I am fascinated by the people that surround me at work. The further I go, the more I understand that the huge diversity among my clients and colleagues is why I enjoy being part of McKinsey. I started as an intern; now I’m a fellow business analyst in our Kyiv office.
During my last engagement, I supported more than 15 clients from 10 countries, spread across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. We all had different mindsets and approaches going into the project. Still we found ways to build a strong team, pushing to achieve our common goal, sharing best practices between locations, and providing significant support to each other.
The diversity among McKinsey colleagues is impressive. My colleagues usually have completely different backgrounds, educations, and ages. We’re united by our shared values and culture, which enable us to collaborate easily. Once, I got completely stuck working on an analysis for an important meeting, due the next morning. I decided to pause for a coffee with a teammate from another office. When I shared my issue, my colleague asked why I thought there was something wrong with my analysis. Our dialogue ended with my colleague stepping away from his tasks to dig into my analysis until late evening. This shows the nature of our people. We get excited to solve challenges, invest time and effort to help each other, and have ability to team up regardless of our differences.
The opportunity to explore this diversity is an exceptional chance I get at McKinsey. The more I explore it, the more I enjoy working with people who add so much value to the work we do.
About Daryna
Daryna is a senior business analyst based in Kyiv, Ukraine. She earned a bachelor's in international business administration from LCC International University in Lithuania.