechanism is shown in data. Cited in Creativity
15. The Art of ProfitabilityAdrian Slywotzky, 2002

    Slywotzky teaches a series of profit models through a conversation between a teacher and a student. It shows why one business earns more than another, which is the question underneath most profitability and pricing cases.

    Start with: Begin with the customer solution profit model or the pyramid profit model, then pick the models that match companies you know. Cited in Case types you will meet
16. MindsetCarol S. Dweck, 2006

    Dweck's account of the fixed and growth views gives you a clear way to see how each reads a failure, which helps you choose a failure worth telling and describe the change without sounding rehearsed.

    Start with: the early chapters on the two mindsets and how each handles failure and criticism. Cited in The story bank
17. How to Measure AnythingDouglas W. Hubbard, 2007

    Hubbard shows how to put a calibrated range on something that looks unmeasurable and how splitting it into parts shrinks the uncertainty, which is the discipline behind a defensible estimate.

    Start with: Chapter 5, on calibrated estimates, including the calibration exercise.. Cited in Rigor
18. GuesstimationLawrence Weinstein and John A. Adam, 2008

    A book of worked Fermi problems solved with round numbers and a stated chain, which gives you dozens of repetitions and a feel for which assumptions move the answer.

    Start with: The opening chapter on method, then any problem you would not have known how to start.. Cited in Rigor
19. Value: The Four Cornerstones of Corporate FinanceTim Koller, Richard Dobbs and Bill Huyett, 2010

    Three McKinsey partners argue that value comes from growth and return on capital, that it is created by better cash flows rather than by rearranging claims on them, and that a business is worth most to its best owner. These ideas sit behind the acquisition and PE questions here.

    Start with: The sections on the conservation of value and on the best owner. Cited in Case types you will meet
20. Thinking, Fast and SlowDaniel Kahneman, 2011

    Kahneman sets out the anchoring effect with the experiments behind it, which is the best protection against letting the first number in the room set your estimate.

    Start with: Part II (Heuristics and Biases), the chapter on anchors. Cited in Commercial judgement
21. Good Strategy Bad StrategyRichard Rumelt, 2011

    Rumelt's idea that good strategy starts from a diagnosis is the discipline behind every recommendation in this module, and his examples of bad strategy show what an undiagnosed so-what sounds like.

    Start with: The chapters on the kernel of a good strategy: diagnosis, guiding policy, coherent action. Cited in Commercial judgement
22. Storytelling with DataCole Nussbaumer Knaflic, 2015

    Knaflic writes for people who make charts, so it shows what a well-made exhibit is trying to say, and it starts from the audience and the context before any visual is chosen.

    Start with: Chapter 2, on choosing an effective visual.. Cited in Rigor
23. Thinking in BetsAnnie Duke, 2018

    Duke explains why you should judge a decision by its reasoning and not its outcome, and how to state confidence as a degree, which supports committing to a view with a condition attached.

    Start with: Chapter 1, which introduces resulting through a famous Super Bowl call. Cited in Commercial judgement