One panicked after being assigned to a merger and acquisition project and realising her business background was so meagre she had no clue what the term “due diligence” meant in the world of mergers and acquisitions.
Each joined the famously picky outfit more than 20 years ago and all have contributed to something McKinsey calls “My Rookie Moment”, a series of internal videos with senior leaders that the firm began posting on its website this year to help new hires learn the ropes.Some partners talk of how they survived the first brutal internal feedback on their performance. Others reveal how they dealt with a disagreeable client, or an older colleague correcting their work.
Then she got some advice that she now dishes out herself: “Don’t take any decision that is of any relevance in the first nine months after having a baby.”This is helpful, as is the overall message that one can, up to a point, muck up without losing one’s job. Inevitably I did, as we all do, which is why I think efforts like the McKinsey videos would be far better if they included bungles made by veterans, not just rookies.Business books regularly advise that blame-free cultures, where mistakes are acknowledged, help boost productivity and innovation.