Ben Spencer Jones

“I enjoy working in challenging environments, from rowing and the military to consulting at McKinsey.”

McKinsey Office: London

Hometown: Shrewsbury in Shropshire, England

MBA Program and Concentration: London Business School, Business Strategy

Undergraduate School, Major: Imperial College, Medical Sciences

Graduate School, Major: University of Reading, Army Higher Education Program—Strategy and International Relations (Master’s degree)

What was your favorite thing about your MBA program? I really enjoyed exploring new content and getting into a growth mindset. As someone from a non-traditional background—the Army—I appreciated the opportunity to jump back into a learning environment and expand my horizons.

LBS also provided exposure to so many different industries and people—you can really shape your second year with a huge number of elective courses. I thoroughly enjoyed discovering what the world offered outside of the military.

Can you describe your proudest pre-McKinsey accomplishment? I have two that I’m equally proud of achieving. At university, I was really into rowing and served as captain of the university team. The pinnacle of that experience was leading the team to victory at Henley Royal Regatta, a historic race that’s famous throughout the rowing world.

The second accomplishment came during my time in the military, following completion of the selection phase for the Parachute Regiment. On completing the course, you are presented with the famous maroon beret, an item of huge historic significance in the British military. It may sound cliché, but that moment was more of the start of a new chapter than a conclusion – because with the beret comes new expectations. These are expectations to up your performance and finish “top of class” in whatever you do afterwards. That ethos has been deeply ingrained in me.

In what area(s) do you have considerable knowledge or expertise? Almost intentionally, I haven’t done any kind of defense work while at McKinsey. I’m not opposed to it in the future, but the advice I’ve lived by here is to experience other industries, learn what I can from them, and then bring that knowledge back to an industry that I enjoy or want to be involved with later. And that’s what I’ve done.

Why did you choose McKinsey over other consulting firms or other industries? First, I wanted to continue the steep learning curve that started during my MBA program, and I saw consulting, and specifically McKinsey, as the absolute best place to do that.

Second, I see many similarities between McKinsey and the Parachute Regiment – putting the maroon beret on and taking pride from the institution you represent. This pushes you outside of your comfort zone all the time, and that drives learning and high-performance.

Third, I liked the variety of people and backgrounds who were getting offers at McKinsey. Some had a traditional background, but there were people from all over the world in my internship class and all had interesting pasts. I am a firm believer that you become the average of the people around you. By surrounding yourself with interesting people, you lift yourself up and drive yourself farther.

What were you most excited about when you accepted your full-time offer? What is something you didn’t know to be excited about then, but you are now? I expected the culture at McKinsey to be incredibly corporate and almost sterile. But when I got here, it reminded me of being back at university. Everyone’s learning and there are always events going on in the office. There is this buzz and energy that really drives people and it is a hugely supportive environment.

Also, the experience of being a veteran here is absolutely fantastic. There are many of us from across the world – being able to connect over shared experience has really helped me feel at home at McKinsey.

Can you share a time you received mentorship while at McKinsey? How has it made you better? Six months into my time at McKinsey, I joined a really challenging study. The engagement manager came from a military family himself and took me under his wing. It was a high-pressure environment, but he always took the time to provide feedback and help me learn how to work more independently. Now when I look back, I can see how much I’ve improved, and I am grateful for the experience. It’s almost frightening to look back and see how fast you develop. I was recently reflecting, seeing the new batch of interns, thinking back to where I was and where I am now and how much I’ve changed.

If you could go back in time and give your younger self one piece of advice during the interview process, what would you say? McKinsey is an incredibly flat organization—business analysts, associates and senior partners will often work together closely to solve problems. So, I would tell myself to approach interviews as if I was in one of these situations, having a peer-to-peer conversation. When you take that approach, you’re more likely to feel confident and be able to contribute meaningfully to the conversation.

What’s something you’ve learned here that you know will be useful for your entire career? It’s an incredibly valuable skill to step into a situation where you’re not an expert, but still be able to break down the problem, structure the discussion, and add real value. That’s a core part of the McKinsey development model. Just as important is the ability to truly listen with curiosity and ask thoughtful questions.

What’s an example of a time when a teammate challenged you, inspired you, or pushed you to think bigger or go further than you would have on your own? I’ve just taken over a project with a complex tech integration workstream, which is not something where I have a background. But the leaders on my team have given me the autonomy I need to really own it, work out the problems, ask the right questions, and bring in the right people. It takes a lot of trust to give you the rope to go, make mistakes, and learn from them, so I’m really grateful for the opportunity.

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