Manu Lakshmanan

Manu Lakshmanan, PhD, is a Biomedical Engineering PhD and former management consultant at McKinsey & Company. He is the founder of Onsight Case Interview Coaching and the author of the case interview preparation book The Elements of the Case Interview available on Amazon.com. Over his career thus far, Manu has worked closely with colleagues and clients from PhD and non-PhD backgrounds on business management and case interview preparation. Currently, Manu is the Director of Operations Strategy at DJO Global where he focuses on identifying, crafting, and implementing opportunities that intersect business and medical devices. 

Can you describe your academic and professional background? What path led you to pursue this field? 

I majored in physics in undergrad and Biomedical Engineering for my PhD. I decided to transition into management consulting because I wanted to apply my problem-solving for opportunities to have immediate term impact and because I felt a desire to work on more mainstream interdisciplinary problems. 

How did you find your previous position in consulting, and what was the hiring process like? Is there a typical structure for this in your field? 

McKinsey actively recruits PhD’s through information sessions for graduate schools on campus. The hiring process was highly standardized and rigorous, much like the application process that undergraduate and graduate programs use for admitting students. 

Can you tell us about your current responsibilities? What is a typical day or week like in your role? 

I am asked by my company’s leadership to conduct analysis on the strategic and operational problems that the company leadership feels they don’t have enough data to make decisions on. I will provide them with the information they need by gathering quantitative data, building quantitative models, conducting interviews with various stakeholders, and synthesizing the information into a report that contains balanced perspectives as well as my recommendations.

What do you enjoy about your current job and work environment?  

I enjoy the process of solving problems and communicating that in a coherent manner, much like I did during my PhD. What’s different from my PhD that I also enjoy is working on highly interdisciplinary content and informing decisions that are high stakes. 

What are some of the challenging aspects of your job? Is there anything you wish you had known about your job or industry before joining? 

The biggest challenge for me is spending more time in meetings than I needed to in graduate school. Meetings can be draining and you sometimes feel unproductive. There are ways to manage those challenges and I am learning every day!

Do you have any professional plans for the future? What are some future career paths that could open up for someone in your position, 5-10 years down the road? 

I would like to grow into roles of increasing responsibilities. Other than strategy and internal consulting (what I do today), I am also interested in 5-10 years moving into Venture Capital investing.  

What’s changing in your industry? Are there any future trends we should be aware of?  

Life sciences consulting firms (e.g., LEK life sciences, Putnam, ClearView) are doing well as of now during the pandemic. Generalist management (e.g., McKinsey, BCG) are hiring much less this year. 

What activities, internships, or organizations would you recommend someone get involved with to help them break into this field? 

Practice case interviews with members of the UCSD consulting club. Also if you don’t get much leadership or teamwork skill development in your research lab, find an organization where you can exercise these skills, e.g., a team sport, local religious organization or club on campus. 

Is it common for people in your field to have a scientific/academic background (i.e. have PhDs)? Can you think of any advantages or disadvantages someone with a PhD might experience while pursuing or working in your field? 

It is very common. The advantages are that you bring problem-solving skill, creativity and communication skill. The disadvantage however is that you may have less experience working closely with teams.