McKinsey PEI - Personal impact story example - how to get it right

In this video we talk about what the interviewer is looking for in the personal impact interview, specifically when it comes to the way you go about influencing others to change. We give tips about how to get it right, and reflect on why many candidates get it wrong. We do this through two story examples, one (very typical) example where the candidate primarily applies hard skills, and another one (more in line with what interviewers are looking for) where soft influencing techniques are added to the mix. Watch this video and notice the difference!

[@bazinga_europe]

Great!!!!!
We need more like this... can you make a video on inclusive leadership, and courageous change.

[@BuildaSkill_coaching]

Thanks for the nice feedback! We will be adding more content - meanwhile, check out this article: buildaskill.co/blog/mckinsey-pei-questions-answers-mistakes and more similar content on our site!

[@user-kg3hq8kk6p]

Very insightful!

[@BuildaSkill_coaching]

Glad you liked it!

[@michaelmike13]

Will motivation questions like "why consulting, why mckinsey" and standard behavioral questions like "what are your key strengths/weaknesses" appear in the interviews?

[@BuildaSkill_coaching]

Generic questions like that may very well come as part of the initial setup, as a conversation starter basically. We will post a video on this specific topic tomorrow - stay tuned :-)

[@BuildaSkill_coaching]

If you want to try our end-to-end PEI course , that covers everything you need to know as you prepare for your PEI interviews, visit buildaskill.co/mckinsey-pei-digital-course

[@geonikhil]

I have heard that the PEI answer should be a long monologue atleast 7-8 minutes long. If that's true, isn't Ann's answer way too short?

[@BuildaSkill_coaching]

Hi! Thanks for your comment!
A couple of reflections:
1) Yes, as Anna points out in the beginning of the video, this is just a small part of the PEI interview, specifically covering how she goes about influencing others. The remaining parts of the Personal impact interview, where we go into other elements that are being assessed, you can find in our course along with all other materials we have on PEI. The curriculum is here: buildaskill.co/mckinsey-pei-digital-course
2) Yes, 7-8 minutes is a reasonably good target for how long your story should be as you prepare it. But don't expect it to be a monologue once you are in the actual interview. As you tell your story, you will be interrupted, asked to go deeper in certain areas, talk about specific events in your story that you may not have planned for, etc. So see it more as a conversation than a monologue.