How I Think About Building a Career
How I Think About Building a Career
- Careers are long. They last until your 60s, 70s, maybe 80s. If it only takes 10 to 15 years to reach the top of a given field — then where is the rush?
- I was among the first in my family to take the traditional corporate path. My family came from Morocco to Montreal to build a better life for us. That gave me a slightly different perspective — not a playbook.
- Without role models in my field, I built my own board of directors — through books, podcasts, speeches, and mentors along the way.
- Would I recommend joining McKinsey out of university? Yes and no. Yes, because it changes your life. No, because early acceleration narrows the aperture of what feels rational later on.
- I left McKinsey with a regret minimization framework inspired by the perspectives I had built along the way. A year in, it has been the best decision I could have made.
In my immediate family — at least those in Montreal — my cousins and I were among the first to take the traditional corporate path. Study commerce, recruit for things, get a job. The generation before us was raised in Morocco before coming to Montreal to seek a better life for us. When they arrived, they chose to pursue something else entirely — real estate brokering, retail, bank teller positions, among many others. It was not corporate at all.
We did not really have role models in this world. And a lot of people might think of that as a hurdle, which is fair and has backing in the research. But I actually think it gave me something else: perspective on what I want my career to be. Without a map, I had to build my own.
I started assembling what I think of as a selective and rotating board of directors — through books, podcasts, speeches, and mentors along the way. Ray Dalio's Principles taught me about radical transparency and the power of working relentlessly hard even when you are not the most obvious candidate. Phil Knight's Shoe Dog showed me what it looks like to build something from nothing. Simon Sinek helped me think about purpose. Les Brown — a motivational speaker, sure — resonated with me deeply. His speeches on "It's Possible" and "You Gotta Be Hungry" stuck with me. Podcasts from people like Ali Abdaal opened my eyes to entirely different ways of thinking about work and life.
I do not prescribe to all of these. That is the point. You carefully choose strong inputs from a wide range of sources, and you build your own worldview. And then there were interviews and panels — I remember before joining McKinsey, I was looking for motivation and understanding of what I was getting into. This was uncharted territory for me. I had no mind map at all. That is when I came across a series from our previous Global Managing Partner, also a Canadian, whose perspective and candour felt close to home. He was a great influence on how I think about developing a perspective, being transparent and humble, and bringing people along.
All of that context matters because it shaped a single belief that has guided everything I have done since.
Careers are really long. They last until your 60s, 70s, maybe 80s — and with the advent of technology, they may span even longer. It is easy to think that you want to retire at 30, make millions, and never work again. That is a valid aspiration. But chances are, if you get there, you are going to want to still be impactful. You are going to want to leave a mark on the world or your communities.
So here is the math that changed how I see things. If a career lasts 40 to 60 years assuming good health, and if it only takes 10 to 15 years to reach the peak of a given field — then you have 45 to 65 years to play around, learn, figure things out, and follow your passions. There are no alarm bells ringing. There is no rational sense of urgency.
That is not just a nice thought. It is something anyone can verify. Search up your heroes or the senior leaders at your firm on LinkedIn or your internal directory and look at their progression. What you will notice is that it takes no more than 10 to 15 years of consistent, above-average performance to reach a very senior position with a strong salary and real sphere of influence.
Take McKinsey as an example. The typical path is roughly 2 to 3 years as a Business Analyst, 2 to 3 years as a Manager, and 1.5 to 3 years as an Associate Partner. On the fast end, you can make partner in 5 to 6 years. On the slower side, 7 to 9. So you are telling me it takes less than 10 years to join the partnership of one of the most influential firms in the world? Obviously there are a lot of things to consider — you need to be able to join the firm, sustain the trek, and be fortunate along the way — but the point is that it is possible. And it applies beyond McKinsey. The pattern holds across industries.
