December 2012

Surviving Hurricane Sandy

Hi everyone, and welcome to my page! I look forward to sharing my experiences with you.  This fall has certainly been full of surprises. It began with a much-anticipated two-week training program in Long Island, New York. The first week was a great experience of getting to know fellow associates from other offices all over the globe (Rio, Sydney, Silicon Valley…).  The lessons we learned were insightful and timely as we pass the one-year mark at the firm.  After the weekend break back in the city, I was excited to head back to Long Island for the second week, even though news reports were starting to mention a storm called hurricane Sandy.  Unaware of just how bad the hurricane would be, I headed back to Long Island for week two.  On the second night, the storm hit us pretty badly and we lost all power (and with it, all hot water).  Miraculously, the training went on (in the darkness and with most of us being somewhat less clean!) through the amazing work of the faculty plus candlelight and improvisation.  It was definitely an experience to remember! 

Night of the hurricane

'High Profile' engagement

For the past month I’ve been working on a ‘high profile’ (terminology of the many directors involved) engagement in the insurance industry—reporting directly to the CEO of a major insurance company.  Thus far it’s been one of those true McKinsey-style growth strategies that I always thought were a bit of a myth.  The biggest surprise for me was the incredible access to senior leadership.  When was the last time you had a 25+ year director problem-solving with you for two hours? It has been a great learning experience so far.

Women's recruiting

In early December we held one of the first recruiting events exclusively for female MBAs from my alma-mater (Columbia Business School).  Leading up to the event, our CBS recruiting team had been brainstorming ways to better engage women.  I thought it would be fun to try something very unique—an event held at an art gallery (perhaps inspired by my time working on a pro-bono engagement for an arts non-profit earlier this year).  The event took place at a historical mansion—Morris-Jumel in the Bronx, not too far from Columbia campus.  At the event, we took a break from networking and talking about McKinsey to join Andrea Arroyo, a talented female artist, as she walked us through her latest contemporary art exhibit, ‘Women Unbound’  The attendees commented on how much they enjoyed the opportunity to exchange ideas with the amazing women who work at McKinsey at such a unique venue, as well as to hear an artist’s explanation of using her art to portray her own views on womanhood.

—Lucia