McKinsey PEI - Personal impact Dimension

Question

Hi,

I also have a question regarding the personal impact dimension story.

Roughly, my story is about my current job, where I convinced a superior to try to win over a company, as I saw a great opportunity to put a foot in the door and later upsell products. He on the other hand, did not believe we could get in their, as they were currently using a competitor's product. Yet, through several talks with the company, I understood they wanted to switch provider, and saw an opportunity, which I convinced by boss of. He mainly did not want us to follow it as we were quite a small team and entered an entire new geographical market with an entire suit of products, so resources were scarce.
What do you generally think about the story? I can quite well describe how I managed to convince him, how I calculated the potential financial and strategic impact etc, yet I am not sure if the story is strong on the “what would have happened if we did not win the company” part. Sure, we were still small in the geographical market and proving the headquarters that we can win the deal is one argument. Yet, as I work in a quite big scale up, it makes no sense to say that without winning this contract, we would have been in trouble etc. Is my argumentation strong enough, or does the story, given this fact, not fit the dimension? What do you think in general about the story?

Answer 1

Hello!

With just a couple of paragraphs it´s difficult to tell you whether it´s the right story, since the secret many times is in the nuances, learnings, impacts… so we would need to deep dive quite a bit here.

It´s key to understand what each dimension refers to, and personal impact is actually stakeholder management.

If you want to deep dive on the topic, the "Integrated FIT guide for MBB" has been recently published in PrepLounge´s shop (https://www.preplounge.com/en/shop/tests-2/integrated-fit-guide-for-mbb-34)

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.

Furthermore, you can find 3 FREE Expert Articles on PreLounge, in a sreies dedicated to preparing for the different parts of FIT:

1. https://www.preplounge.com/en/articles/cv-interview-questions

2. https://www.preplounge.com/en/articles/motivational-fit-interview-questions

3. https://www.preplounge.com/en/behavioral-interview-questions

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Hope it helps!

Answer 2

Hi there,

congrats to this achievement! First of all, be aware that for each PEI story there are 3 sub-dimensions you will be evaluated against and in order to succeed, you do not need to exceed the bar on all dimensions, it is also totally fine if you “just meet the bar”. From what I am hearing the general situation could be a great fit yet requires some fine tuning. I would for instance ask you to what extend have you reflected on the potentially hidden reasons why your boss was initially against this? Also remember that there are various ways to convince people beyond just providing a good factual case.

Happy to support you in crafting a powerful PEI story.

Best

Freddy

Answer 3

Hi there,

I would give three tips on improving the story:

1. Try reframing the outcome: from “What would we have lost if we haven't won over the client” to “What we obtained from signing this client: the opportunity to enter a new geographical area, improved market share, etc.”. That is, calculate the actual monetary impact of onboarding that client - short-term and long-term (EBITDA impact, market share in terms of revenue, etc.).

2. Do not stress the manager's reluctance too much: mentioning it once at the beginning is enough. Otherwise, restating the manager's opposing point of view might wrongly depict you as someone difficult to work with.

3. Add some structure to the story as if it were a movie: 1) this is the context: our company is not a market leader, afraid to go against competitors etc. 2) I come into the scene and join the company and immediately see this opportunity 3) The manager is sceptical 4) I prove her wrong with my calculations 5) We now have a historical opportunity to enter an entirely new market for us and level up our firm's positioning. Actually write it down in bullet points to make it clearer in your head.

Hope this helps and good luck!

Answer 4

Hi there,

The story fits well within the dimension. It basically shows you being effective at convincing somebody in a superior role. I do agree that it's difficult to raise the stakes, however, if there was no real consequence had you not gotten that contract.

A few suggestion of how you could change the angle bring more tension:

Your promotion was on the line and this contract could have made the difference
It was important to prove yourself you could win this contract following a string of failed attempts (shows you as candid and perseverant)
You believed this was a large client that long-term could have made a big difference, especially if they went for one of the direct competitors

Answer 5

Hey there,

Overall the context of the story works: check!

The story also fits the dimension: check!

As regards the content, it seems to be okay. There are definitely areas to fine-tune, which are hard to do without knowing the details of the story:

A couple of pointers:

Keep the context very brief. The ‘’what would have happened if you were not able to convince'' part can just be one sentence (the outcome expected in my SCORE framework. Focus on 1-2 negative consequences.
Focus on the arguments you have used and also provide room to discuss the arguments of your manager. It should be a discussion between the two of you, where you want to highlight how you deal with his arguments and build on them
Agree with Frederic: Facts are good and needed but the story becomes richer and stronger if you base your arguments and convincing not just on facts...

For more on the PEI and the SCORE framework, check out the article that I wrote for PrepLounge: https://www.preplounge.com/en/articles/mckinsey-pei

Or reach out for a personalized session to tailor all your stories. :-)

All the best!

Cheers,
Florian

Answer 6

Hi there,

Overall, the story hits a lot of the key criteria expected from a strong PEI story and plenty of good advice was already given by the other coaches on how to polish it further- only thing I'd add is that the very best way to practice and fine-tune the story is to simulate it with people who have done it before / interviewed candidates.

Feel free to reach out to any of the coaches to learn more.

Regards, Andi

Answer 7

Hi there,

I think generally the foundation of the story works! Of course, it will depend on to what extent/how you flesh it out.

I think that highlighting that it was a big deal (in both senses of the word) and let to promotion is important. Additionally, make sure to you fully flesh out how you persuaded him (there need to be multiple things). Finally, try not to emphasize his reasoning for resistance too much (touch on it lightly, but he actually had a good point, so you don't want that to become the focus!)

Answer 8

It sounds like a suitable story but “argumentation” is only one small aspect of influencing to drive “personal impact”. In a challenging 1-on-1 situation, you often need to influence through rapport and empathy, etc. as well. Your McKinsey interviewer is trying to understand how you would work (successfully) with e.g., a difficult client where they are looking for a broad range of influencing abilities.

Good luck!

Answer 9

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