McKinsey & Company is a professional services firm, owned and governed by partners spread across Europe, the Americas, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa. It's not a conventional organization. Every three years, the firm's senior partners elect a managing director from among their ranks to serve as 'first among equals.' The results of the latest election: Dominic Barton will serve a third term.
As you might expect, the office of managing director is significantly different from the role of CEO at a large corporation. "Our firm is full of leaders," says Dominic. "As managing director I set themes, make connections, and drive forward initiatives that will advance our ability to serve our clients, strengthen our firm, and develop our people."
McKinsey also has a Shareholders' Council—a board of directors—whose members are also elected by the world-wide partnership. As of today, the council's 30 members represent more than a dozen nationalities.
Dominic's priorities for the next three years? Continuing McKinsey's pace of innovation and modernizing the firm. He says: "The metabolic rate of the world continues to increase, and so are the challenges facing our clients. We've built some terrific new capabilities over the last few years and we will be increasing our pace of change and renewal."
Dominic plans to continue his practice of meeting with two CEOs or government leaders a day, giving him a unique perspective on what matters to companies, governments, and non-profits the world over. He will also lead McKinsey's work on some of the big topics facing leaders across all sectors, including the future of capitalism, leadership, and Generation, a McKinsey Social Initiative that pioneers new ways to build skills and job readiness for one million unemployed young people.
And finally, as the leader of the single largest private partnership in the world, he will ensure that McKinsey's strengths and values in particular are reinforced. He will drive the firm's constant renewal in the context of a faster-moving external environment and a changing profession.
Learn more about Dominic.