Consulting Lab is an experiential lab course designed to give students the experience of engaging with real clients on strategic issues as management consultants. This lab is conducted in partnership with Kearney, a global management consulting firm with offices in over 40 countries. Projects are sourced from real clients by Kearney consultants, who also serve as professional coaches for student teams.
Students have two objectives in this course: (1) address the complex, strategic business problems brought by clients and develop actionable, data-driven recommendations and (2) develop their own consulting, interpersonal and leadership skills in the context of a flat consulting team. Teams will be created from up to 28 Master in Management students. Each project will center on an important strategic challenge and require students to apply a broad set of concepts and tools. Kearney will coordinate client participation and supplement faculty with consulting resources to coach and support the student teams. Previous clients have included 3M, Campbell Soup, Georgia Pacific, Nike, Walgreens, Feeding America, Siemens Energy, Emerson, IDEX, Avendra, Innerworkings, Valkre, Accretive Health, Beam Suntory, Facebook, and Walmart. While students’ primary focus is the client project, they also work on related individual skills needed for success in consulting (e.g., soft skills, such as leadership and interpersonal development, and hard skills, such as the hypothesis-driven approach, data analyses, and deliverable development/delivery).
Background:
Professor Harry L. Davis is one of the top professors at Booth and has taught this course over many years. Joe Raudabaugh (Booth MBA ’17), a principle at Kearney, leads the effort for Kearney and is a strong supporter of experiential education at Booth. Adjunct Professor Craig Terrill has taught client-based lab classes at Booth during the last 10 years and was a senior partner in a management consulting firm early in his career.
Enrollment & Application:
Consulting Lab is offered only for students in the Master in Management program (MiM). Enrollment in this course is by application.
· A Zoom Informational Webinar will be held at 12-1 CST on Wed, February 5, 2025. Course structure, expectations, and potential clients will be discussed. The webinar is optional, and students can apply without attending. An email will be sent to all MiM students the week prior with instructions for attending the webinar and a link for completing the application.
· Application Deadline: Sunday, February 9, 2025.
· Students notified of acceptance on Tues, February 11.
Class Location:
This course will meet weekly at the Gleacher Center on Thursdays from 1:30 - 4:30 pm. Please see the Gleacher/Booth 455 electronic boards to confirm location. Note below that there are three additional required meetings.
Additional Meetings:
In addition to the regular Thursday afternoon class sessions, there are three additional required meetings. If you cannot commit to attending these additional meetings, you should not apply for the course. Please note that the first one is before the spring quarter.
· Thursday, March 6, 2025: 1:30 pm to 4:30 pm, Gleacher - Initial training with Kearney
· Friday, March 28, 2025: 8 am to 12 pm, Gleacher - Kickoff meetings with Clients
· Friday, May 23, 2025: 8 am to 12 pm, Gleacher - Final presentations to Clients
