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A Four Step Guide to Breaking Through Your Creative Roadblocks

Have you ever had an idea—a brilliant idea—that you couldn’t wait to dive into? And have you ever experienced the frustration of hitting a roadblock after pouring hours and hours into your brilliant idea?

Everyone knows this feeling. The typical process looks like this:

You have a moment of inspiration.
You dedicate every spare moment to making this idea a reality.
You spend every hour of the day half-thinking about your idea.
A month down the road, you hit a roadblock you can’t overcome.
You slowly spend less time on your idea, until your enthusiasm completely dies.

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How to Ace Your Interview

by Jeff Kavanaugh

Here’s a scenario I see all too often when interviewing young aspiring consultants:

A candidate spends hours researching in preparation for the interview, gaining more and more confidence each day as the interview approaches. However, on the morning of the interview they wake up and realize that for all the information they have, they don’t have the slightest clue about how to actually perform in the interview.

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The Art of Mindful Achievement

by Jeff Kavanaugh

Sometimes in this game called life you actually have to stop and recognize that you are human and that you have limits. We all want to accomplish everything today, but we’re just begging to be overwhelmed.

Mindful achievement is a practice that focuses on being aware of our limits and our strengths, and setting ourselves up for success.

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5 Business Podcasts You Need To Be Listening To

by Jeff Kavanaugh

If you want to succeed in business, you must always be sharpening yourself. Part of this means being systematic about how you set goals and improve yourself, but the other part is this:

You need to constantly consume new information that teaches you new skills, and expands your expertise

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Stop Talking, Start Doing

by Jeff Kavanaugh

Stop Talking Start Doing

While visiting London a few years back, I had breakfast with Shaa Wasmund, the author of Stop Talking, Start Doing: A Kick in the Pants in 6 Parts, which at the time was the #1 best-selling business book in the UK and continued for 14 months in a row.

Shaa’s crazy—in the best way. In her life she’s run her own PR firm, launched one of the earliest social networking sites, and served as CEO of the UK’s #1 resource for small business, Smarta.com.

You would think that with all the ‘doing’ happening in Shaa’s life that she’d be like everyone else: overworked, overwrought, and stressed out.

Except, she isn’t any of those things.

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4 Pillars of Critical Thinking

by Jeff Kavanaugh

As I sit here writing this, preparing for another campus recruiting season, I’m reminded of thousands of college students I’ve interviewed — the ones well prepared by their schools for a career in consulting, but also the many who have been not gotten enough practical results to complement their academic training.

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The New Elevator Pitch

by Jeff Kavanaugh

When someone asks, “what do you do?”, how do you show ‘what you do’? Let’s face it — it’s hard to evoke a mental picture of a process, a service, or even a component of product that is the output of one’s job. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could show someone what you do or create?

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Powerpoint Saves Lives

by Jeff Kavanaugh

I am not certain where this began, and maybe a bit of a stretch, but it is too good not to share.

Of course, much of the credit goes to Jack Nicholson for his command performance and to Rob Reiner and the good people at Columbia Pictures for creating the classic, A Few Good Men. Someone has made a few tweaks for the consulting world:

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Because They Are Hard

by Jeff Kavanaugh

Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. While memorials were observed globally, my metro area of Dallas/Fort Worth was literally ground zero for this occasion. The city of Dallas has carried the burden of being ‘the city’ for the last 50 years, and city leaders have been so concerned about the stigma that there has never been a public observance of that Friday in November – not until this year, with a formal hour-long ceremony replete with civic leaders, service academy choir, and prominent clergy. However, the highlight for me was the remarks of presidential historian and author David McCullough, who read a series of excerpts from Kennedy’s best-known speeches. It is a must view, and my favorite passages were the following:

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