McKinsey PEI - Personal Impact

Question

HI,

I have an upcoming interview with McKinsey and wanted some guidance over my personal impact story and suitability.

I have two personal impact stories - one story is a corporate experience and a disagreement I had with a manager. The other is a far more personal experience surrounding me wanting to purse an elite level of sports alongside studying and a significant fallout I had with my father with regards to this (because of the intense timetabling pressure this would lead to and potentially causing me to compromise my academics) .

My uncertainty comes because I would much rather tell my sporting story - I think it shows how I managed an extremely demanding regiment, made sacrifices and ultimately put myself in my father's shoes to gain his eventual buy in. I also think it is a far more unique and memorable story however, as it involves my father I am wondering whether some interviewers would find this unsuitable. The actual story is about how I had to navigate this relationship with my father and the steps I took to win back his confidence (which are the same steps that I would take if it were a non family member)

My Corporate story is probably similar to 95% of other candidates and I fear it is simply something the interviewer has heard hundreds of times before and this whilst it fits the brief is likely quite boring.

Looking for some advice. One potential way to navigate this is I could say - “There are two stories that come to mind , I have an experience of a conflict with a manager during an internship, alternatively, I have a more personal experience involving me wanting to purse an elite level of sport alongside studying and a significant fallout I had with my father with regards to this. I would be keen to talk about the latter and how I navigated that conversation but only if you're comfortable with me telling this personal story”

Answer 1

Hi there,

This is a hard one.

Honestly, I'm advising a bit in the dark here. That's because I don't actually know your two stories. If I could hear them and we could talk through them, then I could not only tell you which story to use generally, but importantly, I could help you highlight the right points and take both stories to the next level, ultimately have both usable but with different questions.

If your sporting story is truly impressive AND not too personal (we don't need to hear family drama)…AND your work story is unimpressive/boring, then I lean sports story.

However, I can see a lot of ways for the sports story to be improperly told that could bring it down.

Done right, I like the sports story…BUT key point here is “done right”.

I also agree it's not a bad idea to give the choice to the interviewer.

Answer 2

Hi there,

It is difficult to help you without listening your stories in detail and how you communicate them.

Happy to keep talking about this in private, just send me a message. I've done over 200 interviews at McKinsey and I can help you with this.

Best,

Alberto

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Answer 3

Hi!

Both stories sound cool.

But I'd go with the first one.

Personal impact in McKinsey is not so much about you doing something very difficult despite the odds (like your sports story where you had to show creativity and problem-solving and resilience), it's rather about persuasion.

So you need to show what your abilities are to deliver impact by leveraging others around you.

There are ways to make the story sounds less like those of 95% other people, so I wouldn't worry about that.

Good luck!
Cristian

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