McKinsey PEI

The main difference really is the risk at stake. Entrepreneurial Drive is more about having initiative and driving things forward, but Courageous Change is about making the hard decisions.

Entrepreneurial Drive: the ability to identify opportunities, take initiative, and drive projects or ideas forward. It involves innovation, resourcefulness, and a proactive mindset in seizing opportunities and turning them into viable outcomes.

Courageous Change: making bold decisions to depart from the status quo, often in the face of significant resistance or personal risk. It encompasses the ability to push through fear and uncertainty to implement necessary changes that may be uncomfortable but are essential for progress. It’s about:

Key Differences:

Entrepreneurial Drive:

• About creation and initiative
• Often related to new ideas
• Risk is limited to overcoming obstacles to make things happen

Courageous Change:

• About necessary changes that are difficult or controversial
• Often about confronting existing behaviors, processes or systems that need change
• Risk can involve personal risk and facing substantial resistance

Examples:

• Entrepreneurial Drive: you convince management to change to a different project management tool that is more user friendly and makes everyone’s life easier.
• Courageous Change: you risk your position by advocating for a complete overhaul of the company’s products (i.e., outdated), despite strong resistance from senior leadership, who fear the financial risks and potential failure and are very attached to the legacy products.

Hi there,

Q: Can anyone explain the key differences between these two concepts?

Courageous Change is about adapting to a major change or ambiguous situation. Example:

• "Tell me about a time when you experienced a significant change and share the actions you took to adapt to the new circumstances".

Entrepreneurial Drive is about starting and implementing something, overcoming major difficulties. Example:

• “Tell me about a time when you had to work to achieve something that was outside your comfort zone in a limited period of time.”

Based on the prompts above, you can see that the change element is a requirement in the Courageous Change dimension, but it is not necessarily needed in the Entrepreneurial Drive one (although it could be present there as well).

On the other hand, the Entrepreneurial Drive dimension covers the element of starting and implementing something, which is not necessarily needed in the Courageous Change one (although it is quite natural to have that element in that dimension as well).

If you cover both (i) the change and (ii) the starting/implementing components, you can have the same story working for both dimensions. I would still recommend having a backup story just in case.

Good luck!

Francesco

Hi there,

You are completely right.

The dimensions are extremely similar and that is why some offices have stopped asking Entrepreneurial Drive.

The main difference is how you frame the story. Your initial summary should directly talk about how you had to react to (unexpected) changes and circumstances for CC vs. how you set yourself the ambition to achieve something for ED.

The content pillars that follow can be relatively similar, although CC puts a bit more emphasis on reflection, resilience, and learning.

For more, check out this article: Personal Experience Interview

Cheers,
Florian

One requires overcoming an adversity (courageous change), and the other pursuing an opportunity (entrepreneurial drive).

But other than that they are relatively similar (a bit more emphasis on resilience on the first, a bit more emphasis on the “drive” on the second).

I see you received great answers already. 

If anything is unclear, drop me a line and happy to dive deeper.

Also, if you need a bit more, I've collected the top questions per dimensions asked across several offices from around the world. They're part of a PEI course I've recently launched. 

Video Course: Master the McKinsey PEI

Best,
Cristian

Hi there,

First of all, congratulations on the invitation from McKinsey!

I would be happy to share my thoughts on your question:

• First of all, while the two dimensions are similar, the main difference is that with the Entrepreneurial Drive dimension you are talking about an intrinsic motivation to pursue a goal, whereas with the Courageous Change dimension you are talking about an extrinsic influence to respond to.
• Moreover, with the Entrepreneurial Drive dimension, you can still talk about overcoming challenges, but the focus should be on pursuing the goal.

You can find more on this topic here: How to succeed in the final interview round.

If you would like a more detailed discussion on how to best prepare for your upcoming McKinsey interviews, please don't hesitate to contact me directly.

Best,

Hagen