'My degree from IIM-A wasn't enough': Youngster says Big 4 consulting firm gave her a reality check
She said in a recent LinkedIn post that when she joined McKinsey, one of the Big 3 management consulting firms, she realised that her MBA degree from the prestigious institute was not enough.
- Apr 10, 2025,
- Updated Apr 10, 2025 10:01 AM IST
An alumna of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM-A) said that working at a Big 3 consulting firm gave her quite the reality check. She said in a recent LinkedIn post that when she joined McKinsey, one of the Big 3 management consulting firms, she realised that her MBA degree from the prestigious institute was not enough.
"When I joined McKinsey, I discovered my degree from IIM Ahmedabad wasn't enough. I lacked the EXECUTIVE FILTER," the IIM-A alumna, identified as Ruchi Aggarwal wrote in her post. The realisation hit her home during her very first presentation at the organisation when a partner interrupted her and asked her to give just one recommendation.
"I froze. I had prepared 15 recommendations, not one. I wanted to have backup recommendations - Like a menu! And I would let the partner pick the answer! But in real client meetings, top executives don't want to hear a menu. They want a curated, accurate answer."
She also mentioned that the 'executive filter' wherein one shares only the most relevant answer and filters out anything else, among the many other things that aren't taught at B-School.
The other things that aren't taught at B-School are: the ability to prioritise being more valuable than the ability to analyse and the courage to simplify being more important than the skill to complicate stuff. She also stated that the confidence to commit to one direction often beats exploring every second possibility.
"I had spent years learning how to consider all angles, but in the real world, executives need clarity, not complexity. Learning to distill complex problems into simple solutions was my hardest but most valuable learning curve," Aggarwal's post further read.
She also highlighted the biggest difference in her thought process when she was studying at IIM-A versus when she is working at McKinsey.
"At IIM A, the question was always 'How much do you know?'. At McKinsey, the question became 'How clear can you make it?'. Success isn't about having all the answers. It's about having the right ones and communicating them clearly," she signed off.
An alumna of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM-A) said that working at a Big 3 consulting firm gave her quite the reality check. She said in a recent LinkedIn post that when she joined McKinsey, one of the Big 3 management consulting firms, she realised that her MBA degree from the prestigious institute was not enough.
"When I joined McKinsey, I discovered my degree from IIM Ahmedabad wasn't enough. I lacked the EXECUTIVE FILTER," the IIM-A alumna, identified as Ruchi Aggarwal wrote in her post. The realisation hit her home during her very first presentation at the organisation when a partner interrupted her and asked her to give just one recommendation.
"I froze. I had prepared 15 recommendations, not one. I wanted to have backup recommendations - Like a menu! And I would let the partner pick the answer! But in real client meetings, top executives don't want to hear a menu. They want a curated, accurate answer."
She also mentioned that the 'executive filter' wherein one shares only the most relevant answer and filters out anything else, among the many other things that aren't taught at B-School.
The other things that aren't taught at B-School are: the ability to prioritise being more valuable than the ability to analyse and the courage to simplify being more important than the skill to complicate stuff. She also stated that the confidence to commit to one direction often beats exploring every second possibility.
"I had spent years learning how to consider all angles, but in the real world, executives need clarity, not complexity. Learning to distill complex problems into simple solutions was my hardest but most valuable learning curve," Aggarwal's post further read.
She also highlighted the biggest difference in her thought process when she was studying at IIM-A versus when she is working at McKinsey.
"At IIM A, the question was always 'How much do you know?'. At McKinsey, the question became 'How clear can you make it?'. Success isn't about having all the answers. It's about having the right ones and communicating them clearly," she signed off.