Meet McKinsey & Company’s MBA Class Of 2023

“THIS PLACE HAS EVERYTHING”

The Class of 2023 illustrates something fundamental about McKinsey’s culture and capabilities. The largest of the MBB firms, McKinsey boasts 45,000 employees who operate across 130 cities in 65 countries who speak over 140 languages. With 100 years of experience – and people devoted to nearly every imaginable practice area – McKinsey has literally done it all.

“The sheer volume of knowledge and resources the firm has left me astounded,” admits Usama Arshad. “You can think of any topic under the sun, and McKinsey can connect you to internal experts, external experts, knowledge documents—this place has everything.”

Wharton MBA Travus White took advantage of this differentiator early in his McKinsey career. “We were developing a database to link physicians with patents they published, and encountered a challenge: Patents aren’t typically linked to identifiable doctor-specific numbers like their National Provider Identifier (NPI). Interestingly, we discovered a specialist at McKinsey whose PhD work involved mapping NPIs to the patent registry. We reached out to him, and he guided us through the process, offering insights and options for our project. This is such a niche piece of expertise, but sure enough someone at McKinsey had this unique knowledge.”

This mix of talent enables McKinsey to look at client problems in a variety of ways, further enhancing McKinsey’s problem-solving capabilities, adds Eric Kutcher. “Having our team constructed in a way that brings that diversity, talent, experience, and perspective together matters a lot. We back it up with an incredible side of capabilities. Some of those capabilities sit in places far away from where I am [in San Francisco]. For example, we have PhDs sitting in centers in India who have enormous amounts of expertise in a particular topic that they can bring. Some solutions we have developed allow us to build things in a repeatable way. All of that collectively allows us to differentiate.”

A HERITAGE SECOND-TO-NONE

Scale isn’t the only difference-maker for McKinsey & Company. There is also the brand, a household name that conveys prestige, knowledge, selectiveness, and excellence. While most associate Ford, General Electric, and IBM as the 20th century’s business titans, you could argue that McKinsey acted as the hidden but steady hand that brought science to management. The firm’s influence stretched from Disney to the White House. They were called in to tackle the tough jobs, producing methods and structures that helped rebuild Europe and put men into space. They were innovators who produced the General Survey Outline and 7-S Framework, while fostering an uncompromising commitment to client interest that still reverberates across the industry. Along the way, the firm became thought leaders beyond their engagements, launching McKinsey Quarterly to share research-best practices and the McKinsey Global Institute, a futurist think tank designed to uncover the trends driving global changes.

Today, McKinsey counts 34,000 alumni across 150 countries, including Sundar Pichai (Google), Jane Fraser (Citigroup), Tony Xu (DoorDash), and Pete Buttigieg (U.S. Secretary of Transportation). Long-time first adopters, McKinsey was among the first to pivot into digital disruption and artificial intelligence. According to the firm, it invests $1.27 billion dollars a year into its capabilities, including $3,200 per person in ongoing learning opportunities in 2023.

However, McKinsey doesn’t rely solely on formal training to keep their consultants on the cutting edge. The firm has been lauded for its feedback culture, which Eddie Shih describes as “frequent”, “straightforward”, and “honest”. Even more, adds Usama Arshad, leaders pour a lot of energy into each consultant’s review process.

“The discussions that happen in the committees, and the feedback that you get afterwards at McKinsey, is unlike anything I’ve experienced elsewhere. So, I’d say this only happens here because I believe we are a meritocratic firm. I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of effort put into my first review and the actionable feedback that came out of the discussion.”

ACCESS AND IMPACT

Along with regular feedback and intensive reviews, McKinsey reinforces norms and sharpens skills through mentorship. Tunde Gafaar credits Melvin Mezue, a New York partner, with dedicating extra time to helping him use the precise words needed to get the desired outcome in emails. Benno Rosenwald points to Ruben Quendera, an engagement manager, as an invaluable source of confidence-building encouragement. Sometimes, adds Andy Chen, your mentors can be your teammates.

“I consider Yuning Liao a mentor to me during my start at McKinsey. Even though she was a business associate at the time, she seemed to know everything. She supported me during every step of my onboarding, from navigating the firm to how to interact with clients and partners, to understanding the standards for our work. Even though everyone is busy, Yuning and other colleagues are willing to spend so much time coaching you.”

Access is another of McKinsey’s appeals. Benno Rosenwald can recall one time where he developed a profit price model one night and presented it to the client board the next day. In one engagement, Tunde Gafaar worked on strategy for a country’s public health strategy that could reverberate for decades. At McKinsey, it isn’t just first-year associates getting a front row seat to client decision-making, says Jourdan Henry.

