I didn't expect my MBA to be so useless at McKinsey
Lateral hires join MBB firms after completing costly MBAs. MBAs are good for career transition, but knowledge is not always directly applicable at the new job.
I didn’t expect my MBA to be so useless at McKinsey.
A lateral-hire consultant complained to me.
He said that all the knowledge and frameworks he learned, he couldn’t apply to his job: swot analysis, PESTLE analysis, Porter's five forces, BCG matrix, and many others.
He had to learn to work from scratch. He felt that two years of learning didn’t help him at all.
It’s somewhat true, but it’s a little bit simplistic view.
It's not that the MBA education is not good. It's just that the real experience is so much more brutal.
It's like the difference between preparing for a war and then surviving one.
It reminded me of the movie ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ when young soldiers were preparing for a war and finally were happy to be sent to one. They had no idea what they were going to go through.
Don’t blame your MBA degree. Who knows what would happen without that preparation? Maybe it would be 10x harder.
MBAs are good for career track change. They give you good general business knowledge. They open the door to MBB.
But MBB gives you the real, practical experience working in different countries, industries, functions, and companies.
This experience is unique, but the cost is brutal.
Surviving and thriving in MBB consulting requires a different level of preparation, practical, not theoretical. This is where coaching is super important from people who have gone through this journey and helped others as well. So you can learn the unspoken rules and best practices in the most effective way.
If you are a lateral hire in an MBB firm and want to succeed, download and read my new free guide: How to Succeed in MBB as a Lateral Hire.
If you are an MBB consultant and want to improve your performance through personalized coaching support:
We will discuss your pain points, challenges, and aspirations. No strings attached, just straight answers to your biggest questions.
If you want to learn more about my coaching program, read this post:
The coaching program for MBB consultants.