iX Teacher Spotlight — Angela R. Hansen — Management Consulting 2018.

"Big data will drive the need for more analytical capabilities but our bigger need to live in a more sustainable world will require consultants to be not just number crunchers, but also designers of solutions that actually motivate behaviour change."

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• Angela R. Hansen has nearly twenty years of experience advising executive decision-makers. Prior to joining Dalberg, she was a technical architect within Accenture’s Global Business Solutions group, where she advised financial services clients in North America and Asia. In addition to her advisory work, Angela is pursuing her PhD and teaching graduate-level business courses.
• And, as if that wasn't enough, she is also a contributing author to two books; Corporate Citizenship in Africa and Financial Inclusion in Africa.
• Her advice to her iX Lisbon class of 2018? "Get all the sleep you can before you come; we’re going to work hard!"

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Angela R. Hansen, iXperience Management Consulting Head Teacher, Lisbon

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What are you working on now?

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I'm currently advising the Rockefeller Foundation on ways to channel philanthropic investments to reduce food waste and loss.

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What do you enjoy most about the Management Consulting industry?

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The context and challenge is always changing.  In consulting, if you hate your job, wait a month and everything will change.   

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Why did you decide to get involved with teaching and how do you continue to keep things fresh?

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Being a senior person in a consulting firm is always about teaching the more junior folks, so when the opportunity to teach consulting came up, I jumped at it. The skill set is much more tangible and defined than many people think, and I enjoy letting that little secret out of the bag. Over the years, I have also come to realize that I learn as much, if not more, than I teach in the classroom. My students keep me on my toes and keep me curious.

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What are you most looking forward to about iXperience Lisbon this summer?

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I'm really looking forward to choreographing an intense and rewarding month with smart and dynamic young people, being a fly on the wall in a country whose wine consumption per capita exceeds that of both France and Italy, developing hypothesis trees, and eating all of the pasteis de natas!

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How do you see the Management Consulting industry changing in the next year to five years? What skills will consultants need to have?

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I think two major trends will shape the industry; big data, and sustainable consumption and production.  Big data will drive the need for more analytical capabilities, but our bigger need to live in a more sustainable world will require consultants to be not just number crunchers, but also designers of solutions that  actually motivate behavior change. To do this, consultants will need broader research skills, including some ethnographic approaches, as well as an increased sense of empathy.

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What skills will iX students have after graduating from your class?

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They will be able to clearly define a problem, break it down into its component parts, develop a hypothesis about how to solve the problem, identify the data analysis they need to test that hypothesis, test it, develop recommendations based on the results of the test, and build a compelling argument for why their recommendations should be adopted.  

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What would students be surprised to learn about you?

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I’ve travelled to over 60 countries and am also a certified hatha and vinyasa yoga teacher.