Piers Ward

Location: Oslo

Hometown: Farnham, United Kingdom

MBA program: HEC Paris

Undergraduate school, major: University of Exeter, Economics

Focus of current case: Renewables Strategy

What word best describes Bain and why? Trust. I believe a culture of trust flows throughout our organization. As a case team, we trust and empower each other to do our best work to deliver results. As a company, we trust each other to do the right thing for our clients, our business, and society. Our clients trust us as a partner to create new standards of value for their industry.

Why did you choose to work at Bain?
I wanted to work with talented people, grow in a world-leading culture and be challenged with difficult, ambiguous issues every day.

What did you love about the business school you attended?
That it’s somewhere on the up! HEC Paris MBA is growing every day in quality and outcomes, and I hope even more talented people choose the HEC MBA program in the years to come.

What’s the most valuable thing you’ve learned so far at Bain?
You learn from everyone around you. We work in a truly collaborative way where everyone in the team’s opinion is both valued and elevated to solve the problem at hand.

Which manager or peer has had the biggest impact on you at Bain, and how has he or she made you a better consultant?
 I’ve been lucky to work with amazing case teams in my first six or so months at Bain, and benefit from superb mentorship from many levels of the business. I promise that if you join Bain, you will not be able to pick just one person.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to work for Bain?
Make sure you understand our culture and how we differentiate our offering to our clients. It’s super important to us as an organization, and something we take immense pride in.

What has been your most meaningful career achievement and how did it make a difference?
For me there is honestly not a single achievement, it’s about the journey and the route that I’ve taken toward management consulting. I’ve met amazing people from my experience in the startup world, and I’m extremely grateful for the guidance and responsibility that I was given very early in my career – those people know who they are.

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