Alan W.

Alan W.

5.0

(14)

Helping you answer the questions that matter | Ex-McKinsey EM, Wharton MBA

The Wharton School (UPenn) Logo

Studied at The Wharton School (UPenn)

McKinsey & Company Logo

Hiring Manager at McKinsey & Company

Available tomorrow at 2:00 PM UTC

Usually responds within 4 hours

Questions? Start chatting with this coach before you get started.

Alan's Coaching Offerings

Custom hourly · $129/hr

Get help with Skill Building, Case Interview Prep, and .

Alan’s Management Consulting Qualifications

Coaches professionally

Experience level: Case Team Leader

60+ people coached for Management Consulting

Alan has helped clients get into these companies:

I spent seven years at McKinsey, all of which served to help me understand with great clarity what consultants (both at their job, and when they're interviewing candidates) care about, look for, and have curiosity toward when it comes to looking for people with the potential to succeed at top consulting firms. One big gap I witnessed as a manager and interviewer was how common it was for me to pose a question, only to have the response clearly misinterpret what I was asking for. As a manager, that might mean having 'How is your workstream going?' be interpreted as 'I'm not confident you know what you're doing, please confirm you've got things under control'; as an interviewer, that might mean someone hearing 'Tell me about yourself' and listing off a litany of facts that I had already gleaned from their resume, instead of helping me paint the picture of the kind of person they were, what interested them, and what motivated them, as a way to start building the case that they had the intrinsics for what it took to succeed. My goal as a coach is to make it clear to you what questions you are truly tackling in the interview process, so that you can focus on having the answers that show your true potential as a consultant-to-be.

Alan can help with:

Skill Building

Case Interview Prep

Presentations

Cover Letters

Resume Review

Job Search Strategies

Frameworks

Behavioral Interview Prep

Case Math

View all of Alan’s categories

About Alan

Here’s the headline for what you probably care about: I’m a full-time, ICF-certified leadership coach, with seven years of experience at McKinsey before I left as an Engagement Manager to start my own coaching and leadership facilitation business. Everything below this is just meant to give you a better idea of who I am and how I approach coaching! The first class I ever took in college was ‘Psychology of Popular Media’, a seminar that dove into how our beliefs and decisions are impacted through persuasion and influence via media. It’s no exaggeration to say that the class set me on the career path that led me here as a coach; it helped me develop a life-long interest with how people make decisions, in service of influencing them to make better choices for themselves. That interest has been a north star for me in every step of my career, which has included: (1) Four years in advertising, where I tried to convince the American Consumer to Buy More Chicken McNuggets (because more McNuggets = more happy experiences) (2) A pivot to business school, when I realized that I wanted to use a more data-driven approach to decision-making (3) My time at McKinsey where I focused on Consumer / Private Equity, specializing in developing insights-driven growth strategy for companies (read: persuaded PE clients to buy companies they believed they had a compelling growth story and vision for; helped consumer companies craft a brand value proposition that they believed would be most compelling to their core consumers) (4) Coaching, where I decided to go from persuasion on a macro scale to that of a micro-scale – helping individuals make decisions they believe in by arming them with the tools and mindset they need to feel confident in their professional endeavors Through it all, I’ve always had a deep curiosity into uncovering insights about people: their motivations, their interests, their priorities, and how those factors shape how they approach decision making. My ‘coach approach’ centers on helping you uncover insights about yourself and arming you with the clarity of thought to tackle the tough decisions and challenges in your professional life. Tactically, I serve as a mirror for you; I take your context, situation, and challenges and synthesize them into clear themes for you that allow you to identify what you want to work on and how you want to do it. If you’re interested in learning more, please reach out and I look forward to connecting via an intro call!

Why do I coach?

