The Master Plan

Welcome back:) 

As you noticed in my recent blog entries, I've begun to outline what this project might look like, and now I'm attempting to assemble something that resembles a plan. The title of this post is mostly humorous... (I must admit, my history with sticking to plans isn't the best, but for this, having some structure seems essential.)

Let me break it down into steps, along with some very real concerns and half-baked ideas, so you can follow along as this thing hopefully turns into something cool:

Step 1 – Contact the consulting firms so I can present for them. 

The end goal of this project is to present my findings to five of the world’s leading consulting firms in August. 

The ideal? To walk into places like McKinsey, BCG, and Bain, not as just another curious student, but as someone with something real to say. Someone who’s spent the summer speaking directly with the people running some of Norway’s largest companies, asking how AI is reshaping their need for the consulting industry. 

I want to bring these firms insights they might not get through traditional channels. Honest answers. Unfiltered perspectives. Maybe even a few uncomfortable truths. 

But before I can do any of that, I need to get in the room. And that starts with figuring out how to actually reach them: 

Concerns:

• Who exactly do I want to present for inside these firms? 

• How do I even get in touch with them? 

• What are my USPs (unique selling points) that would make them want to give a 19-year-old girl the time of day? 

• How do I seem professional and interesting when I’m not exactly your average consultant? 

• What kind of time frame even makes sense for a project like this? 

  
  

Ideas:

• Cold call (scary, but maybe also kind of fun?) and pitch the idea directly. 

• Ideally, I’d present to the partner group, so maybe I need to go straight to the CEO or managing partner. 

• Maybe standing out is the whole point: “She’s not who we usually hear from… which is exactly why we should listen.”

  
  

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Step 2 – Get interviews with the top CEOs of Norway’s biggest companies

This is probably the most ambitious part of the whole project and, let’s be honest, the most intimidating. 

But if I want to understand how AI is actually changing strategy, leadership, and decision-making in the real world, I need to go straight to the top. These CEOs aren’t just figureheads, they’re the ones shaping the direction of their industries. If anyone has something meaningful to say about where things are heading, it’s them. Of course, there are some... logistical challenges. 

Like the fact that they get hundreds of emails a day. That their calendars are booked weeks (months?) in advance. That most of them probably have assistants to screen anything that even remotely like “student project.” But still, this is where the real insight lives. And since I’ve told the consulting firms I’m doing 20 interviews, I might as well get started.

Concerns:

• These people get a lot of emails. Like, hundreds. How do I stand out? 

• How do I even find their contact info in the first place? 

• Will anyone actually take me seriously? 

  
  

Ideas:

• Make the email or LinkedIn message weirdly good: short, punchy, different. 

• Leverage any connections I might have (hi Mom, Dad). 

• Have a killer pitch about why I’m doing this and what they get out of it. 

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Step 3 – Where’s the best place to keep track of everything for this project?

Currently, this project primarily exists in my mind, on my Google Drive, and in discussions with those around me. However, as it expands, I have to ask: Where will all of this end up? This involves more than just securing interviews and giving some presentations. It's also about the learning experience throughout the process: the awkward outreach, the surprising conversations, and the unexpected insights.

And I want to make sure I actually capture that in a way that feels meaningful. Not just for myself, but maybe for someone else trying to build something from scratch too and don’t know exactly what they are doing (like me).  I don't know exactly how I am going to do that yet, but I have to think of a cool format.

Let’s see where it goes. 

Next up: The outreach starts. Wish me luck. (Or better yet, send me a CEO’s email address 😇) 

See you soon, 

-June