Erison on running blocks
McKinsey is home to colleagues from a variety of backgrounds, including some you may not suspect. Erison started as an athlete – and an amazing one. His ability to take lessons learned on the Olympic track into his day-to-day tasks as an associate is inspiring for those who grapple with finding a role that fits into their ultimate career vision.
“My indecision of what industry I wanted to be in was what initially drew me to consulting,” Erison said. “This ability to experience a range of industries and functions and get a fuller understanding of how organizations run made McKinsey attractive to me.”
Competing to be the best every day
Erison recounted how growing up as a first-generation American in a West Indian home in the New Jersey suburbs brought an interesting perspective to how he viewed life.“There was always a juxtaposition between how my West Indian family did things and my experience with American friends,” he said. “Though I was born and raised in the U.S., it was an interesting dynamic, whether it would be [observing] how others behaved or how things went on at home or how people thought about things. It helped me learn a lot of different perspectives in the world.”
He began his athletic journey playing basketball, admiring the moves of Michael Jordan while watching the NBA Finals every year with his family. Shortly after starting his freshman year of high school, Erison gravitated towards track and field. He recalls going to a specialty shoe store to purchase his first pair of track spikes with his father.
“The gentleman who owned the shop and his son had run track. He told me something I’ve never forgotten: ‘Remember that it's up to you how fast you want to run.’ While I don't think that's totally true, it carries a very important message that if you want to get better at something, things are not always going to be easy. They're not always going to work your way, but that does not alleviate you of the responsibility of trying to maximize your efforts and change the circumstances to your benefit.”
Erison running on track
After running cross country and indoor and outdoor track & field throughout high school, Erison was recruited to run at Columbia during undergrad, eventually reaching All-American status and hitting the Olympic ‘A’ standard in his last race at the NCAA Championship Finals.
Erison stretching before Beijing Olympics run
On Dedication and Discipline
Following this accomplishment, he joined a group of professional runners at Florida State University where he coached and trained for the international track and field circuit. He spent the next few years competing in nearly 30 countries, learning lots of lessons along the way.“I understood what it takes and what people give to be great at something. When you see people who truly dedicate their whole life to a sport - tracking everything they eat, tracking their sleep, moving places all over the world to be with the right coach, plus the grueling training process - you learn that it's an iterative process of continually getting better.”
At McKinsey, Erison realized the business world is similar to track and field in that regard. You find out what the problem is, map out potential solutions, prioritize one and try it, then you iterate.
“Whether you're talking about profit margins or losing time in a race, the same kind of drive to get better and the same steps are typically involved.”
Coach Erison with student at NYU
Finding similarities between sports and consulting
Following his Olympic journey, Erison became assistant coach of the NYU track & field team in 2014.“Coaching is different from being an athlete, for sure, but it is similar in a lot of ways,” he said. “You still get to feel and experience competition, but you don't really do it yourself. I was in a world I still have a lot of passion for in a sport that I loved. You build relationships with other people who share that passion and want to get better.”
Following a promotion to head coach, a position he held for five years, Erison simultaneously enrolled in the NYU Stern School of Business in 2019.
“I felt like coaching would have been a limiting career path, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do next. I have always been interested in business and that spurred me to go to business school, which I immediately loved.”
In his last year of business school, Erison became interested in McKinsey after noticing how highly regarded the firm was, in addition to wanting to work with people who do their jobs well. He began reaching out to people he knew before discovering that a (now) colleague was on the same track team with him at Columbia. That colleague sold him on the fact that McKinsey was not only a great place to work but a place where he could build a great future.
Profile photo
Finding his consulting career focus
Though he’s only been at McKinsey for a couple of months, Erison is excited about his future at the firm. Coming from athletics, he says he didn’t really know what to expect from many industries and didn’t want to take any preconceived ideas into deciding where to focus his career.“My main goal is to try to get as much experience as I can across the board and become a better problem solver.”
Connecting with colleagues in the McKinsey Black Network further helped Erison transition from the sports world into consulting.
“McKinsey Black Network has been supportive from the start,” he said. “I connected with some people during the recruiting process who I'm still in touch with now. The head of the network, Melvin, has been awesome. It’s imperative to have those very candid, comfortable conversations about any questions you have. Being a Black man, McKinsey is a place where I feel comfortable. It's a place where I feel valued. Not that I have a ton of corporate experience, but as far as a place where I can grow, this seems like a great fit so far.”