Insights

The unwritten rules, written down

Essays and playbooks on getting promoted, building a career in consulting and corporate, and growing a business — from eight years at Deloitte and a decade of running growth for other people's brands. No theory, no jargon, no recycled LinkedIn advice.

Get new pieces by email Browse the toolkit →

Latest writing

Essays on getting promoted and building a career in consulting and corporate.

What a Big 4 manager actually does

Selling, managed revenue, running the project, coaching the team, internal politics — and building your promotion case on the side.

Read the piece →

MBB vs Big 4: what's actually different

Selectivity, strategy vs implementation, generalist vs specialist. The differences that actually change your career.

Read the piece →

What I wish I knew before becoming a consultant

The travel isn't Shanghai. Soft skills beat Excel. And it's far more fun than anyone admits.

Read the piece →

My Big 4 consulting graduate scheme

Induction in the Cotswolds, qualifications nobody used, five projects in two years, and a safe place to fail.

Read the piece →

How consultants make slides (McKinsey, BCG, Deloitte)

The method behind the decks: audience and purpose, the strawman, action titles, SCR and the Pyramid Principle. It's structure, not design.

Read the piece →

How I became a Big 4 consultant with no business degree

Physics at Imperial, a startup that failed, no consulting internship, and the cycle already closed. Two Deloitte and PwC offers anyway.

Read the piece →

Consultant to manager: what actually gets you promoted

Analyst to consultant is a formality. Manager is a commercial bet — managed revenue, risk, and whether you shape the work or just do it.

Read the piece →

8 mistakes I made in my first years at Deloitte

Going for promotion too early. Betting everything on one director who then left for Dubai. Saying yes to all of it.

Read the piece →

Career advice I'm glad I ignored

Work smart not hard. Follow your passion. Get an MBA. Just be yourself. Four pieces of advice I disagree with, and what I did instead.

Read the piece →

New pieces, straight to your inbox

Join 17,000+ consultants, strategists and corporate professionals getting the unwritten rules.

Join the newsletter