I fear that sometimes people get worried about the race and the cycle. I have to accomplish X by age Y or else so and so will not happen. I understand that feeling and I empathize with it. But there is so much power and liberation in understanding that you have time. And time is one hell of a scarce asset — so do not waste it being part of a trajectory that is not yours.
This does not mean that you should not pursue great things. In fact, it mandates the opposite. You must pursue great things. But you must do it on your own terms. Shape the story rather than letting the story shape you.
Students often ask me whether I would recommend joining McKinsey so young, straight out of university. My answer is always yes and no.
- Yes — because McKinsey undeniably changed my life. I was able to benefit from an incredible learning opportunity and carve out the career and impact that I have today. That is an incredible story. However, it is not the only story. The journey could have gone a plentitude of other ways, and all of them would have been valid.
- No — because McKinsey and the top-tier jobs that high-achievers are fortunate to land also age you and accelerate your career in ways that make it harder to pursue certain experiences later on. For example, although possible, it is much harder to rationalize taking a meaningful pay cut to work as a junior analyst at a local up-and-coming company. The opportunity cost due to early career acceleration is going to be higher and will strain the decision-making. There are no handcuffs — you can make anything happen — but the rational pool of options available to you and the incentives you operate on are slightly different. And I think there is something wonderful about young professionals trying things, learning, being uncomfortable, seeing what the insides of industry actually look like. Those experiences make for much more well-rounded future leaders and partners at these firms down the road.
And the great firms understand this. That is why, for example, McKinsey gives juniors opportunities like secondments, sponsored MBAs, and offers to return. The idea is that a diverse set of experiences makes for a potentially better outcome and a stronger leader. I have seen colleagues do micro-financing in Kenya, pursue MBAs at Stanford where they found their next venture partner, and take chief of staff roles at large corporate operations teams. Without a doubt, these experiences shaped them. That should make sense intuitively — you need a balance of depth and breadth.
I came into McKinsey with a sense of what I wanted from the firm. I wanted to sharpen my business acumen. And after a really successful two to three years, I felt that I had taken a proper run at that — at least within my own parameters. I had always had a sense that I wanted to get back into the venture world and see how I could empower themes, people, and opportunities in my own way, bringing in the lessons, networks, and capabilities of the firm but through a different angle.
I would be lying if I said I had a 100 percent specific idea of what I was going to do. I had a few avenues that were clear and thematic ideas that I knew represented real opportunity. But I also needed time to explore. I saw this as my personal MBA.
People around me — friends, family, mentors — helped me think through the decision. Not because they wanted to stop me, but because they cared and wanted to make sure I was making the best decision for me. They helped me think through the full range of outcomes — the momentum toward partner, exit opportunities, financial realities. I welcomed all of it. I took the time to get smart on what each path would actually look like.
I did not let the promise of a path to partner, doing an MBA, or joining a hedge fund deviate my thinking. Because my worst case scenario was not that bad. I had proven — to myself and to others — that I could do the job at McKinsey. So worst case, I join back the firm or go somewhere similar. Someone will appreciate that track record. And then wherever I pick things up, it will only take me 10 years or so to reach the top of whatever that is. The math still works.
A year into this journey, I can say that the upside and learning has been disproportionately higher than anything I could have expected. I will not go into too much detail. But this has been the best decision I could have made, despite all the great possibilities that were available to me. I would not change it for anything.
The point I am trying to make is simple. There is no real rush beyond your own internal circumstances — and even those can be challenged. Of course, there is the reality of having critical bills to pay, personal lives, and people you are responsible for. That will change the math. But in a world where those deep responsibilities have not yet arrived — where you are perhaps a young professional below the age where those things come into play — then try things out. Do not feel the pressure of the corporate race coming at you.
One thing that we realize is that it is a long marathon, not a sprint. Make sure to re-energize yourself along the way. Play the long game. And most importantly, make it your game.
If any of this resonated with you — whether you are thinking about your first job, your next move, or whether to take the leap into something entirely different — I am happy to talk about it. Book a free coffee chat and let us think through it together.
