How Empathy Has Transformed and Empowered Ademola's Journey

The concept of hard work is something that is deeply embedded in any great leader’s mind – it’s the biggest key to achieving lasting success, abundance, and recognition. Ademola understands this, but he also knows that hard work goes far beyond simply keeping your head down and powering through. Hard work also involves practicing empathy, cultivating a positive mindset and prioritizing relationships.

How Empathy Has Transformed and Empowered Ademola's Journey
How Empathy Has Transformed and Empowered Ademola's Journey

“Being able to be fully dedicated to the work and not let up on finding a solution is what has really helped solidify my brand as someone that is always willing and able to deliver,” Ademola says.

This penchant for hard work started at a young age. Born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria, Ademola grew up watching his father succeed as a civil engineer. In fact, several roads and landmarks in Lagos were built by his father’s construction company. This inspired Ademola to come to the United States to pursue civil engineering for himself at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) – though that dream shifted once he realized the harsh outdoor weather conditions civil engineers sometimes work in.

He then switched paths to Computer Engineering at NJIT. It was there, while completing an internship with Avon in New York City, that he first realized his passion for technology and tech consulting – a passion that led him to an interview with McKinsey in 1999. Though he received a lucrative job offer from another firm at the same time, his intuition (and a close friend) led him to his perfect fit at McKinsey.

“A friend of mine from college (who I still look up to and I am still connected with) said, trust me, go with McKinsey,” Ademola said. “And he is a mentor that I really, really looked up to. So I just went with his suggestion and the gut feeling, and I'm glad I did. I've never looked back.”

Shortly after getting onboarded with McKinsey, Ademola began making connections with people who would become beloved mentors and colleagues – people who truly taught him the value of hard work and community in building a strong foundation at McKinsey.

The power of empathy

How Empathy Has Transformed and Empowered Ademola's Journey
How Empathy Has Transformed and Empowered Ademola's Journey

The connections Ademola fostered early on at McKinsey also gave him the self-awareness he needed to start seeing himself as not only a valued employee, but a brand and leader of his own.

“As my brand started to increase across the tech space within the firm, more opportunities would come my way,” he said. “Because my leadership team would say, ‘If you want something done, Ademola needs to be involved.’”

Ademola has attributed his ability to take lead on challenging situations to confidence, charisma, and one other secret ingredient that has transformed his outlook on his career and commitment to his community – empathy.

“When I interact with anyone, it's from a position of empathy,” he said. “It's hard to understand what someone is going through if you don't empathize with them. Equity for me is how we ensure that we have a very holistic, open and equal environment for everyone. And ‘everyone’ includes Black, Latinos, LGBTQ, and colleagues with visible and invisible disabilities.”

This empathetic outlook is something the McKinsey Black Network (MBN) has exemplified beautifully throughout Ademola’s journey at the firm. Since joining MBN, he has regularly mentored fellow Black talent and been involved with recruiting initiatives focused on eliminating unconscious biases and ensuring an open, inclusive workplace for all. Within this scope, he wants to empower more Black talent to make their voices heard and step up as leaders and mentors for other people.

Advocating for transformation at McKinsey and beyond

How Empathy Has Transformed and Empowered Ademola's Journey
How Empathy Has Transformed and Empowered Ademola's Journey

Beyond MBN, Ademola’s passion for advancing diversity and inclusion also empowers his journey in the tech industry, both within McKinsey and in the broader tech landscape as a whole.

“What I personally would like is for the firm's brand to be more outwardly visible in the underrepresented communities, vis-a-vis community service and helping to sponsor boot camps and work study programs and those sorts of things for underrepresented communities,” he said. “Specifically, Black communities that never would've imagined that technology would be a place they could actually have a career in.”

Ademola truly believes in the power of advocating for this change by getting more allies at the firm to help fund or sponsor these types of initiatives. In order for this to happen, though, that allyship needs to come from all sectors of McKinsey. This circles back around to the importance of empathy and trying to understand other perspectives and experiences.

That’s where MBN comes in. Ademola can point to a number of situations when he’s leaned on MBN colleagues for support and found constant empathy and understanding.

“No matter what happens, there’s one thing I never doubt – MBN is always, always going to show up,” he said.

How Empathy Has Transformed and Empowered Ademola's Journey
How Empathy Has Transformed and Empowered Ademola's Journey

Finding roots in community and self-growth

Just like most of his other colleagues, the people at McKinsey (specifically those within the MBN community) are what has kept Ademola there for nearly 23 years. But in addition to the strong sense of community he’s built at McKinsey, he also points to the creativity and flexibility the firm offers him when it comes to evolving his role and making his career his own. That flexibility is only amplified by the fact that McKinsey has taken great strides in recent years to offer more opportunities for its partners.

“The ‘10 actions’ McKinsey came out with has re-energized me and given me even more hope that the firm is really serious about not only increasing Black equity, but increasing equity in general,” he said. “And some of those actions I've actually been involved in, so I see it. I'd say that definitely is one of the driving factors of some of the changes that I've seen that has excited me about what is yet to come.”

With that in mind, Ademola’s advice for incoming talent is one everyone has heard since childhood: be yourself.

“McKinsey is an environment where practically every single type of profession you could think about has come through the firm: doctors, lawyers, Olympic athletes, NFL players, even a daughter of a president,” he said. “Don’t try to impress anybody, because everybody is a master in their own right. Be yourself. Bring your authentic self to the firm. That's number one.”

Aside from the tried-and-true advice of showing up as his authentic self in his career and community, Ademola follows one more gem of wisdom: own what you know and be honest about what you don’t.

“Folks that fake the funk are quickly found out,” he joked. “But the firm is also, in my opinion, an educational institution. It's fresh energy, fresh knowledge, fresh ideas, year in, year out. It's a place where you just have to come with an open mind and trust that your ideas are going to be welcomed. You're going to be learning from a lot of people, and you're going to be teaching a lot of people. This place is a huge revolving door of knowledge sharing.”

As for his future at McKinsey, Ademola is excited to increase his knowledge of the different cloud technologies and processing changes that are on the horizon for the firm. Until then, he’s focused on living in the moment and finding his joy in his favorite activities, like cycling and spending time with his family.

“One of my favorite sayings by Reverend Jesse Jackson is, ‘Don't look down on anyone unless you are helping them up,’” he said. “So for me, that means looking for opportunities where I'm able to lift people up and hopefully educate and inspire them so they can lift other people up themselves, because it takes a village. No man (or woman) is ever an island unto himself/herself.”

Speaking of islands, Ademola says his ultimate goal is to someday live the life of a jet ski instructor he once met in Hawaii – spending all day laying out in the sun, meeting fun people and having a laid-back island lifestyle. But until then, you can find him working hard to make McKinsey brighter for his colleagues old and new.

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