I have many great moments of working with Michael but the most far-reaching moment occurred when I received offers from McKinsey and a Fortune 500 company to join as a strategy manager.

I had been a Senior Consultant at Deloitte S&O in London and was wrapping up my MBA. I thought the decision was a no-brainer. All my friends were high-fiving me for getting into McKinsey – it was a bad year for recruiting and only a few people got in.

Michael provided a new perspective for me. He pointed out that by going to McKinsey as an associate I was actually taking a step back because I had already been the Deloitte equivalent in a fairly good office. He also showed me – which he proved via a simple LinkedIn search while sharing screens – that the role I was offered as strategy manager was something I may or may not get after McKinsey, and if I did, it could only happen after spending about 2 or 3 years as an associate.

He basically said that the strategy manager role is the role people take after working at McKinsey for a few years and I was being offered it right now. He said that choosing McKinsey only made sense if I wanted to stay there for many years, because I was being offered a short-cut to get into corporate and eventually join line management. Something I would eventually need to do after McKinsey.

Turning down McKinsey was very hard, but I trusted Michael and believe I made the right decision because ex-McKinsey associates now report to me and I am on track for a senior management role in the next 6 months. Thanks for always bucking the trend Michael. I can always count on you to challenge me.

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