Mck PEI

Question

For those who have recently interviewed at McKinsey:

Could you please share, as concretely as possible, what the typical opening question is for each McKinsey PEI dimension (Leadership, Connection, Drive, and Growth)?

Specifically:

What is the exact or closest-to-exact opening question you’ve seen for each pillar?
What are the explicit evaluation criteria being tested under each one?
What differentiates an average vs. top answer within each dimension?

It would be great to move beyond generic advice and clarify what is actually being asked and assessed in practice.

Answer 1

hi!

Happy to share what I’ve seen from my recent mentees who interviewed at McKinsey. The exact wording varies slightly, but the opening questions are surprisingly consistent. For Leadership it is often something like “Tell me about a time you led a team through a difficult situation.” For Drive it is typically “Tell me about a time you faced a significant setback or failure.” For Conflict or Connection it is along the lines of “Tell me about a time you had to convince someone who disagreed with you” or “Describe a challenging team conflict.” For Growth it is usually “Tell me about critical feedback you received and how you handled it.”

Evaluation is very focused on your specific actions and thought process. They assess ownership, courage in difficult moments, ability to influence, self reflection, and what you genuinely learned. Average answers stay at surface level, describe the team more than themselves, and lack depth when probed. Top answers are very specific, show clear decision points, trade offs considered, personal stakes, and honest reflection on what they would do differently.

What really differentiates candidates is how well they handle follow ups. Top performers stay consistent under deep probing and can clearly articulate what they were thinking in the moment, not just what happened.

If you want, feel free to share one of your stories and I can give you direct feedback.

best,
Alessa :)