Purpose at BCG: How We Grow by Growing Others

This article is part of a series on BCG’s five purpose principles: Bring Insight to Light; Drive Inspired Impact; Conquer Complexity; Lead, with Integrity; and Grow by Growing Others.

At BCG, we believe that our own success is built upon supporting the growth of others—one of the five pillars of our larger purpose: unlocking the potential of those who advance the world.

We invest deeply in our people, through training, mentorship, and a culture of apprenticeship—engaging recruits from day one, accelerating their personal growth, and providing them with the opportunity to find their own paths. This is deeply embedded in our culture at all levels. I frequently hear stories like this in my travels: a consultant turns to a colleague for help with a type of analysis he’s unfamiliar with. The colleague sets aside two to three hours to work it through, even though it’s not her case or team. “I don’t expect anything back,” I hear people say. “Others do the same for me. That’s just how it works here.”

This principle applies to every aspect of our client work, as well. BCG is an $8 billion-plus firm that has averaged 15% growth for over 30 years—a track record unique in our industry and far beyond. Of that growth, nearly 99% is organic—and in our world, organic growth means investing to make the people around us better. In addition to investing in our own team, we know that our success is in large part due to how we work with our clients—shoulder to shoulder—and not just on their problems. Our collaborative approach with clients is institutional and continually reinforced. It allows us to help individuals shine within their organization, build capabilities across the organization from within, and enable changes that last.

A Career Built on Growing Others

BCG’s Sharon Marcil is a great example of how we put all this into practice. I led recruiting in New York when Sharon joined in 1993, and I have had the privilege to see firsthand her unique achievements over the past quarter-century. She has led a wide range of strategy and transformation efforts at some of the world’s largest public and private organizations. She’s now a senior partner, our Client Team Chair, and a member of the firm’s Executive Committee and Global Operating Committee. While Sharon is one of the best client service partners in the world, she’s also a longtime champion for women and for building our Consumer and Public Sector practices. In addition, she has mentored and sponsored for promotion nearly 20 partners at the firm. She is a role model in so many ways for all of us.

I recently chatted with Sharon to get her thoughts on what grow by growing others has meant to her. She says she has learned over the course of her career that building great teams ends up building great people. And here’s how she’s done it:

• Be a hands-on coach. For years, Sharon has taken the time to work deeply with her teams, engaging in the content and having team members present to her and do trial runs before presenting to the client. “You keep giving them feedback,” she says. “That way, they are always learning more—and doing better work for the client.”
• Invest on a personal level. To help people grow, you have to really get to know and understand them. According to Sharon, “As you get to know them better, you’re able to give them the kind of feedback that they can really internalize and grow from. And you learn the best ways to celebrate them, reward them—and motivate them, as well.”
• Look for opportunities, or make new ones. Sharon ran the Women’s Initiative in North America starting in 2004, a precursor to our current Women@BCG global team and agenda. At the time, there were not many female partners—let alone senior partners—at the firm. Sharon oversaw “segment of one” coaching for women, supporting them and keeping them on the partner track. “Growing partners takes time,” she says, “but in part because of programs like these we have made steady progress in increasing the number of women who get there.” We have grown the number of women partners nearly four times over the past decade, and Sharon was one of the core pioneers to create the foundation for this sustained progress.

Creating Growth That Lasts

Sharon’s work to grow others has helped her grow, as well. “It’s personally rewarding to support, and mentor people and also to cheer for them as they succeed,” Sharon says “And it’s professionally rewarding because, as these people find momentum, they bring success back to the firm—building new capabilities and partnering with clients in ways others hadn’t, establishing relationships and serving clients that we wouldn’t necessarily have served if these partners hadn’t been elected.” 

Unlike at many corporations where one person gets the senior-level job and the others don’t—with finite slots at the top—at BCG we have tremendous opportunities to find new sources of value creation for our clients and growth opportunities for our people. We’re able to embrace great people and help them through the phases of their career. In so doing, the firm becomes not just bigger but much better, and each individual stays on a steep personal learning curve.

When we work shoulder to shoulder, person by person, we can uncover insights, create and implement solutions, and increase our clients’ capabilities. Working together, we can build lasting value, amplify our impact, and unlock the potential of the most precious asset there is: the human potential in BCG, our clients, and around the world.

Read the series:

#1 Unlocking the Potential of Those Who Advance the World 

# 2 Bringing Insight to Light for Malaysian Consumers

#3 Driving Inspired Impact in Rwanda

#4 Conquering Complexity in the Airline Industry

#5 Leading, with Integrity

# 6 How We Grow by Growing Others (currently reading)