29-year old McK becoming Finance Minister in Serbia
I've been reading here for a while but this is my first post as I'm curious what you guys think on this story (haven't found a post on it here yet, apologies for any double posting):
Quote from Bloomberg Business Week (I don't have the permission to post links yet unfortunately, but it's very easy to verify via Google):
Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic will name a McKinsey & Co. associate in New York to lead the Finance Ministry as the government prepares for talks to join the European Union and win a new international loan accord. Lazar Krstic, a 2007 graduate of Yale University (...) agreed to take the job (...). At age 29 (...) he would be the country’s youngest-ever Finance Ministry head.
Some more background I got from other newspapers (I'm not from Serbia, btw): Kristic is backed by who appears to be the "strong man" of Serbian politics, deputy prime minister Aleksandar Vucic. So there's someone there to tell him who to present his ideas to before making them public to avoid seeing them jeopardized by interest groups,...
What do you guys think you would say if you received a call with such an offer? Personally, I think I'd definitely say "Fuck, Yeah!".
Of course it is a risky move - support by other politicians can fade quickly once your ideas get in the way of theirs, and even if the support is sustained, it is far from guaranteeing any success. You might as well end up wound up in fruitless discussions about your reforms and see yourself moved out of office after the next elections or in the next government reshuffle whithin two year's time, with zero progress to show for. But even if that happens, I think your CV will look just great. You'll be in your early 30's with MBB and top-level government experience under your belt, I think there will be plenty of interesting options for you, both within the exclusive circles of International Politics and the top tier of the Private Sector. So the downside risk is low imho, while the upside is awesome: you have the chance to get your own country on a better track, generating a sustainable and lasting impact (like getting your country into the EU) that will create brighter future for you and for your kids. And the exit options won't look dire neither.
So in my view it's an absolute killer career move, what do you think?
killer move... no idea how he got chosen for that position, he is tbh richly underqualified. i am sure that kid is smart, but he just got into swimming with sharks, pigs and criminals in that shit place.
i truly hope he does something good for his country. awesome opportunity anyway.
edit: when i think about it, look at this guy they had some decade ago: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bo%C5%BEidar_%C4%90eli%C4%87
http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2001-06-10/bozidar-djelic
thats some CV, man... check under Education and Career /damn
short wso preftige summary: by y26. has MBA from HBS (and shitloads of other diplomas from top schools including Harvard, HEC, EHESS etc.) by y28. is partner at McKinsey (could be wrong but he was elected partner between 1993-2000)
Dude, incredible CV. Though in a really shitty format, looks like an unmotivated intern did a poor copy+paste job from a resume. Wrap-up:
Age 26: 2 undergrad and 3 post-grad degrees, all from top schools Government advisor to Poland (1y) and Russia (1y) (how the hell do you get such positions at that age??) McK (7y), made Partner Minister of Finance (3y) Director, Credit Agricole (2y) Deputy Prime Minister (3y)
This guy is not even 50 yet!!
Probably taking a pay cut (jk). Hope he does well.
huge pay cut, as well as working much, much more (semi-srs)
I honestly don't know if I would accept the job. If I were offered to be US Secretary of the Treasury at the age of 29 I might decline the offer. Why? Because it's an incredibly intricate job--it's extremely complicated and would be very difficult to master the politics of it at such a young age, particularly if I had been overseas for over a decade.
That said, this is Serbia, after all. He literally may be the best that Serbia has to offer right now, and Serbia's Minister of Finance doubtless has far less positive/negative influence on the country and the world at large than other nations' counterparts. And if I were concerned just with resume building then I would definitely take the position. It's just a bit amazing to see someone so grossly under qualified named to this position--he very well may just be the Prime Minister's front man.
Edit: I'll also add that he will be serving the Serbian socialist party....
For those wondering how you get those positions at that age:
educational pedigree + family connections + work experience + 3rd world/low-end 1st world country
you dont give a guy enough credit not a good answer.
the krstic kid has worked so damn hard.. he won a gold at maths olympics, is a member of mensa, and has had great academic achievements maybe you should add that to your list
dont be so jelly, the guy came from the bottom, city of Nis is a shit place in the south of shitty Serbia, he got scholarships for his studies, nothing was paid by his family nobody in the country supported the kid
Educational pedigree + work experience covers everything you said, so I'm not sure how I didn't give him credit. And sure he worked hard. He's also a genius, which doesn't really hurt the process.
And the country did support the kid. He was offered a scholarship to study in Serbia, but decided to study in the US instead. Maybe his family doesn't have connections that helped him get the position, but maybe it does. Do you know him personally? Do you know the effort his family put into raising him?
Good talk.
+1. U got it.
It sounds like he has a pretty strong connection to the Prime Minister.
I would trust this 29 year old kid over any one of those "more experienced" commies.
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