Shor t Takes
Consulting: I know St. Louis has also been one of the
fastest-growing tech start-up markets in the country.
Do you anticipate a lot of work in the tech sector?
Piasecki: The work in the St. Louis market, we think,
will reflect the diversity of the companies that are
there. And keep in mind, this is bigger than just St.
Louis, we’re looking at Missouri and the Midwest
more broadly. The diversity of companies is quite
broad. St. Louis, in particular, has a lot of Financial
Services, Healthcare, Industrial Consumer companies,
as well as that tech start up scene you referenced.
Consulting: What about the talent market in St. Louis.
You mentioned that you’ve already started recruiting
in the office. How’s that effort going?
Piasecki: This is an area that has attracted a lot of
younger talent and Millennials, as well as talent in
some of the more cutting edge areas, such as digital and
analytics. So, we’re really encouraged by the available
talent, actually. It’s interesting, The Economist recently
ranked St. Louis No. 4 for Millennial Talent—ahead of
places like Seattle and Chicago, even.
Consulting: What type of capabilities are you looking
for in those new hires, and how quickly do you think
you’ll need to ramp up to meet client demand?
Piasecki: We do have pretty aspirational growth
desires for that office. We aspire for St. Louis to be
on par with our other offices in the Midwest, such as
Pittsburgh, Detroit, Cleveland and Minneapolis. We
expect St. Louis to be just as active as those other
cities. In terms of the capabilities of the people we’re
looking to hire, right now we’re looking for people
across all levels and all roles as we’re growing in
these early stages and refine that as we go.
Consulting: Anything you can share with me about
revenue or financial forecasts for the St. Louis office?
Piasecki: We can’t share revenue information but I’ll
reiterate that we expect St. Louis to be on par with
those other Midwest offices that I mentioned earlier.
Consulting: None of this is done in a vacuum, of
course, and we’ve all heard talk of a recession on the
horizon. Do you have thoughts about the St. Louis
market over the next 18 to 24 months?
Piasecki: We do think about that. I’m not an economist
so it would be a little bit out of place for me to try and
project St. Louis’ economic growth, but what I can say
is that we are growing as a firm and we see St. Louis as
a place where we see a lot of opportunity both in terms
of clients and talent. More qualitatively, the things I see
happening in St. Louis are really exciting. There are
a lot of things happening in terms re-invigorating the
area; there’s a lot of development going on; there’s a
bid for a Major League Soccer team; there’s a lot of
momentum that will drive economic growth.
Consulting: Some of your competitors are in the area.
What do you view as McKinsey’s differentiators both
in terms of clients and talent?
Piasecki: I think the reason they would choose
McKinsey in the St. Louis area is the same reason they
would choose McKinsey anywhere. And frankly, we
already have long-standing relationships with clients
in St. Louis. But the things that make us distinctive are
that we’re a value-centered organization, and we put
our clients above everything else. One of our values is
to improve our clients’ performance significantly. We
bring a global perspective and we can bring the best
of McKinsey to our clients. Even when the office is
small and still growing, we’ll be able to tap into the
best of McKinsey to bring everything we can offer
in terms of people, expertise, tools and talent to the
region. And, by being in St. Louis, we’ll have a much
better local understanding of these companies and
how we can best serve them.
