McKinsey manager, mountain climber
Vikram Sahney, MBA ’05, recently attained his highest goal, literally – the summit of Mount Everest. “It was incredibly fulfilling,” says Sahney, who graduated from what was then known as the Leaders for Manufacturing (LFM) Program and is now the Leaders for Global Operations (LGO) Program. “The months of intense physical training beforehand make it really awesome to step on top of the world and know that you’ve done it.”
It took 13 hours for Sahney to reach the 29,035 foot summit.
“After 50 days of hard work and waiting as we acclimated, I headed out from the South Col camp at 9:30 p.m. toward the summit of my dreams – Mount Everest. That night the temperatures were hovering around -40 degrees, but thankfully the winds were nearly still. A long string of headlamps marking each climber illuminated the route,” Sahney wrote to friends in an e-mail describing the experience.
Vikram set himself a goal to climb the highest peaks on each of the seven continents while raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. “The best thing about mountain climbing is that it gives me perspective on daily life,” says Sahney, who works as an engagement manager at McKinsey & Co. in Seattle.
At McKinsey, Sahney has worked on operations issues that range from how to reduce the cost of mining coal to how to speed up the production of new products in the aerospace industry. In his work, as in mountain-climbing, teammates can be a lifeline – and Sahney continues to benefit from a network of LGO alumni, both at McKinsey and around the globe. “I’ve emailed and talked to alumni about various issues,” he said, including questions about aerospace manufacturing, supply chains, and where the best restaurants are in Seoul, Korea. “It’s helpful to have the LGO connections.”
© 2013 MIT SLOAN SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
