Are my histories good for each of the analysed dimensions in the PEI interview at McKinsey?

Question

Hello,

I will have my first of possible 3 interviews with McKinsey in two weeks and currently working on my PEI aswers, so I would like to know if my histories are a good fit for the interview and if I'm putting each one of them in the correct dimension so far.

Personal impact
- There was a client who wanted to do a project with us, but my boss thought it wasn't worth it, cause the company was kinda small.
- I've done some reserached and discovered that the clinent had a huge potential to buy our product in the future, and they were looking for investment in technology (I used to worked on a software company)
- I presented my findings to my former boss and was able to work on the project, which later resulted in the company renting the software for a year.
Entrepreneurial drive:
- I've worked on a project with a customer that I was used to already, but this particular project where much more urgent than the others in the past, had a shorter deadline, and also involved more important people than I was used to.
- I managed to create a cronogram involving each stakeholder weekly and delivered results as the time passed, and at the end the I solved the main problem that it was asked and even improved their old process giving them a more cost saving solution.
Inclusive leadership
- Talking to a colleague in Portugual (I'm from Brazil) I've discovered that they had a similar problem that we had here, that were low reach of new clients.
- So I thought we could do some some digital events to try to reach new potencial customers.
- I then organzed two webinars with the team in Portugal, and some colleagues in Germany and USA, from content creation to dissemination on social networks and newsletters. Gathered partners to do some presentations, and the event was really successfull, bring some more visibility to the company and even new projects opportunities.

Are theses good exemples to use in the PEI interviews?

Answer 1

Hey there,

Taking a quick glance:

Focus more on how you actually persuaded the person (the concrete situation, what you said, their arguments, etc.)
Build your story around a goal that you set for yourself!
Focus on the team interactions, not so much about the logistics of the event

Check out the in-depth article I wrote here for PrepLounge: https://www.preplounge.com/en/mckinsey-pei

OR

each out for coaching on all three stories.

Cheers,

Florian

Answer 2

Hi, happy to chat about it. I have helped hundreds of candidates in crafting impactful stories for McK PEI

Best,
Antonello

Answer 3

Hey there,

some comments:

In general remember to focus stories on your actions (try to show the effort that you put in solving the challenge, and do not make appear your actions trivial)
Prepare a back up story to the Entrepreneurial Drive - I had the question "tell me a time you had to deal with a tight deadline in a new situation/envinroment" and the interviewer specifically told me that she doesnt want to hear another story about a project in a new industry (I was coming from consulting) - I had to use a personal experience story at the end
for the Inclusive Leadership story, I think your story could be a good example of leadership but needs to be adjusted a bit in case you have questions like:

What are some key lessons you have learned about motivating people?

Tell me about a time when you lead a diverse group of people in a challenging situation?

Happy to connect for further advice on PEI preparation

Answer 4

High-level, yes, they all have the potential to belong in those categories.

The one I'm most doubtful about is the last one, which you put in inclusive leadership. It rather sounds entrepreneurial as well. Ideally, for inclusive leadership, you would have this setup where you are leading a team or handling multiple stakeholders and working with them to achieve a goal despite challenges faced along the way.

For anybody who is looking into the PEI topic, I recently released this end-to-end course covering PEI. More on it here:

Video Course: Master the McKinsey PEI

Best,
Cristian