3 Rules That Build a McKinsey-Grade Business Case

My new prompt strips the case to one answer, 3 or 4 MECE pillars, and your numbers, then hands back the argument.

Inside this issue:

- Why 56% of organizations hire external leaders, and the single question your business case has to answer

- What the final-round panel already read about you before you present (3 to 5 pages, my team writes them)

- 🚨 The new prompt: 10 minutes of engagement-manager questions, then a board-ready case built on MECE pillars and your numbers only

You made the final round.

Then the email lands: “Please prepare a 30-minute presentation on your strategic vision for the business and your plan for the first 100 days.”

Most executives treat this as a knowledge test. They memorize the annual report, build 25 slides, and walk in ready to prove how much they learned about the company.

Wrong.

The panel already knows what you’ve done. They read the consultant’s report, 3 to 5 pages on your career, before you entered the room. What they’re assessing now is strategic thinking, cultural fit, and presence.

I lead the global life sciences practice at a top 10 retained firm. The shortlists I present hold 3 to 5 names, and everyone on them survived a screening call, a deep-dive interview, and a consultant report. In the final round, communication and executive presence often beat the stronger candidate who presents poorly.

The case you argue decides the room. So today you get the tool I built for it.

It interviews you like an engagement manager opening a new mandate. Questions first, one at a time, until the facts are on the table. Then it writes your business case: answer first, MECE argument pillars, your numbers only. Nothing invented.

The method behind the prompt

Answer first

The Minto Pyramid. Your recommendation lands in the first minute, and the rest of the presentation defends it. It’s how I structure my own arguments.

A panel that hears your answer early spends the session testing it. A panel that waits 20 slides for an answer spends the session doubting you have one.

MECE argument pillars

Mutually exclusive, collectively exhaustive. Your answer stands on 3 or 4 pillars. No pillar overlaps another, and together they cover the whole case.

Overlapping pillars sound like one argument repeated. A gap between pillars is where the CFO’s first question lands.

Your numbers only

The case argues from 2 sources: the company’s own words (the earnings call, the annual report, the job description) and your receipts (3 to 5 real numbers from your track record).

56% of organizations cite new skills and capabilities as their top reason for hiring leaders externally (AESC 2025 benchmark). So behind every case assignment sits one question: what can you do for us that we can’t do ourselves?

You answer it in this register: “The business was at €40M when I took over. We hit €72M in 24 months.” Numbers like that carry pillars.

Nothing gets invented. An invented market size dies in the first board question.

When to run it

Any moment in an executive search process where you must argue a strategic vision:

- A written case assignment before a final round

- A “present your plan for the business” panel

- A 100-day plan request

- A board presentation

- A deep-dive with a search consultant

That last one gets underestimated. The consultant turns your conversation into a 3 to 5 page report the client reads in about 8 minutes. Hand them an argued case and you’ve written your own report.

Before you start, have 3 things ready

1. The exact wording of the assignment or question. Word for word. “Your growth strategy for the region” and “your plan for the first 100 days” are 2 different cases.

2. What you know about the company. The latest earnings call or annual report, recent news, the job description. Write down the language they use about what’s broken and what’s coming. In their words.

3. Your receipts. 3 to 5 real numbers from your own track record. Revenue trajectories, team sizes, budgets, before-and-afters. Your pillars stand on these.

How to use it

Paste everything below the line into Claude or ChatGPT. Use a reasoning model: Claude with extended thinking, or ChatGPT with reasoning.

Answer the questions one at a time. Short answers work. Real numbers are mandatory.

Expect 10 minutes of questions before you see a draft. That interview is the point. The quality of your case depends on what you feed it.

The prompt

Copy everything in the block below.