7.00 AM

I wake up at around 7 am (after snoozing my 6:30 am alarm- looks like no gym this morning). I normally try to get a bit of exercise in the morning and on Fridays I never miss the A.T. Kearney Running Club. While significantly less popular than its cousin, the A.T. Kearney Brunch Club, the running club has amassed a band of loyal members who run the 5km around our office at MCA in Circular Quay Sydney with spectacular views of the Harbour Bridge & Opera House every Friday morning.

Today is a Wednesday and as consultants, we work at the client site from Monday to Thursday with only Fridays in the A.T. Kearney office. I am very excited as the client site is in Brisbane (my hometown!). Unlike my team members who are staying at the Four Points (a hotel in the CBD), I am staying at my parents’ house. It is nice to be able to spend some time with them after moving away from Brisbane earlier this year.

After getting out of bed, I eat breakfast & check my emails to prepare for the day. Then, I take an Uber into the client office in Brisbane CBD. 

8.30 AM

I arrive (after grabbing a coffee) at the client site at 8:30 am. The client is an Australian financial services player and we are working on a customer interaction strategy to help them plan for their future role of how they will engage, communicate & interact with their customers. The A.T. Kearney team consisting of an Associate & myself (a Business Analyst) with support from a Principal and Partner.  When the Associate joins just before 9 am we discuss what we need to get out of the client update meeting this morning. 

10.00 AM

The client update meeting is with the key client working group; a group of relevant senior clients (Chief Digital Office (CDO), head of strategy, head of branches, etc.). The Associate is leading the meeting and we give an update of the analysis and broad strategy we have done so far. I give the update on the analysis of the physical footprint of the company, this is the part of the analysis that I am leading. The entire room participates in the discussion and we leave with a few changes to be made to the document. 

11.00 AM

Following the meeting, I touch base with the client Insights team. I need them to pull some data that I can use in my analysis of customer behaviour. However, the team leader is concerned about his team’s workload and prioritisation. It is difficult when there are delays in getting data from the client, it can mean there are delays to the project. It’s an issue that we’ll need to escalate to ensure we have sufficient data to make informed decisions. After this discussion, I head back to my desk and start on the changes from the client update meeting. 

12.30 PM

The really great thing about working at different clients is the variety of food nearby for lunch – you never get bored! Today the Associate and I head to a food court nearby and to grab a salad bowl for lunch. 

1.00 PM

On the way back to the office we decide to go by one of the client’s stores. It is interesting to see how the store works practically, we take note of the marketing, the layout and how busy it is currently. We then discuss with the branch manager, to get his view on the store and answer some questions.

1.30 PM

When we arrive back at the office, I continue with making the changes to the pack from the client update meeting. Specifically, I am looking through A.T. Kearney Intellectual Capital (a collection of previous research done by A.T. Kearney consultants) and researching some competitors, to incorporate some of this thinking into the document. 

3.00 PM

Our project sponsor (the key client we are working with) was unable to make the client update meeting this morning. So we have a separate meeting to run through the updates with him. The conversation features around the updates we presented this morning and some best-practice examples in Europe. The meeting goes well and he says to keep up the great work – success! 

4.00 PM

I have a meeting with one of the key clients to discuss the issue with data requests. She takes the action to talk to the Insights team leader to ensure the prioritization of the data request for the project. 

4.30 PM

The A.T. Kearney Partner is meeting with the client CEO tomorrow to give an update on the project so far and get his view. There are a few new PowerPoint slides that need to be made so I focus on these for the afternoon. They include a progress update and extra explanation on the analysis we are doing. 

8.00 PM

Before heading home, I reply to a few non-client related emails. I have some things to do and emails to send relating to internal projects I am working on such as building intellectual capital and also recruitment for next year’s graduates.

8.30 PM

An email chain starts from all the A.T. Kearney consultants currently in Brisbane on different projects discussing dinner plans for the night. I opt out of my usual A.T. Kearney dinner, and go home at around 8:30 pm to have dinner with my parents. It is nice to make the most of the time with them (and it’s always good to have a wine with Mum to debrief on the day!).

11.00 PM

Go to sleep & get ready to do it all again tomorrow!