Coaching MBAs For A McKinsey Tryout

Scott Rutherford

Scott Rutherford

“We’re really trying to think about telecom disaggregation,” he says. “Do you know anything about that?”

“No,” admits Ivan (the student names were changed to protect their privacy), “not really. But that sounds like a really interesting challenge. Can you tell me a little more about it?”

“I’d love to,” responds Rutherford. “I’d love to.”

‘YOU CAN SEDUCE HIM WITH QUESTIONS’

And then, he shakes off his McKinsey persona and slips back into coach mode. “That was perfect,” Rutherford tells the student. What you did seemed very natural, and you were interested. And by the way, if a partner throws a problem at you, and it’s one of his own, he will want to talk about it. You can seduce him with questions because then he’ll talk all the time, and he’ll say that was a great conversation. You guys could have said two words and he would say you’re great. Let’s hire him.”

Rutherford then takes aim at another student in the room, Herbert. “One of my biggest clients is a reinsurer,” he says. “Do you know anything about reinsurance?”

“Well, I’m partly Swiss so yes,” the MBA quips. “It’s the pooling of risk for others. You try to make money from that by diversifying risk.”

A TOUGHER, CHANGE-OF-PACE QUESTION THROWS OFF A STUDENT

Rutherford, the coach, seems gleeful. “You get a bonus point,” he says. “You actually knew what I was talking about. The Swiss part is great. When you can throw your person into the conversation, it makes it. What you didn’t do is say, ‘Actually I’m Swiss and my uncle works for SwissRe (one of the world’s largest reinsurers) and is a high ranking executive there.’ No, you simply said, ‘I’m Swiss and I know about it.’ Full stop. I’ll get you a harder one next time.”

Rutherford delivers a slightly tougher, change-of-pace question to Allan, the third MBA in the room.

“Allan, what do you think of Deloitte Consulting buying Monitor?”

“That is an interesting question,” replies Allan. “Why are we exploring this? What is your personal interest in this?”

‘WHAT WAS GOING ON IN YOUR HEAD?’

“Wow,” says Rutherford with obvious disappointment. “We’re a consulting company. They’re consulting. Try that again. That was not so good. What was going on in your head when I asked that question?”

“I was trying to figure out what the context of the question was,” explains Allan. “I did have a reaction to it.”

“The thing we’re after is for you to say something, whether it’s ‘I have no idea. I’m Swiss,” or by putting meat on the table and then following up with a question. So let’s try that again. Allan, what do you think of Deloitte buying Monitor?”

“I actually think it is really interesting. It’s a sign that some consolidation is going on in the industry. I’m curious what that means for us at McKinsey?”

Rutherford seems pleased. “A-minus,” he quips. “I love it when you said it’s real interesting and you’re smiling. There is resonance. You are saying that and you are meaning it. What is the more natural follow-up question?

Says Allan: “After saying it’s interesting, maybe the question is what does it mean for the consulting industry or I’d be curious what your thoughts are?”

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