McKinsey Senior Partner Lareina Yee, BC ’95, spoke last Wednesday, January 29 about succeeding in today’s professional world. Her talk focused on practical strategies for career advancement, the importance of being a technologist and addressing the challenges women face in the workplace.

Many eager and ambitious Barnard students gathered for the event in the new LeFrak Theater (which, fun fact, used to be a swimming pool!). April Autry, executive director of the LeFrak Center for Wellbeing, kicked off the Focus Series event by emphasizing the center’s holistic approach to wellness, including financial, mental and physical. Barnard College President Laura Rosenbury then spoke about her excitement about the center and that wellness should go hand-in-hand with one’s career. A-J Aronstein, Vice President of Community Engagement and Lifelong Success at Barnard moderated the talk.

Lareina Yee, who leads McKinsey’s global technology agenda and was the company’s first Chief Diversity Officer, co-founding Women in the Workplace, a groundbreaking initiative dedicated to advancing women in the corporate world, started by saying that her career trajectory was not linear. Initially, she envisioned a career in law and policy, focusing on trade agreements. She pursued this interest, becoming a Javitz Fellow and a Henry Luce Scholar studying International Economics at SIPA and working in Washington, D.C., writing policy papers. Yee also worked for pro-democracy advocates in Hong Kong. She was then encouraged to apply to McKinsey, a move she made with limited business experience. Yee thought that she might stay for a couple of years and then move on, but has been at McKinsey ever since. After 25 years, she reflected that there was a “serendipity of opportunities” that led her there and encouraged us to have faith that we will end up where we are meant to be (as hard as that may be to hear right now!)

Yee’s Advice

For all of us amid summer internship and full-time job applications, Yee shared very thoughtful and practical advice from her journey:

1. Treat your college education as a base. Yee admitted that the job market is really difficult right now, but emphasized that the liberal arts education at Barnard is special—it teaches you problem solving, collaboration, and critical thinking. She advised that as applicants, we should position our education experience that way. 
2. Take classes that contrast your major to become well rounded. For example, Yee encouraged English majors to take economics, math, advanced math and data science classes. And for STEM majors, she suggested taking philosophy classes. According to Yee, the most successful people she knows that work in technology have the ability to understand ethics and philosophy, which is increasingly important today. 
3. Prioritize experience and skills over grades. Barnard is a comparatively low-risk environment and we should take classes outside of our comfort zone. Yee said to be entrepreneurial, have grit, and take initiative for good experiences. She emphasized that we should use our time at Barnard to build a strong skill set.
4. “Fail Forward”. Rejection is part of the process. Yee acknowledged that landing your dream job right out of college can be tough, and it’s often harder as an undergraduate than after business school. If you don’t get the job you want immediately, but you’re genuinely interested in the company, she encouraged us not to give up. Keep in touch, stay on their radar, and maintain the relationship. Perhaps future opportunities will arise, or further education might make you a stronger fit down the line. The key is to keep your options open and nurture those connections. It might take you a different path than your peers, and that’s okay.
5. Choose a company, not just a job. If you have the opportunity to be selective, consider the long-term prospects the company offers, its culture, and specifically its track record with women in management. Also, evaluate benefits like healthcare, the company’s overall values and mission, support programs for working mothers, and its policies for reporting sexual assault. These factors contribute to a supportive and equitable work environment and should be carefully weighed in the decision-making.
6. Patience and persistence are key. The pressure to start early is increasing, and while that can be stressful, you should take the time to study for your interviews and applications. We need to “hustle before and during [our] applications.”
7. Use bifocal glasses! Applying to jobs or internships can feel urgent and desperate, especially when deadlines are approaching. Yee advised that we learn to balance both short-term goals (like a summer 2025 internship) and long-term goals (for example, to identify role models in their 50s, and what our eventual goals might be). Yee also emphasized that many career decisions aren’t irreversible. She used the analogy of one-way and two-way doors, explaining that while some choices are truly limiting, we often overestimate how many fall into that category. Many “doors” are actually two-way, meaning we can change course later. Therefore, she encouraged us to be more willing to take risks and put ourselves out there.
8. Have confidence in yourself. Many times, men exude far more confidence than women, even though they may be less qualified. We have to learn to believe in ourselves and our abilities, and that we would be a valuable addition to the companies we apply to. 
9. Be wicked! Unfortunately she did not suggest that we all break into a rendition of Defying Gravity. Instead, she stressed the crucial need for solidarity among women in the face of persistent misogyny. “Being wicked,” in this context, means being fiercely supportive of other women. It’s about actively countering the subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) ways women are dismissed or overlooked. This could involve something as simple as saying, “Actually, X was speaking,” when a woman’s point has been interrupted or ignored in a meeting. It’s about having each other’s backs and ensuring others’ contributions are recognized—a practice we can start here at Barnard, building a foundation of support that extends beyond graduation.

On AI

Yee was enthusiastic about technology and artificial intelligence, arguing that everyone should become a “power user.” AI is not a replacement for human expertise, but a tool that can enhance productivity and effectiveness. She urges students to familiarize themselves with many different kinds of AI and its strengths and weaknesses, leveraging it to streamline processes and help you learn rather than allowing it to replace critical thinking and creativity. Yee said that everyone should be a technologist to ensure that they can identify challenges and develop innovative solutions in today’s world. 

The Broken Rung: When the Career Ladder Breaks for Women—and How They Can Succeed in Spite of It

Yee, along with two other McKinsey senior partners, explored the challenges women face in their upcoming book, The Broken Rung. The book investigates why women fall behind in the workplace despite excelling academically, getting higher GPAs and having higher graduation rates than men. 

One key finding was that women struggle to accumulate “experience capital,” or the skills and expertise gained through work experience, which according to their research accounts for 50% of lifetime earnings. Unlike their male counterparts, women are not systematically acquiring or being compensated for this capital, which contributes to pay gaps. This inequity starts early: for every 100 men who receive their first promotion, only 81 women do, and there are only 37 women CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. “There isn’t an even playing field,” Yee said. By the time women reach managerial positions, their representation drops significantly. This is a phenomenon Yee and her colleagues identified as the “broken rung.” The Broken Rung is available for preorder and is released on March 11. 

I left Yee’s talk feeling inspired by her emphasis on the serendipity of opportunities and the importance of pursuing my passions while taking classes outside of my comfort zone. Most of all, I loved the idea of being “wicked” and can’t wait to put it into practice!

Barnard Hall via Bwog Archives