“During my internship, I appreciated the significant level of access to leadership I was granted, including weekly meetings with the chief strategy officer and the CEO. This exposure not only highlighted the human aspects of high-level executives, but also aligned with my future aspirations to become a C-suite executive myself. It reinforced my belief that McKinsey could provide opportunities to interact with and learn from individuals in roles I aspire to hold.

This access translates to something even more profound than access: impact. “I chose McKinsey because I knew it would place me in rooms where the most crucial conversations were happening,” adds Firas Dar. “I wanted to be at the table with leaders making decisions that impact the whole organization, and McKinsey guaranteed me that opportunity.”

A WAY OF THINKING AND COMMUNICATING

More than that, McKinsey offers a comforting familiarity to the MBA Class of 2023. Usama Arshad has found the work to be an extension of what he did at Harvard Business School – just at a faster speed and with a greater intellectual stimulation. Just the same, Eddie Shih found many McKinsey concepts rather familiar.

“When I was at BlackRock, many of my colleagues were McKinsey alumni, including my first boss, the original head of corporate strategy. My training was heavily influenced by McKinsey methods. My first manager used a seven-step problem-solving approach to train me, creating specific materials for me and the team. This approach to organizing work and creating deliverables was inspiring.”

Culturally, McKinsey acts as a method for communicating. That starts with the Pyramid Principle, opening with the conclusion before drilling down to the reasoning and strategy. The delivery is crisp with minimal repetition. The messaging flows logically, backed by data and customized to the audience. Most of all, any extraneous detail or distracting ornamentation is mercilessly cut from the final product. McKinsey’s problem-solving process is equally rigorous, says Eric Kutcher.

“The fundamental approach has always been hypothesis-driven,” he explains. “We start with a perspective on an answer and we articulate why that hypothesis would exist. What are the reasons why? What are the branches of a tree that would go down? And then what are the facts that we need to prove or disprove of the hypothesis at every step along that tree? That fact component Is a really important component because we don’t use our gut to make a decision; we take it through a series of facts.”

THE OBLIGATION TO DISSENT

Another cornerstone of the McKinsey Method is the right to dissent. Basically, McKinsey is a meritocracy where ideas and performance trump title and experience. That means first-year associates are free – even required – to question a consensus or the positions staked out by managers and even partners when it comes to the best interests of their clients.

“In our mission and our values, we are not hierarchical,” Eric Kutcher adds. “That does not mean we are not hierarchical in terms of managing partners vs. brand new associates. What it does mean is that when you are in a problem-solving session, every single person has the obligation to engage in the problem-solving and you bring the facts that you know and push back…We all have a right to be there, which means you actually have to bring your own perspective and you have to get the facts to back it up. This is a super important part of the culture.”

Make no mistake: this isn’t high-minded philosophy. This is McKinsey’s modus operandi, says Andy Chen. “I was surprised that there’s no hierarchy here. Everyone is looked at like an equal.”

THE UNFORGETTABLE MOMENTS

This approach also leads to some unforgettable “Only at McKinsey” moments. Anna Rummel recalls a strategy project where she presented to the c-suite and then broke off to watch the solar eclipse. “We were not only talking about planning the future for this insurance carrier, but we were also taking a moment to recognize there are bigger things going on in the world, and we enjoyed and acknowledged it together.

For Bárbara Argeri, a graduate of New York University’s Stern School, her “Only at McKinsey” came when she headed to Santiago for onboarding. “Here in Latin America, all the post MBAs and all the summer interns come to one place for training – which is so nice. We had colleagues from all over Latin America, including Chile, Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, and Peru. The view from the Santiago office of the mountains is totally amazing. And we were in this room, with smart people from all over, having great discussions. At some point, I was like, ‘Oh, my God, this is so much fun. I can’t believe this is happening right now.’”

For many, their “Only at McKinsey” moments came when the situation demanded that they step up into the spotlight and perform beyond their years. That includes company leaders like Eric Kutcher. His moment of truth came when he was roughly 18 months out of college. The client’s CEO called into the team room and asked to speak with Kutcher personally. Despite being “scared out of my mind”, Kutcher tells P&Q, he raced up to his office. For 45 minutes, the CEO engaged him, listening carefully to his insights. On one level, that moment showed Kutcher that he could influence others and what he did really mattered. On another level, it stressed the importance of trust between consultants and clients.

“The funny thing about this job is that you’re a coach, a bit of a player, [and] a psychologist. A lot of what you have to do is build trust. If the clients don’t trust that you are in it for them and not you, they’re probably not going to switch sides and follow us; they’re probably arming themselves for why it shouldn’t be done. One of the things I’ve found to be successful is that I will actually release my agenda. I actually get to know what’s on their minds. I go in with the perspective that I want to talk about what is going on in their lives and what is on their minds at work. Only if it is right do I bring up the things that were on my mind…I think that builds a level of trust because there is not a lot of self-orientation.”

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