McKinsey PEI: What does McKinsey mean by "People with different backgrounds" within the leadership theme of PEI

Hey Usman,

McKinsey’s obsession with “diverse backgrounds” isn’t  about checking boxes for nationality or culture It’s much more pragmatic. They just want to know if you can herd cats specifically, cats that have different incentives, seniority levels, or temperaments.

Your Tier 2 consulting background is a perfect sandbox for this: You’ve got senior partners, junior analysts, and clients all wanting different things; that is your diversity.Don’t go hunting for a more "exotic" story; you’ve already got the goods

The real  "fail" for most candidates isn't the example they pick, but how they tell it.Just saying you "aligned the group" is a bit too generic. Showing how you used Tactics A for the skeptical CFO and Tactics B for the overworked project lead is where the magic happens. It’s all about the pivot

Best,

Franco

Hi Usman,

Good that you’re thinking about this — most people overcomplicate it.

When McKinsey says “people with different backgrounds,” they’re not expecting you to have led some wildly diverse group like artists, factory workers, and government officials all in one story. That’s not the point.

What they actually care about is much simpler:
can you lead people who don’t think like you, don’t want the same things as you, or don’t respond to the same approach?

That’s it.

In practice, this shows up in pretty normal consulting situations. For example:

• junior team members vs. senior stakeholders
• a client who is skeptical vs. a team that just wants to execute
• different personalities (structured vs. messy, cautious vs. aggressive)
• people with different incentives (e.g., your goal is impact, theirs is risk avoidance)

Your example from Tier 2 consulting is honestly perfectly fine. Managing analysts, managing upwards, handling clients — that already gives you enough “difference.” You don’t need to artificially add cultural or “exotic” diversity.

Where candidates usually miss the mark is this: they mention different stakeholders, but they don’t really show that they changed their approach.

That’s what McKinsey is listening for.

If your story sounds like:
“I had different stakeholders and aligned everyone…”

it’s weak.

If it sounds like:
“I realized the analysts needed clear, structured direction to move fast, while the client was hesitant and needed to be brought along. So I ran the team with tight check-ins, but with the client I slowed down, walked them through the logic, and involved them early…”

now you’re showing leadership.

It’s less about the “background” itself and more about your awareness and adaptation.

Also, you don’t need to explicitly label it as “diversity.” Just make the differences obvious through how you tell the story.

If I put it bluntly:
they’re testing whether you have one generic leadership style, or whether you can flex depending on who’s in front of you.

Most good PEI answers are actually quite “ordinary” situations — just told in a way that makes that adaptability very clear.

If you want, happy to look at one of your stories and help you sharpen that angle. That’s usually where the difference between “average” and “strong” answers comes from.

Good Luck!

Best,

Soheil

hey Usman:)

they mean situations where you had to align individuals with genuinely different perspectives, incentives or ways of working, so your example from consulting can absolutely work if you clearly show real differences like senior vs junior, client vs internal, or conflicting stakeholder goals, what matters is not the label of diversity but that there was real tension or misalignment and you actively adapted your leadership style to bring them together, that’s exactly what they want to see

best,
Alessa :)

Usman,

That's a great question. I love this part of interview prep btw. 

Basically, here's where it comes from:

At McKinsey, you might find on a Friday that from Monday you're staffed on a project on a different continent. You are meant to arrive there and then synch within hours with the other McKinsey team members. How are you able to do that? Because you've received similar training and because you have similar intrinsics. 

The intrinsics are what they are trying to test during the interview. They want you to tell them stories about when you worked with people from difference background (culturally, professionally, etc. - diversity can mean anything here) and how all of this was problematic in the beginning, but by you working with them individually and collectively, you succeeded in turning these sources of diversity into assets. 

If you're looking to practice and improve on this, drop me a line. I've also built a tailored McK PEI course here:

• • Video Course: Master the McKinsey PEI

Best,
Cristian