In the summer of 2021, I had the opportunity to join McKinsey & Company as a Business Analyst intern. Over the course of 10 weeks, I experienced first-hand the importance of a well curated team, explored niche industries, and had various chances to practice introspection.

McKinsey & Company is a global management consulting firm that aims to identify and tackle problems across various institutions. The 10-week internship consists of a week of upskilling and learning about firm best practices, before interns are onboarded onto different projects; working on anywhere from 1 to 3 projects over the course of the summer. 

Given the compact nature of project teams, team members are extremely close-knit and nimble. In addition, given the endless permutations that projects can take on, ranging anywhere from identifying high potential APIs for an upstream pharmaceuticals manufacturer healthcare to conducting a strategy review for a financial institution, teams often study many hours of internal firm resources and speak with internal and external experts to solidify their understanding of distinct industries. For a fresh intern, this means fighting to keep up and leaving plenty of room for well-rounded growth and knowledge development. I spent the majority of the internship trying to help out where I could and alleviate workload for the team, whether this meant taking ownership over a workstream or just making sure the team was organized with a workplan for each day’s tasks.

Over time I learnt how to pick up clients’ mannerisms and behaviors, how to analyze problems from the root, and mental models that defined structured and systematic thinking. Among these learnings however, what I ultimately noticed was that the focal point of my internship was similar to that of my time in GBUS - I learnt most from picking up the thought processes of people around me and integrating it into my own thinking model - be it at McKinsey or in GBUS, the key unlock was less so what I was doing and more so who I surrounded myself with. Our ambitions, lifestyle, happiness, and learning are piloted by the closest people around us, and ultimately different aspects of our lives are made up by numerous small teams. So I encourage us to reflect: Who do I want on my team and how do I make that happen?