Pyramid Principle: MECE
Before I’ll show you the Minto Principle, I’ll look into the expression MECE (pronunciation: me see) along with you, as it’s a crucial term in the Minto Principle, case interviews and consulting in general. MECE stands for ‘Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive’ and is the consulting way of representing complex information in an clear-cut way. Let’scheck out both constituent parts separately.
Mutually Exclusive
If you are categorizing info, the MECE-principle dictates that the groups must be mutually exclusive. This means that it must not be possible for a member of group A to be a member of class B. To make it less abstract, an illustration of categorization that is far from mutually exclusive:
- Grouping of men and women according to his or her colour of clothing worn, as men and women can wear garments with diverse colours, and the rest can put on these kinds of colours as well.
- Grouping of people in accordance to their particular pastimes, since men and women can have multiple pastimes and a pair of individuals can do the same pastime.
- Grouping companies according to their goods, as they can sell numerous products at the same period.
You get the picture, I think. So mutually exclusive categories are, for example: age, sexual category, nationality (often, at least). We all got the ME- part, how about the other 2 letters?
Collectively Exhaustive
In addition to being mutually exclusive, the classes you select should also be collectively exhaustive: all options/all information must be incorporated in the classes you select. This way you can be sure that there’s absolutely nothing you missed in your investigation. For instance, the decision of a company to acquire a rival could be based on both financial and non-financial elements. These factors should then be broken down into new elements that also are also (ME)CE. An additional example is the profitability framework: it’s collectively exhaustive, as profit can be broken down into revenues and costs. No other factors have an impact on profit.
In addition, the profitability framework is also mutually exclusive, as revenues can in no way be costs and vice versa. These factors can also be broken down into new MECE-elements. Revenues can be broken down into numbers of product sales and the price: the revenue per sale.
Training
During your case interviews, you must make an effort to be as MECE as you can while structuring the case. Don’t get bogged down while striving for perfection though, as you’ll only have limited time. But how to make sure you get it right the very first time? As with the majority of things: practice makes perfect. Use the pyramid principle and MECE-thinking in real life: when deciding on a vacation location, while selecting between evening meal possibilities or when picking a new car.
You don't must go through the complete framework every time, as well as calculate every thing. Just create the initial structure and try to polish it once or twice in your mind. You can also sit down and write all of it down: a far better way to exercise as you can see your refinements. Since you train this during case interview training also, you might also utilize ‘standard’ case interview preparation.
Much more information on case interviews and the pyramid principle in a brand new article later this week. Also check out my e-book and the official Pyramid Principle book by Minto.