One of the things BCG allowed me to do was be involved with a “who’s who” in the Indonesian banking system. In almost four years with BCG, I worked with the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency and a number of major banks and partnered closely with the top management in the Indonesian banking system. That helped me understand the key challenges these clients were facing at the time and to prioritize their most important issues.

One of the important things I brought from BCG to Bank Mandiri is performance-based culture. Even though I went on to work for a state-owned bank, the institution is in the process of transforming itself, including building a performance-based culture. So one of the most important things I brought was the insight into what the key elements of such an organization should be, along with the key infrastructure and processes that need to be instilled.

I have been involved with many top executives and developed rapport with top management. One thing that allowed me to transition successfully into this role was my level of comfort interacting with senior executives. When you’re a consultant or a project leader at BCG, you are expected to work with everyone on the client side, from the working level up to the top management. That was extremely beneficial, and it is part of what enabled me to go on to become an executive vice president and CFO when I was relatively young. I had to be comfortable working with the CEO and the managing directors, and my BCG background allowed me to succeed in this new environment.

A career at BCG allows you to understand at a high level the key issues one should pay attention to in any organization. It provides the discipline to analyze a variety of problems, deliver solutions, and even question executives to better understand the issues. It’s truly invaluable experience, no matter what type of organization you end up working for.

The other thing it gave me was the discipline to develop a work plan and execute it flawlessly. A career at BCG provides the opportunity to analyze various problems, synthesize your thinking, develop solutions, and execute the solutions in a relatively safe environment. It was a great preparation for the challenges I would face later in my career.

My experience with BCG gave me great confidence to analyze data in order to determine what the right answers are. Another important aspect is the people skills and political awareness you have to develop to be an effective consultant. The variety, pace, and complexity of issues you experience at BCG help you see business from every different perspective. This has been extremely helpful to me now in trying to change an organization from within.

BCG culture seems to be more flexible and open than other consulting firms, so it gives you more practical experience in a variety of areas. This is particularly helpful if you do decide to move on. There isn’t one rigid “tool kit” approach that is emphasized, but rather a variety of approaches. I never felt we over-simplified the complexity of analyzing data, which is often the criticism of some consulting approaches.

Consulting at BCG is a terrific training ground—a great way to learn structured thinking and analytical skills that stay with you for life. This experience will help you be more effective across a range of businesses and roles throughout your career.

Working at BCG really taught me to think strategically about what the most important elements of a business are and what will create value for the organization in the long run. The analytical approach was most helpful.

The culture is very collaborative, so moving into a new company is much easier when you’re coming out of a collegial, collaborative environment. By adopting the same approach, you can easily fit in and thrive in a new organization. If you can improvise with people and see where they’re coming from, it enables you to become part of the culture more easily.

I ended up working in five different offices around the world, and I found the exposure to different work environments tremendously rewarding and enriching. The stabilizing force throughout all of that was that the BCG culture is unified around the world. Whether I was in New York, Melbourne, or Kuala Lumpur, I knew the BCG culture, and that gave me the ability to move freely and gain so much experience without having to start from scratch in each new office. I would encourage anyone starting out at BCG to take advantage of those types of opportunities.

For anyone considering a career with BCG, my strong recommendation would be to take the position. The problem-solving disciplines at BCG are very, very versatile and can be applied in any business situation going forward. That type of learning is hard to come by anywhere else.

Also, the network of people I know among BCGers and former BCG employees is probably the strongest network I have.