Luke Wilcox Engages with Experienced Consultants
Working closely with the client and Consulting Enterprise directors, you as the students lead the project and have ultimate responsibility for the quality of what you deliver to the client.
The Carlson Consulting Enterprise for me has been about teamwork and the diversity of projects. My three Enterprise projects have been incredibly varied: a make/buy manufacturing decision for a public institution, a market entry strategy for a Fortune 500 financial services firm, and long-term operations and financial planning with Minnesota’s Secretary of State for the effort to bring the World’s Fair to Minnesota. I remember enjoying the challenge of diving into subjects I had no previous knowledge of and learning a ton from my teammates.
The most valuable thing I've learned from the Consulting Enterprise is the ability to define, disaggregate, and structure ambiguous business problems. In the classroom, students learn consulting skills from current and former management consultants—things like developing hypotheses, issue trees, and work plans to address the right questions. Using those skills over the course of a semester to deliver results to a client makes them real and builds your experience.
The experience has also taught me a great deal about working effectively in a team—how to structure team roles, how individual strengths and weaknesses contribute to a project’s outcome, and how I can operate most effectively in a team environment.
After graduating I’m returning to McKinsey & Company, where I interned last summer.
About Luke
Hometown: Sioux Falls, SD
Undergraduate Institution: Valparaiso University
Internship Experience: McKinsey & Company
Community Involvement: Carlson Consulting Club, Carlson for Community, University Senate, Deloitte Technology Innovation Challenge, Illinois Strategy Case Competition, Graduate Assistant
Work Experience: The Advocates for Human Rights, Iraqi & American Reconciliation Project
Hobbies: Tennis, the outdoors, travel
Join the Consulting Enterprise
Apply your skills and knowledge to complete a live project for a real client organization. In the Carlson Consulting Enterprise, you will gain real-world experience collaborating with clients, while making a positive impact on the business and accelerating your career development. Throughout the two-semester class, the project work is enhanced by a weekly class that teaches the structured thinking and project management skills crucial for professionals along any career path.