Page 156 - The McKinsey Mind

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ManagingYour Team 131

McKinsey alumni suggest three additional pieces of advice that will
serve you well in this regard:

• Consider not just demonstrated ability, but potential
ability.
• Appreciate the value of diversity.
• Apply structure to recruiting efforts.

Consider not just demonstrated ability, but potential ability.
McKinsey’s starting point for the selection process is a simple one:
search for the best. Although this may sound intuitive, it is often
forgotten in the workplace. Jim Bennett, in his leadership role at
Key Corp., continued to make this a priority:

A piece of standard McKinsey lore that has stuck with me
in my post-McKinsey career involves the search for the very
best people you can find. You should be on a relentless
search for the best talent to suit the particular type of prob-
lem you are solving. We rely on formal evaluation tools that
assess past experiences, strengths, and weaknesses. You also
need to listen to the informal network as well; that may shed
more light on the potential of the individual.

An individual’s experience has long been a key criterion in
recruiting efforts, whether it be with a particular industry, tech-
nology, or problem type. In certain situations, this orientation is
necessary. You may need someone to hit the ground running on a
project, and the team may not have time to learn an industry from
scratch. McKinsey values experience and carefully screens candi-
dates based on it.
The Firm also values potential ability, however, and in most
cases, it prefers raw intellectual firepower to industry experience
(there are, of course, exceptions, such as “practice specialist” posi-
tions). McKinsey believes that people can learn how to solve prob-