Read it fast, then say the so-what
A simple routine for any exhibit, and the habit of leading with the takeaway.
Key takeaways
- Take about ten seconds in silence.
- Find the one or two numbers that matter for the question you are working on.
- Do any quick math directly from the exhibit, out loud.
In a live case, and in online tests such as chatbot cases, you are given a chart or a table and watched as you use it. Under pressure, people either read every number aloud or freeze. A simple routine prevents both.
The exhibit routine
- 1Take about ten seconds in silence. Read the title, the units, and the axis labels first, so you know what is being measured.
- 2Find the one or two numbers that matter for the question you are working on. Ignore the rest for now.
- 3Do any quick math directly from the exhibit, out loud.
- 4State the so-what: what this exhibit means for the problem, and where it tells you to look next.
Grouped bar chart: Profit by region, this year versus last year. Values in USD millions. Series: Last year; This year. North: Last year 40, This year 41; South: Last year 35, This year 20; East: Last year 30, This year 31.
So-what
The profit problem is in the South. North and East are flat. So the work is to understand what happened in the South, not to fix the whole company.
A strong candidate does not read out all six numbers. They say: "Two of the three regions are flat. The South fell from 35 to 20, a drop of 15. The problem is in the South, so that is where I want to look next." That is the so-what, and it focuses the case at once.
Using the chart above: by what percentage did profit in the South fall? Round to the nearest whole percent.
After reading an exhibit, what should you say first?
Sources for this lesson (1)
- Recognized public explanations of case-interview concepts and terms
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