A day in the McK life: Roni

Share a day with Roni, a principal in our London office:

6:00am: My alarm goes off and I spend a little time working. I take a final look at a few slides before an early morning client meeting, while enjoying some hot chocolate. I eat a quick breakfast and chat with my husband, Matthew.

8:00am: I arrive at our client’s office for a three hour meeting with the COO during which we walk through the latest materials my team created, including the slides I worked on earlier in the morning, and we have some good debate. Our team is charged with supporting a major organizational transformation for this professional services firm by helping the company’s leadership streamline its operating model. I enjoy complex problems like this, and I love observing how our clients think and operate. For this engagement, we also have a nice working environment – a room on the 9th floor with giant glass windows and the most amazing views of London, stocked with coffee and snacks.

11:00am: I spend time with an analyst on the client side and a junior associate from McKinsey to structure a data request.

12:30pm: I have lunch with the McKinsey team. We grab food (“real” food – I hate sandwiches) from the canteen at the client site and head back to do a proper team kick-off – something we weren’t able to do a week ago when the engagement started. I provide some context on the client situation and we discuss what success will look like for this study.

2:00pm: Just as I was about to leave, the COO pops his head into our room and asks to speak to me. He pulls me into a meeting he was having with another senior executive who manages around a quarter of the client’s global business. They had been discussing the slides we created and line-edited them. I test the logic in a few places and then take the slides with me back to the team room.

2:30pm: I go back to the office to join a video conference about an exciting knowledge development project on which I’m working. We are defining a more comprehensive and consistent approach to organizational design. I spend time talking with the consultant who has been leading the project to share feedback before he goes on to another project.

4:00pm: I speak with a colleague in professional development to make sure we are aligned on priorities for each of the five business analysts I mentor. Conversations like this help me give clear and specific advice to mentees.

4:30pm: I go through my slightly mad diary with my assistant – which means I have to face the long list of tasks she has lined up for me.

4:45pm: I talk with another team working toward a big meeting and catch up on some administrative tasks.

6:45pm: I meet a former colleague for dinner at a Soho restaurant – one of my favorites. She was an associate principal who now has a fascinating job at a large tech firm. We have a good chat, share holiday snaps – and enjoy the dim sum, which is fantastic!

9:00pm: Back at home I do a little more work thinking through a few pages and taking advantage of the fact that Matthew is out with friends. I prefer not to work in the evenings, but in this case, it was worth the investment. I pack a bag for my Pilates class the next day - one exercise commitment I keep during the week. It is really needed after spending time in front of my laptop.

11:00pm: Matthew arrives home and we talked for a bit about our day. I plug my blackberry in at my desk in the living room (no blackberries in the bedroom!) and we turn off the lights.

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