CEOs that Started in Consulting
If you aspire to be the CEO or COO of a company one day, becoming a consultant may be a good way to sharpen your business acumen. According to Ivy Exec, around 5% of CEOs were once management consultants over the past ten years. In addition, one study revealed that companies run by CEOs who were once consultants perform 20-30% better than their competitors.
The following business executives (and one famous musician) started their careers as consultants before becoming CEOs.
John Legend
Before becoming one of the few musicians to earn four major American entertainment awards (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony), John Legend worked at the Boston Consulting Group. Currently, Legend is the CEO of Our Happy Company, which recently launched an NFT platform.
Sundar Pichai
Current CEO of Google and Alphabet, Sundar Pichai, started his career at consulting firm McKinsey & Company. However, Pichai's time at McKinsey & Company was short, with him becoming Google’s Head of Product Management and Development in 2004 and later assuming the position of CEO in 2015 (Britannica).
Susan Wojcicki
As CEO of the world’s most popular video streaming platform, YouTube, Susan Wojcicki previously worked at Bain & Company. The Harvard graduate was a management consultant for the firm before making her way to becoming the CEO of YouTube in 2014.
Peter Attia, MD
Peter Attia is the owner of Attia Medical PC and a former consultant of McKinsey & Company. In addition, Attia is the co-founder and Chief Medical Officer of Zero, a health tracker and fasting app.
Indra Nooyi
Indra Nooyi is the former CEO of PepsiCo and currently serves as a member of the board of directors at Amazon. Before her career at PepsiCo, she worked as a strategic consultant at Boston Consulting Group.
Are you interested in a consulting career? Join The HBCU Career Center on Thursday, May 26th to get advice from BCG’s Knowledge Team hiring managers on how you can land a job in the field of consulting. Sign up for the event here.