McKinsey PEI "Inclusive Leadership"

leadership McKinsey McKinsey PEI
New answer on Dec 30, 2023
6 Answers
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Anonymous A asked on Oct 21, 2022

Hey all,

 

I was wondering if any of you could give some examples for good “Inclusive Leadership” stories for McKinsey's PEI.

 

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Florian
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updated an answer on Oct 22, 2022
Highest-rated McKinsey coach (ratings, offers, sessions) | 500+ offers | Author of The 1% & Consulting Career Secrets

Hey there,

For a McKinsey Inclusive Leadership story, the interviewer will ask you about a situation where you led a team through a challenging time to achieve a certain goal. For this dimension, you need to show that you ...

  • ... can handle a diverse group that accepts you as their leader, with diversity being the result of different backgrounds, cultures, hierarchy levels, etc.
  • ... tailor your leadership style to different groups and group members
  • ... demonstrate your ability to make the team succeed by helping to structure, divide, and delegate tasks and providing them with work plans, deadlines, and effective communication
  • ... motivate your team, improve the team spirit and the working environment for all involved
  • ... are interested in the well-being of the team and their own individual development along the way
  • ... deal with conflicts between teammates and goals effectively

Overall, showcase that your presence as a team leader had a positive impact on the team and lead to a strong outcome of a particular project or task.

You do not need to be an official leader. What is important is that you create an environment that allows for strong collaboration and problem-solving among the team members, bringing out each individual's strengths.

I have written an article on the topic that goes into a bit more detail here: https://www.preplounge.com/mckinsey-pei

The article also covers an Inclusive Leadership example story.

Cheers,

Florian

(edited)

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Udayan
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replied on Oct 21, 2022
Top rated Case & PEI coach/Multiple real offers/McKinsey EM in New York /6 years McKinsey recruiting experience

An inclusive leadership story has three elements at its core

  1. A scenario where there is a group of people that are different to others (it can be anything that is easy to see for example introverts vs extroverts or Engineers vs Non engineers)
  2. One group facing an issue because they are divers - e.g., non engineers not being able to contribute to product discussions because engineering team does not believe they need external help
  3. You seeing that this is an issue taking all the steps needed to make the team an inclusive and open working environment

Think of scenarios that fit the above story types (there are many many examples of how certain people are different to others) and you will be fine.

Best,

Udayan

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Alberto
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replied on Dec 30, 2023
Ex-McKinsey Associate Partner | +15 years in consulting | +200 McKinsey 1st & 2nd round interviews

Hi there,

Being asked for a leadership story you should focus on your best experience leading a team (of any size), either on a personal or professional situation. Keys here:

  • You leading style is and how you inspire the team to reach a challenging goal
  • Your teamwork skills to coordinate work and make everyone shine
  • Your ability to understand and act on team dynamics, even the personal ones (motivations, frustrations)

I hope this helps.

Alberto

Check out my latest case based on a real MBB interview: Sierra Springs

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Emily
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replied on Oct 25, 2022
Ex McKinsey EM & interviewer (5 yrs) USA & UK| Coached / interviewed 300 +|Free 15 min intro| Stanford MBA|Non-trad

So for inclusive leadership I recommend that you think about how you have led a team - either formally or informally - to achieve a challenging goal. You want to think about how you brought the people into the team, how you divided the tasks, managed the process and what the outcome was. 

The focus is on how you interacted with the people on the team - so I recommend that you think in depth about that. 

Good luck!

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Pedro
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replied on Oct 23, 2022
30% off in March 2024 | Bain | EY-Parthenon | Roland Berger | Market Sizing | DARDEN MBA

A few thoughts:

  • Leadership is not about being the “leader” (a.k.a. “the boss”) but about how you steer others towards a goal
  • Most importantly is to discuss how you enable others to perform at a higher level - either individually (e.g. making sure their contributions are heard, reducing conflict levels) or as a team (ensure alignment and mutual understanding between team member)
  • Inclusive points out to being able to include everyone (no one left behind), particularly when you are within a diverse set of people. And look at invisible diversity here. It's about people thinking differently about things (for example because they have distinct backgrounds) than about "looking different”.
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Florian

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