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Flora

Flora

I help maintain the firm’s proprietary shipping model. It’s an enormous model with more than 1,000 parameters that helps clients forecast the market.

Why did you choose McKinsey?

I graduated from Tongji University with a master’s in logistics and transportation planning and completed a couple of internships with different consulting firms before joining McKinsey.

While still an intern, I became interested not just in logistics operations but also in using my expertise to more broadly help transportation companies grow. I felt I would be a good fit in a research role rather than pure consulting. That’s what really helped me decide on McKinsey. Today, I am part of a global research team working often with our Travel, Transport & Logistics Practice, where as a researcher, I also get to work with clients.

What has surprised you most about McKinsey?

I’ve been most surprised by how diversified and global McKinsey’s client base is. We serve airlines, logistics companies, and shipping lines as well as a majority of industry leaders along the value chain, from infrastructure developers and equipment manufacturers to niche service providers.

What difference does it make to work at a global firm?

I help maintain the firm’s proprietary shipping model. It’s an enormous model with over 1,000 parameters that helps clients forecast the market, such as future shipping rates or whether there will be overcapacity or undercapacity. One time, a private-equity client in the United States requested a market outlook for bulk shipping. I worked with a colleague in Poland and a colleague in the United States, along with our German analytics team, to update the model around the clock. I started updating on Monday morning my time, then handed it over to my European colleague, who then sent it over to our US colleague, who then sent it back to me. We split the work efficiently and delivered the final output within 2 weeks.

Transportation affects clients in nearly every industry and geography, and I get to work daily with colleagues around the world, problem solving and performing the analysis to understand the dynamics of the industry. Whether serving a port operator in Africa, a private-equity firm in the United States, or a shipping line in Asia, we share knowledge, support, and guidance and are a deeply connected community.