Top 3 Things I Learnt: From Working at McKinsey

McKinsey was one of my favorite places to work, and its standard of excellence is not a myth. At McKinsey, you do have to work incredibly hard - but you also have to deliver the best of the best because you are the best of the best.

Top 3 Things I Learnt:

(1) You need to always lead the conversation.

With clients, even with Fortune 100 clients, the McKinsey team always led the conversation. They never once said: oh, you're the client; tell us what you want us to do. Instead, they came in with non-biased minds and could clearly see what needed to be sorted out. And they delivered that information, even if it was not welcome news.

(2) Excellence is in everything - not just some things.

McKinsey is where I really honed in myself the concept of excellence in everything. Even down to a period at the end of a sentence or how to write a telephone number. If you've ever walked into a McKinsey office, you'll know what I mean. It's more incredible than walking into say Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory (if that's your thing).

Excellence is not just a superficial quality. If you embody excellence in everything, it means you put your all into everything you do. You never do anything half-heartedly. And your results show that.

(3) Just because you're somewhere amazing doesn't mean everyone is amazing.

There is literally no such thing as a perfect workplace like there is no such thing as a perfect household or school or store. It just doesn't exist. Yet the mind always comes to false conclusions that there can be perfection.

That isn't to say to not strive for true perfection, but it's an end point that - in reality - can't really be reached. There is always room for growth and improvement.

Where there are humans, there is ego. Where there is ego, there can sometimes be tricky situations. At McKinsey, only the best of the best are invited in. That exclusive club in itself can make egos grow even more rampant.

I learnt to not worry about those egos nor get sucked up into the illusion of living from that perspective, but it taught me that nothing really is perfect. The sooner you accept that, the happier you'll be. Unhappiness comes from trying to change things to that which it is not.

This has probably been the biggest lesson in my career: that my focus on improving myself every day for life is my focus. And I've learnt how to not expect the same from others - unless any gap in their personal drive is detrimental to that person's ability to contribute to the team's overall goal.

Happy Thanksgiving!

About Me

Growth and innovation leader in higher education enrollment management. Only kid in my immediate family with a college education. Only person in my extended families to (a) obtain a Master's degree, and (b) move to the US and on my own to build my life from scratch. Insatiable reader (thank you Audible and Kindle!). Obsessed with chess and math (though currently rusty).

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