Since joining McKinsey in 2000, Bill has focused his work on driving large-scale organizational and cultural change for diverse clients across North America, Europe, and the Middle East. An expert on the role of culture, values, and leadership in improving business outcomes, he helps top executives enhance organization-wide management effectiveness.
In his advisory work, Bill has helped CEOs, government ministers, and other top executives assess organizational health and lead initiatives to improve it. He also brings strong experience in strategic human resources, helping organizations understand how to create world-class talent systems and winning workforce dynamics.
Examples of his work include:
- leading a transformational change initiative for the CEO of a Gulf Coast chemical manufacturer, delivering more than $100 million in performance improvements in 18 months
- evaluating leadership culture and performance at a global refining company and designing and implementing a program to build leadership skills and mind-sets to ensure successful and sustainable behavior change
- developing an employee value proposition and communication initiatives to drive a major petroleum organization’s large-scale transformation
- helping develop a change-management strategy to support a healthcare system’s transition to a national electronic health record
- redesigning the human-resources functions of several international organizations
Published work
“Getting personal about change,” McKinsey Quarterly, August 2019
“A better way to lead large-scale change,” McKinsey & Company, July 2019
Beyond Performance 2.0: A Proven Approach to Leading Large-Scale Change, John Wiley & Sons, July 2019
“Why you should apply analytics to your people strategy,” McKinsey & Company, April 2019
“Are we long—or short—on talent?,” McKinsey Quarterly, January 2019
“Straight talk about employee evaluation and performance management,” McKinsey Quarterly, October 2018
“How to advance your talent plan to stay relevant,” blog entry, McKinsey & Company, August 2018
“How to change mindset and behavior,” blog entry, McKinsey & Company, July 2018
“The fairness factor in performance management,” McKinsey & Company, April 2018
“Harnessing the power of performance management,” McKinsey & Company, April 2018
“TalentTech: enabling talent in the digital age,” McKinsey & Company, February 2018
“Focus on the five percent,” McKinsey & Company, January 2018
“4 strategies for linking talent to value,” McKinsey & Company, December 2017
“People analytics reveals three things HR may be getting wrong,” McKinsey Quarterly, July 2016
“Winning hearts and minds in the 21st century,” McKinsey Quarterly, April 2016
“The four building blocks of change,” McKinsey Quarterly, April 2016
“Leadership in context,” McKinsey Quarterly, January 2016
“Organizing for the future,” McKinsey Quarterly, January 2016
Contributing Publications
“How healthy is your company?,” McKinsey & Company, May 2016
“Decoding leadership: What really matters,” McKinsey Quarterly, January 2015
Beyond Performance: How Great Organizations Build Ultimate Competitive Advantage, Wiley, 2011
Education
Auburn University
PhD, organizational analysis and change
Auburn University
MS, human-resources management
Moravian College
MBA
Moravian College
BA