I have drawn an immense number of new ideas, approaches, and insights from the training provided by BCG. Creative ways of conducting these training sessions—for example, using actors to explain how the methods of acting and directing can be applied to presenting and coaching—have helped me take my presentation and other skills to the next level. For me, an enormous benefit of these programs is the opportunity to exchange ideas with my colleagues. With a professional trainer providing guidance, we discuss specific client issues and how others have solved them; we share do’s and don’ts, particularly in terms of different cultural settings.
Other sources of information and know-how at BCG are the practice areas; specialized subgroups (for example, for certain large clients) and related forums such as weekly or monthly teleconferences; meetings on a German, European, and worldwide level; and the project teams I work with on a daily basis. Of course, many of these activities address the content of the job. Yet on top of all the institutionalized knowledge we exchange (from formal training to the knowledge management newsletters), it is, in the end, tapping into the collective knowledge of the people at BCG that truly helps me grow.