Internship Spotlight: James Tippets '16
What are you doing this summer? We asked rising second-year MBA students to check in from their summer internships, where they are applying the lessons of their first year at Yale SOM.
James Tippets '16
Internship: Summer Associate, McKinsey & Company – New York
Pre-SOM Role: Captain, United States Air Force
Clubs & Affiliations: Consulting Club Co-Chair, Veterans Club Admissions Ambassador
The opportunity to help leaders create long-term value drew me to McKinsey. This summer, I had the opportunity to serve a technology company in the midst of a turnaround, and it was serendipity that I was staffed with two Yale SOM alums. Together, we identified $160M in incremental operating margin by developing a strategy to transition our client’s business model from perpetual software to SaaS offerings. Beyond the material financial implications of our recommendation, our client took ownership of the strategy and was prepared to implement it.
As I reflect on my summer at McKinsey, I am glad I chose to pursue my MBA at Yale. My desire for a career unbound by sector led me to Yale SOM, which I saw as a nexus of thought leadership on the intersection of business and society.
My desire for a career unbound by sector led me to Yale SOM, which I saw as a nexus of thought leadership on the intersection of business and society.
Yale has been a platform for me to develop my thinking on an array of subjects, which proved valuable on several occasions this summer while interacting with C-level leaders. For example, at a recent McKinsey veterans dinner, I had the opportunity to speak with our global managing director, Dominic Barton, on topics ranging from security in East Asia to the economic implications of machine learning. The broad range of concerns on the mind of such an influential leader drove home the relevance of SOM’s distinctive education to consulting and leadership in a world of increasing complexity.