Where I am today
In 2003, I looked at the China market with a friend of mine and we did a lot of soul-searching. We decided it made sense for us to be in China and focus on a few sectors—hospitality, leisure, and real-estate. These sectors are less developed in China, so there’s a lot of potential to grow. So we built TZG by looking at opportunities, finding gaps that were not being served, creating new business models, assigning teams to projects, and running them. We now have five distinct projects. RailPartners – one of TZG’s big projects – is a luxury tourism train company that will take tourists from Beijing to Lhasa and Lijiang across the Tibetan plateau.
"As an alum, I call on current consultants and other alumni for advice, referrals, and potential business ideas all the time."
Why I went – and went back – to McKinsey
During my 20 months as a business analyst, I worked on nine different client engagements that spanned seven countries and five different industries. What a great way to get to know the business world for someone straight out of college! After getting my MBA, I came back to McKinsey because it was like getting a PhD in general business and management. The firm prepared me for many possible senior roles. The continuous and wide range of challenges I faced made for some fast-paced learning. The firm always pushed me to grow beyond my comfort zone – an approach that virtually guaranteed an accelerated path for me whether I was going to stay with the firm long term, join a large company, or start up my own business.
Opportunities to get around
I spent quite a bit of time at McKinsey outside of client service working on client development, recruiting, and mentorship. These opportunities helped shape me into a more well-rounded business person. Client development was useful in learning how to understand people's motivations (without their telling you) and how to sell a product whose necessity is not immediately obvious. Recruiting and mentorship work were helpful in learning how to build, grow, and retain a strong team. These skills are all critical in my current career.
A strategic mindset to find opportunities
We launch a new project every few months, according to what we see as major opportunities based on demographics, trends, gaps that people are not seeing. I’ve found the strategic mindset I developed at McKinsey — the ability to find value in a sector — very useful. In the business building process, our focus on where the most important things are and pulling the right levers is key.
My network for life
As an alum, I call on current consultants and other alumni for advice, referrals, and potential business ideas all the time. McKinsey alumni are some of the most responsive and helpful people I have in my network. I frequently call on them for our hiring needs as well. We have four former consultants at the company, and three are from McKinsey. It’s an incredible resource that I’ll have with me forever.