Page 157 - The McKinsey Mind

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132 The McKinsey Mind

lems in a structured way, gather information about a company and
industry, and present ideas, but it is darn near impossible to make
someone more intelligent. Thus, the Firm seeks out bright individ-
uals and trains them. Academic achievement and performance on
case interviews weigh heavily in the selection process. Evan Gross-
man, now a partner at Hook Media, has adopted a similar policy
in his new organization:

One of the important things I learned at McKinsey was the
importance of hiring smart people, as opposed to looking for
people with tons of experience in a given area. It is important
for us to hire people who can think logically. We do case-
based interviews to assess their ability in this area and to
ensure that they can be hypothesis driven.

McKinsey has managed to hire successful business consultants
who influence quite a few of the world’s largest, most successful
companies. Many of their recruits had little to no actual experience
in the area in which they are consulting. We believe that many
recruiting efforts in other organizations overemphasize demon-
strated performance in a narrowly defined area in preference to
bright, trainable individuals who lack such prerequisites. By cast-
ing your net more widely, your organization may find future stars
who only need a chance to demonstrate their potential.
Appreciate the value of diversity. These days, “diversity” is all
the rage among recruiters, whether in business, government, or
academia. When it comes to team selection, we’re great believers in
diversity, too. We depart, however, from the mainstream definition
of diversity that values individuals based on their race, sex, reli-
gion, or dining preferences. How “diverse,” after all, are two
men—one who happens to be white, and the other black—both