Q&A with Morten
Morten, a member of McKinsey’s Global Institute, has devoted his career to economic development and sustainability. That passion encouraged him to drop what was his first love—hitting a small ball over a small net—for the opportunity to take on bigger targets like carbon-dioxide emissions and poverty.
Interviewer: So how does a Dane end up in Mexico City?
Morten: Two reasons. The first is professional—I wanted to explore new challenges in a fast-growing region of the world. The second is personal—my wife is half Mexican and has family here.
Interviewer: Your passion for pushing your career in unexpected directions also brought you to Indonesia.
Morten: Yes, I wanted to follow my passion for sustainable economic development to a particular “hot-spot” of environmental challenges. That brought me to Indonesia, and then to the McKinsey Global Institute, where we do some exciting research on productivity and economic development.
Interviewer: I understand that before economic development was on the table for you, something else was.
Morten: My first love was table-tennis. I spent most of my time as a student representing Denmark at international tournaments.
Interviewer: How did you eventually end up at McKinsey with that unusual background?
Morten: I met some folks from McKinsey who had the same level of passion for their jobs that I did for my sport. At that time, I didn’t know much about McKinsey. However, the way that people talked about their jobs at McKinsey demonstrated to me that they were really making a difference—and I knew that this would be the right place for me.
Interviewer: How would you describe your time so far?
Morten: Exciting, flexible, and challenging! McKinsey has given me incredible support as I’ve pursued my desire to seek new challenges. They’ve also supported my desire to hit the pause button; I took 3 months of leave time to learn Spanish and travel in South America before transferring to Mexico.
Interviewer: Tell us about a project in a part of the world that few people ever get to see.
Morten: You must mean developing a green growth strategy for a province in Indonesia. The project had great impact–we found that the province, which is roughly half the size of Germany but only home to a couple of million people plus large areas of tropical rain forest, was heading towards a C02 emission intensity 800 times that of the UK due to rapid deforestation. We showed that the province could change this course and achieve economic growth at the same scale as planned with very little environmental impact.
Interviewer: This wasn't a project that started and stopped in a PowerPoint was it?
Morten: We went to the deepest parts of the jungle and stayed in the homes of local chiefs to understand their way of living. There was no phone reception, and no TV but a lot of very excited and friendly people who wanted to share their stories and hear ours. We also had the privilege of presenting the results in a one-hour private session with Tony Blair and, also, to share our work with Ban Ki-moon.
Interviewer: When you work in emerging parts of the world, you have to be prepared to do anything it seems.
Morten: In late 2012, around midnight, I was in the ballroom of the Ritz Carlton in Jakarta. We were preparing the room for a giant session the next morning—the presentation of a McKinsey Global Institute report on Indonesia’s economic future. The president of Indonesia and 1500 of their most important public, private, and social leaders were expected. But it was the rainy season, and the stage, sound system, and security systems were stuck on trucks. I dropped everything to help construct a stage so the president and our office manager had a place to present from in the morning. We managed to improvise, and we had 4 unforgettable hours the next morning with memorable speeches as well as Indonesian music and dances. The president thanked us for our contribution. That’s what working at McKinsey is all about. Exceeding expectations.
Education
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Copenhagen Business School
BSc