A long and winding road brought me to McKinsey. I graduated with degrees in computer science and economics. I was determined to go to law school, but along the way, I discovered computers were fun, and I made the move to tech. It just lit me up in ways I didn’t expect.
I moved around Silicon Valley startups and began running teams and working more on organizational design and agile development. That fed another part of me, but I was still an economist at heart and felt something was missing.
I wanted a role that would use all of me—the technologist, the economist, and the consultant—and McKinsey hit the mark. I am now an associate partner in McKinsey Digital, and I have been here for about three years.
The work I do at McKinsey
I specialize in agile operating models. My focus is to help clients understand how to organize and mobilize their digital or technical talent so they can focus on the right priorities at the right time.
Quite often in IT, the scope, schedule, and size of the team is fixed, and you assign people to do the work. Agile operating turns that model on its head and forces you to focus on what the business is trying to accomplish right now at any given point. Organizations may want to pursue digital transformation or provide customers with robust digital solutions. However, they often don’t have the skills to do so, or they’re not organized in a way that helps them move forward.
In my role, I help fill the gap between clients’ digital ambitions and their technical skill limitations. We assess their existing workforce (both employees and contractors), where employees are located, the manager to employee ratio, and the overall capability levels. Then we layout a roadmap that explains the workforce the client will need to meet their digital ambitions.
Tapping technology to get results
My work relies heavily on data. For starters we evaluate client’s competitors, digitally advanced organizations, and organizations outside of the client’s industry. Then we assess how our clients stack up against those organizations from a technical perspective. We’re able to give clients a clear perspective of where they line up in terms of gearing ratios, insourcing versus outsourcing, and other granular topics.
We also use a disciplined approach and tools to evaluate employees and fully understand their capabilities. For example, we can understand quickly if an employee is a Java developer or an expert Java developer who knows new frameworks, such as React versus older front-end technologies like JavaScript.
We also deploy highly scalable solutions to swiftly train a client’s workforce so the burden doesn’t fall on internal trainers to crank out face-to-face trainings. We can step in and offer a combination of training, workshops, homework, coaching, mentoring, and self-directed learning to get everyone trained as quickly as possible.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion at McKinsey
I am fortunate to represent women in tech at McKinsey, and I feel both obligated and proud to serve as a role model and help other women colleagues rise in the firm.
McKinsey has set a high bar in creating a more diverse workplace. There is a clear acknowledgement that we need more women representation at all levels. The firm is committed to changing that for social and business reasons.
It isn’t ideal to walk into a client engagement with an all-male team, especially when the CIO or other stakeholders are women. McKinsey’s goal is to do a better job of ensuring our teams look more like our clients—following our own advice. It’s not an option anymore, and it must be woven into every aspect of a digital talent strategy. Otherwise, organizations risk not being able to reach their goals because they can’t attract, hire, and retain the right people.
More about me
My husband and I recently moved from San Francisco to Pittsburgh, and it has been the best! I am so excited about this city, all the growth and startups, and the amazing restaurants and businesses. I have two daughters who are also in STEM-related careers or studies.