According to [Dominic] Barton, the experience of the scandal [two senior McKinsey executives had been arrested for insider trading] taught him some important leadership lessons. One was to be “completely open” in such a situation. “I had [heard] advice that ‘you had better not say very much; wait until you find out more.’ But my view is that I’m just going to say how I feel…. If you’re honest and authentic, people pick it up and know that you’re serious about it.” He said he actually communicated much more about the event than he tried to hide it in situations such as recruiting, for example.
“I had splinters in my back from going over the bar so often … and I finally realized, you know what, I’m going to set my own bar. And I’m going to make it higher than theirs.”
The second lesson, said Barton, was to spend time understanding what really happened. “[McKinsey] has human beings; we have people that do bad things. And we have to help each other try not to do that.” He added that monitoring systems have been put in place: “If someone’s more than two standard deviations off with a peer group, they get audited. It’s automatic.”
"McKinsey’s Dominic Barton on Leadership — and His Three Tries to Make Partner." Knowledge@Wharton. 9/9/2015
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