McKinsey PEI - Professional vs. personal stories and time relevance

Hi, 

1) I wonder how appropriate or inappropriate it is to tell a personal story to demonstrate leadership. For instance, I organized a 10-day trip for a group of friends in Asia and I took care of basically everything for the entire trip. During the trip, there were even some major challenges that I had to step over and solve by myself. Would that be an appropriate story to tell in a McK interview?

That could work. If you choose to stick with this story, emphasize the challenges faced in organizing for your group of friends. Explain why you took on this responsibility and delve into the specific difficulties encountered during the trip. Maintain a professional tone, framing the challenges in a way that aligns with workplace scenarios.

2) I have been working for a while now, however, there are something from study times that I am still extremely proud of. Can I tell a story from study time even though I have been working for 2-3 years?
You can but it's better if it's a recent story. They can ask you if something similar didn't happen during your last 2-3 years in the professional setting. 

These are great questions. 

On 1) yes, personal stories are perfectly fine. Sometimes they can even be stronger than professional stories. Just make sure that the majority of stories are from the professional rather than the personal side. 

On 2) ideally have stories from within the last 2-3 years. Otherwise, they might assume you have not accumulated worthwhile experiences in recent times. 

For anybody who is looking into the PEI topic, I recently released this end-to-end course covering PEI. More on it here:

• Video Course: Master the McKinsey PEI

Best,
Cristian

Hi there,

Personal or academic stories are as valid as personal one as long as the fit with criterio on each PEI dimension:

• Entrepreneurship: focusing on how you delivered impact out of your comfort zone
• Leadership: focusing on leading a team towards a challenging goal
• Personal impact: focusing on persuading an individual or group with an opposing opinion
• Courageous change: focusing on dealing with ambiguity

Best,

Alberto

1) I have done 1000+ interviews and I can remember probably 50 or so PEI stories. Every single one that I remember are personal stories. I can't remember a single one about a work situation. So, absolutely feel free to tell personal stories. In final round decision meetings (not usually in first round decision meetings, which is what most, if not everyone on PrepLounge have been exposed to) Partners love to recount the personal stories. However, your going to work in a business environment helping business clients. So, a majority of your stories should be business based. Sprinkle in 1 or 2 personal stories if the opportunity arises.

2) The short answer is YES, as long as it is a great one.

Dear A,

For every PEI story, I would recommend you to use a specific structure, which consists of 5 components:

1. Situation (background)

2. Problem (Complication)

3. Your approach (how did you manage this problem)

4. Results (Outcomes of your approach)

5. Your learnings (what you take from this situation)

If you can apply this framework to every of your PEI stories and communicate in a top-down way, you would definitely leave a great impression. For more details, feel free to approach me. 

Below you can also find some examples of the questions that would help you to differ the dimensions of PEI: Leadership

• Tell me about a time you led others.

• Tell me about a time when you were on a team that had a conflict that was keeping it from achieving its objective.

• How do you motivate people?

Personal Impact

• Tell me about a time you had to convince someone to change their mind on something important to them.

• Tell me about a difficult situation where you had to rely on your communication skills.

• What do you want to be remembered for and how are you achieving it?

Entrepreneurial Drive

• Did you ever have a goal that you weren’t able to achieve? What did you do?

• Tell me about a time that you dealt with a tough problem.

• Tell me about a failure.

Best,

André

Hello!

On top of the insights already shared in the post, next week will be pusblished in PrepLounge´s Shop material related.

In concrete, the "Integrated FIT guide for MBB". It provides an end-to-end preparation for all three MBB interviews, tackling each firms particularities and combining key concepts review and a hands-on methodology. Following the book, the candidate will prepare his/her stories by practicing with over 50 real questions and leveraging special frameworks and worksheets that guide step-by-step, developed by the author and her experience as a Master in Management professor and coach. Finally, as further guidance, the guide encompasses over 20 examples from real candidates.

Hope you find it useful!

Let me share my thoughts of what inerviewer is trying to assess in you:

• Personal FIT - would the interviewer like to work with you as a colleague

• Are you reliable/ independent/ confident person

• Can you be sent along to the client

• Would you fit to the corporate culture

So, if your personal stories show your qualities, skills, then why not?

Cheers,

GB

You can tell whatever story you want as long as it fits the prompt.

However, the more interesting and challenging the stories are, the better they are. Remember,  the interviewers sit in a room and listen to 6-8 of these a day. Make sure your stories are interesting and unique. 

Also, I would recommend at least one story in a professional setting. End of the day, you are completely free to do what you want. I would just look at it from the lens of the interviewer and try to understand what will be most convincing for them.

Hi,

My answer to your questions is as follows :

• Unlike other coaches here, I do not recommend personal stories. They are very tricky to assess and honestly they are often tangential to what is being asked. For example, if you were talking about persuading someone to change their mind, convincing your friend is absolutely nothing like convincing a senior client. The skills and negotiation involved are miles apart. My advice is avoid personal stories unless they genuinely answer the question asked. Your story here does not fit the bill
• Yes you can do so - up to 2 years is fine

Best,

Udayan