Coaching MBAs For A McKinsey Tryout

“My ongoing advice to you is to de-word by 50%,” advises Rutherford. “Brief and bold questions or statements have a pure sense of clarity. We’re going for complete honesty. Whatever is going on in your head is good to say. Say what is there and be proud of it, even if it’s I don’t know. Lean into the problem, as opposed to away from it. Watch body language, too, because that’s what the partners are observing.”

‘IT’S GOING TO BE A WEIRD THOUGH HARMLESS EXERCISE’

There’s another round of the question-and-answer game until Rutherford tells the group to expect something “weird.”

“You guys are well on the road,” he concludes, “but I want to push this one step further. This is to be in the moment, engaged and attentive to your interviewer. It’s going to be a weird though harmless exercise, but it will be helpful. I’m not suggesting you do it with them but the outcomes should be consistent.”

He pairs off the students in the room, asking each of the two to face each other. “Your job is to give the other your full attention and presence for one minute but you can’t talk. This is the weird part.”

Rutherford takes out a stopwatch, starts off the 60-second exercise, and says go. The MBAs stare directly at each other, not saying a word. The time passes very slowly and awkwardly until Rutherford announces, “Time’s up. So what did that feel like?”

“Creepy,” pronounces Ivan.

“Yes,” concedes the teacher, “this is an exaggerated practice. Do not do this during your interview. But let me ask why was it creepy?”

“It’s creepy because it is an awkward silence,” explains Ivan. “Our brains had nothing to work on. We were stuck in this moment. It was pure thinking about what the other person is thinking. To me, it’s like our brains are spinning in the same spot without having anything to do.”

“So walk me through what you were thinking during that minute?” asks Rutherford.

“I used a trick I had been taught in another class which is just to be curious and ask questions in your head to the person,” adds Herbert. “That actually relaxed me.”

THE MAGIC OF BILL CLINTON

Rutherford smiles. “As much as we want to give the other person our full attention, stuff happens and so we are actually over here in our own heads, churning and churning and churning,” he says. The key to it is the curiosity. I once met Bill Clinton and I wanted to go up to see if what everyone says about him is true. They say that when you meet him and he shakes your hand, you come away wowed.

“It’s not physical presence. It’s not strength. Some people described it to me this way: ‘For the two to five seconds I was with him, I was the only person in the universe for this guy.’ And they were right. He was fully present for them. He was genuinely curious about them.

“Now forget Bill Clinton for a moment: Be comfortable that nothing bad is going to happen, but be curious about the other person. Does he have kids? Where was he born? Does he enjoy his job? Whatever it could be. Be curious. One minute. Full attention. Full presence. No talking. Starting now, please.”

The rerun of the exercise comes to an end and everyone agrees the minute passed more quickly, with less discomfort than before.

THE HOLY GRAIL OF CONSULTLING

“You didn’t know you were signing up for this today,” laughs Rutherford. “Someone once described these things as ordinary moments of intimacy–which they are. They are intimate moments. In consulting, you are a trust-based adviser and counselor. That is actually the Holy Grail with your client, to have that level of comfort and removal of chatter. So the client isn’t thinking, ‘Is this person talking to me because he’s trying to look smart or trying to sell the next engagement?’ You need to be curious about him and interested in his challenges.”

The session is over, but before the students walk, Rutherford has a few last words of advice.

“Calm yourself. Get in the moment before you walk in there. Sit comfortably in your own seat. Try not to perform. Think of the partner as a peer and a friend. Be curious about him or her. You are going to work for a great firm. Whether it’s this one or the other one. You guys know that, right?”

They grin, thank him, and leave a little more confident and less nervous than when they first walked into the room.

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