The best thing about coaching, to me, is that the coach does very little work. The coach synthesizes what they observe, shares insights, and offers personal perspective where relevant, but the solution of how to achieve any goal–whether it’s something as tangible as ‘land a job in consulting’ or intangible as ‘be more confident leading meetings’--is the domain of the coachee in terms of coming up with the actions they want to take to move toward the goal. I’ve been the benefit of many coaches in my own career, and each one helped me realize that I had the ability to figure out the challenges I was facing with support. This, in turn, allowed me to tackle future challenges with more confidence, from overcoming tough performance reviews to choosing to leave consulting entirely for coaching. It’s allowed me to make hard decisions without worrying about the negative consequences, knowing that my coaches and mentor instilled in me the belief that I’m making the right choice for the right reason, based on the information available to me. That brings me here today–to provide the people I coach that same confidence and clarity in moments of toughness. Seeing people figure out their own capacity to overcome professional challenges is something that never gets old for me, and keeps me passionate about being a coach day in and day out.

Work Experience

Self-Employed Logo

Coach | Facilitator

Self-Employed

March 2024 - Present

Coaching, Facilitation and +2 skills

McKinsey & Company Logo

Engagement Manager

McKinsey & Company

November 2020 - April 2024

Hiring Manager

Focus on Private Equity clients and the beauty space, particularly in delivering consumer insights-driven growth strategy. Have led multiple diligences in the beauty sector across skincare, haircare, and contract manufacturing. Select examples of relevant projects include: Diligence of beauty contract manufacturer, including detailed assessment of market landscape, key success factors for the industry, customer-level business review, and perspectives on growth opportunities Diligence of leading haircare brand to identify growth opportunities in geographical and channel expansion; PE clients purchased the asset and doubled revenues in two years Multiple growth strategy engagements for exit diligences, developing views on market growth and landscape, paired with customer interviews to deliver insights on growth opportunities Project Management, Storytelling and +3 skills

McKinsey & Company Logo

Associate / Senior Associate

McKinsey & Company

August 2017 - October 2020

The Wharton School Logo

MBA Candidate

The Wharton School

August 2015 - May 2017

Marketing/ Operations Joint Major and Strategic Management Major Wharton Dance Studio - VP of Choreographer and Member Relations & Choreographer Leadership Fellow - Class of 2017 Wharton 22s (men's club promoting gender pay equality) - Marketing Board

McKinsey & Company Logo

Summer Associate

McKinsey & Company

May 2016 - August 2016

DDB Worldwide Logo

Account Manager

DDB Worldwide

October 2014 - June 2015

Oversaw pan-agency team in developing integrated marketing plans, providing strategic insights and creative messaging recommendations across channels to shape up to $8M advertising and promotions budget depending on brand. Created and maintained analysis of expected costs for all test ads, optimizing production output against an $1M budget across all brands. Led cross-functional teams for all advertising deliverables from consumer testing through to production, launching new print and online video campaigns for Alexia as well as test ads for Reddi-wip, Slim Jim, and Ro*Tel/ Velveeta. Collaborated with strategy, creative, and project management teams on creative storytelling initiative, which focused on utilizing visual presentations to sell in new concepts and ideas; initiative led to $1.4M incremental production dollars across brands.

DDB Worldwide Logo

Account Executive

DDB Worldwide

August 2013 - October 2014

Managed execution of multi-channel McDonald’s national campaigns, serving as the primary client contact for all creative deliverables including TV, radio, online videos, social, and digital display media; spearheaded campaign that drove 18% incremental sales for Chicken McNuggets during 2014 Winter Olympics. Supervised junior account members and interns on producing all key creative materials for McDonald’s annual marketing leadership management conference, including sizzle reels, award videos, and interactive displays. Developed and spearheaded launch of mentorship program for Account Management with support from Account Management and Human Resources department heads; the program pairs over 30 junior employees with mentors.

Education

The Wharton School (UPenn) Logo

The Wharton School (UPenn)

Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.)

2015 - 2017

Northwestern University Logo

Northwestern University

Bachelor of Arts, Economics and Psychology

2007 - 2011

Activities and societies: F & F Marketing Group Co-Founder, Dance Marathon 120 Hour Club, Camp Kesem

Alan was also personally admitted to

  • NYU Stern School of Business Logo

    NYU Stern School of Business

  • UCLA Anderson School of Management Logo

    UCLA Anderson School of Management

14 Reviews

Overall Rating

5.0


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Alan W.

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