Paul

Associate

Tell us about yourself.

I’m an outdoors freak: I adore climbing, walking, and cycling anywhere with really large, impressive skies or a horizon with big jagged mountains in it. I also enjoy music: London’s great for this, but it’s also great to get away for the festivals. Finally, I like juggling: you can find me on summer afternoons in the local park, hurling objects amongst a group of friends.

Tell us a bit about your career before McKinsey.

I loved the intellectual challenge and freedom of academic life. But as I specialised further and further into my subject, I began to feel I was exploring in a much more limited space and would discuss my work directly with fewer and fewer people. I wanted a career that had problems just as intellectually challenging, but where I could work in a team and the results would apply to many more.

How did you come to apply to McKinsey?

I asked a friend who’d worked in consultancy. He told me that if I was after variety and interest I should go for a global firm that works with a large number of clients. This still leaves a few choices, so his other piece of advice was to simply choose the company where I liked the people, and where I felt most comfortable. I’d not heard of McKinsey when I started the process, but the people were great to spend time with, and the interviews felt like fun, collaborative, problem-solving exercises.

What made McKinsey seem like a good fit for you?

The single biggest help I’ve found from my Ph.D. experience has been creativity and independence in problem solving and analysis. My exposure to many different approaches of thinking about a situation means that I can almost always contribute something original to a discussion: something that someone with a business background might never have thought of. Logical argument is a core skill at McKinsey, but my slightly nontraditional approach is generally something new and always welcomed.

Describe one of the highlights of your McKinsey experience.

Lots to choose from including personal thanks from CEOs of multibillion dollar organizations and watching the 'aha' moments of a large group of people who, after being trained in techniques we helped develop, were finally convinced they could actually use these things day to day.

Describe your McKinsey colleagues and the McKinsey culture.

I haven’t stopped learning at McKinsey for an instant, mainly due to the incredibly talented and intelligent people who I’ve been privileged to be on teams with. The culture of mentoring at the firm means it is everyone’s responsibility to make sure you develop as quickly and as far as possible. This goes both ways of course: one of the things I loved in academic life was teaching, and I’ve been equally surprised at the number of opportunities there are to share knowledge and skills.

What have been your biggest learnings at McKinsey?

You don’t have to solve everything yourself! The support from colleagues, research specialists, and people on other teams who have looked at a similar problem in the past, has to be experienced to be believed. It’s incredibly exciting to be able to send out a quick query about something you are unsure of, and within a few minutes have a conversation set up with an expert on the subject, who will do everything within their power to help you understand everything you need to.

How did you 'make your own McKinsey'?

I’ve loved taking advantage of the global nature of the firm to do studies in interesting places such as Southern Africa. The opportunities are almost limitless: once a team is convinced that you can make a contribution, you can work with them, wherever they are in the world. I’m looking forward to doing more of this!