The Magic of Three

At McKinsey, three is a magic number. Things at the firm come in threes.

This book taught me to think in three. And to shape my replies in three options. There is something strangely comforting about the number three. Maybe it is the rhythm our brains enjoy, or maybe it is childhood nostalgia, where every story came with three wishes or three trials before the hero finally figured life out. Whatever the reason, McKinsey leaned into it, and the habit has served me well. One point feels like underthinking, ten feels like loose thinking, and three feels just right. It also helps the audience hold on to what you are saying.

The second idea I practice is approaching problems with hypotheses. Corporate life rarely gives you perfect data. You have to act while the picture is still blurry. That is where a hypothesis helps. Suppose the commerce system you manage starts throwing 504 errors. You might propose that the web server is down. Someone counters, “If it is down, how are we getting a response?” Fair point. Discard that hypothesis and form a better one. As in writing, it is easier to edit a bad page than a blank one. A weak hypothesis can be corrected. No hypothesis keeps everyone stuck.

And over the years, as my experience widened, my hypotheses began landing closer to real root causes. Not always right, but closer. And that closeness saves enormous time.

The last idea was that solutions do not sell themselves. I used to believe that a good idea would naturally convince everyone. It took me a while to accept that ideas do not have legs. You have to carry them. The book teaches a simple three-part approach (no surprise there): tell them what you are going to tell them, then tell them, and then tell them what you told them. Repetition helps people catch your idea midair and hold on to it.

This little book helped me move from being someone who worked hard to someone who thought deeply and communicated clearly. And somewhere in that shift, I found myself standing on firmer ground as an executive. All because three really is a magic number.

# About the Book

The McKinsey Way by Ethan Rasiel offers a peek into the habits, tools, and mental frameworks that McKinsey consultants use to solve tough business problems.

Buy the book: https://amzn.to/4i8V5cK

This is part of 100 Ideas That Shaped Me from Books I Read