Allison

Engagement Manager

New associate, big impact
Shortly after I joined McKinsey, I was on a study where our challenge was to find a billion and a half dollars in savings for our client—a billion and a half dollars! I worked with two of the client’s engineers to identify ways to cut costs. At the beginning, we just identified small opportunities: like an extra screw that could save 2 cents if we didn’t use it, which might add up to $3,000 a year. And with each of these, the client team would get really excited, until finally I said, “Team, we shouldn’t even get out of bed for less than $10 million.” I couldn’t believe I had said that, but that was the reality of our situation. It was a real “aha!” moment, and in the end, we did it. I realized that our McKinsey team was truly helping to save enough money to keep the company afloat and thousands of people employed.

I appreciated McKinsey’s flexibility
I was originally going to the Charlotte, North Carolina office, but then some of my personal circumstances changed, and I decided I really wanted to be in Washington, D.C. The Charlotte office had invested a lot of time and effort in helping me get to know them, as well as the city of Charlotte, but instead of being irritated, they really tried to understand my reasons, and helped me ultimately transfer to the D.C. office. I was very impressed.

‘Wow’ moment
On a recent engagement, I found myself in a television editing room watching this incredible high-definition footage that was soon to be broadcast internationally. The editor was making all these technical adjustments, and he suddenly turned to me and said, “So you want to see what I just did?” Then he turned on the surround-sound, hit a few buttons, and the most incredible imagery I’ve ever seen appeared all around me on the screens. I thought, “I can’t believe I’m getting paid to be here.”

My secret to balancing my life
I make sure to have downtime after busy periods. I can step up for a team in a crunch for a few weeks, but I try to follow that with a few light days between projects. I also speak up for myself: I think in most companies in the world, if you want to work yourself to exhaustion, you can. No one is going to pry your blackberry out of your hands. At McKinsey, there are a lot of ways you can push back and set boundaries and, in fact, you are expected to do so. In this kind of environment, you are expected to manage your life in a way that’s acceptable for you. I am willing to travel some, but not all the time, and I like to be staffed close to home in the summer. So, I think the work-life balance secret is that you have to really be clear on your own priorities so that you can make good trade-offs.