McKinsey’s secret sauce

At 2am in January 2008, I was startled awake as the Emirates Airline captain turned on the lights and started our descent into Dubai.

I adjusted my fancy lie-flat seat so I could sit up, and I wiped my face with the warm towel. A slight shiver went down my spine: I had signed up for a six-month project that would have me living in Dubai and traveling to Jordan regularly.

I was 24. My parents weren't super supportive. I ditched my roommates and girlfriend (now wife).

Later that week, I met my team. Two Turkish guys who were each named Ibrahim and an Egyptian partner, Omar El Hamamsy. Business was conducted half in English and half in Arabic.

My shiver turned into outright anxiety, especially when the younger Ibrahim (Ibo, we called him) said to me at dinner, "American culture is so different from ours."

Two months later, I invited the entire team to my future wedding. We ate every meal together. Ibo (who didn't hate me) affectionately called me “Pujji,” and was quick to put out his cigarette any time I sat near him.

We became GOOD friends! So good that I literally met up with the team 2 years ago when I was in Turkey.

How did this entirely new and foreign experience turn into one of the best working relationships I've ever had?

I believe it all comes down to one of the many secret sauces of the McKinsey culture…

An event called: The Team Learning.

Before we go into The Team Learning, let's set the stage.

McKinsey sells very expensive projects (average cost: $1M per month) where they pull together teams who have NEVER worked together before.

Within months, these teams have to answer big organizations’ hairiest questions.

They’re expected to ramp on an industry, learn to work together seamlessly and deliver exceptional results under intense time pressure.

I know people poopoo consulting as a path to startups, but there are SO many parallels between the pace, work ethic and the quality of output of a consulting project and a startup.

BTW, McKinsey has 10K+ consultants and 1K partners. At any given time, they’re running thousands of projects.

They need to align all those people, make them productive and, in my case, turn them into BFFs in a few short months.

How do they create $1M/month teams from scratch?

Team Learning.

Let's talk about WHAT it is, WHY it works and HOW you can apply it.

This is a meeting that happens in the first week of every project, globally. It's led by the partner, and the best ones get very vulnerable, very quickly. Each team member shares:

• Their personal story: Family background, why they joined the firm, long-term career ambitions

• Their "firm" story: Tenure, project types, why they chose this project

• Life stuff: When they workout, what time they want to come/go to see family/friends and anything else that matters outside of work

• Strengths and development areas: Where they shine, what they want help working on

• Their Myers-Briggs personality type: How they process information, make decisions, and interact with the world

It is usually a 1-2 hour meeting. The best ones, of course, end up in lots of laughter, sometimes tears and genuine connection.

Of course, trust is all about knowing someone. There's a famous story about when Steve Jobs hired Ron Johnson, who created the Apple Store.

He had a simple rule: For your first year on the job, I'm going to call you at 8pm every day. Some days we’ll chat for 2 minutes, others 2 hours.

I just want to build trust and know how each other thinks.

It worked! Apple has the highest sales per square foot in history.

Team Learning works because you get to know your colleagues VERY quickly. Things that might normally take months to learn, you learn in days.

People bring up uncomfortable stuff such as, "I have a medical condition so I need to step out at 4pm Tuesdays and Thursdays for treatment.” I’ve heard senior people say, "I have a tendency to say yes too much, so I could use your help slowing me down."

But it does something even more powerful: It starts the "meta" conversation.

The meta conversation is something the best teams have from day one and the worst teams NEVER have. It’s where feedback, uncomfortable sharing and vulnerability live.

It’s conversation about HOW work gets done, whether someone’s email tone feels abrupt or if someone chews loudly.

With this meta layer established, trust compounds at a dramatic pace. Without it, distrust and politics compound.

Having this meeting the first week of every project is a game-changer that impacts the entire firm's culture.

Well, the obvious approach: Just steal it. When you have new people working together or starting new projects, insist that they have a version of this meeting EARLY on.

Yes, it will be awkward at first. But it’s worth it.

Here are 3 specific ways we implement this at Gateway X (including handouts):

McKinsey uses Myers-Briggs, which I like, but I LOVE the Enneagram. It has 9 types and goes well beyond work styles (like extrovert/introvert) to the core of WHO you are — your childhood wounds, your deepest fears.

I’m a Type 7 (“The Enthusiast”). I tend to like shiny objects, I’m outgoing, the life of the party and I avoid hard feelings. Knowing this builds awareness for me and my teams.

Adriane is a Type 6 (“The Loyalist”). With this awareness, the two of us can really play off each other (she's a worrier). Without this, I think we'd drive each other crazy.

In all our companies, we have each person take this Enneagram test as part of onboarding and then we discuss how different types interact.

We do Team Learning sessions, but when I onboard every executive, I have a "success" conversation upfront.

These conversations cover best work experiences, learning goals and most importantly, each person’s deepest fears. We both prep for it and then have a heart-to-heart BEFORE we've ever worked together.

This establishes the meta conversation, making it easier to address difficult subjects later.

A powerful example: When Nak started, one question was, "What are you afraid to tell me?"

Nak said, "I'm afraid you're going to steamroll me.”

Just him sharing that made him feel better (and has allowed him to raise a flag when that might be happening), but it also built my awareness around him, and I'm more likely to ask him questions and include him in decisions rather than just pushing ahead.

I believe I've shared mine before, but the more you can be upfront about what works FOR you and what doesn't, the faster and easier it will be to work WITH you. The user guide works for at least 3 reasons:

A) It builds your own self-awareness. Do you prefer email or Slack? Memos or PowerPoints?

B) It quickly disseminates all the information about you that you'd typically have to teach someone over months or years! In an hour, someone can know you extremely well.

C) MOST importantly, it models behaviors you want the organization to take on: Self-awareness, candor and being comfortable in one’s own skin. Half the time, people write their own user guides after reading mine!

So there you have it: Some McKinsey secret sauce, and how I use it!

I’ve implemented this process with teams I’ve built since leaving McKinsey, and the results speak for themselves: Faster bonding, fewer misunderstandings and dramatically higher performance from day one.

The truth is, whether you’re running a two-person startup or a 500-person company, the difference between success and failure often comes down to how quickly your team can build trust.

Try Team Learning with your next new hire or team. It might feel awkward for 20 minutes, but I promise it’ll save you a year of politics and miscommunication.

Hit reply and let me know how it goes.

-jesse