Booz Allen Hamilton: An insider guide - Gymkhana

CultureConsultants throughout the firm stress that you’ll be hard-pressed to find asingle “Booz Allen type.” In fact, in interviews with firm insiders, the worddiversity is used with eerie frequency: “We have a very diverse bunch of peoplehere—all kinds of backgrounds, walks of life, and perspectives,” says oneinsider. Another says, “It’s very diverse and a little eclectic in the sense that wemay all appear to be professionals and consultants upon first meeting, but onceyou get to know the individuals, you’re constantly amazed by where people arecoming from and what they’ve done.” Yet another says, “The people are prettydiverse as far as interests and educational backgrounds are concerned. Peoplehave dreams outside of consulting.” In fact, it appears that at Booz Allen theonly lack of diversity is in insiders’ opinions of their colleagues.The WorkplaceBooz Allen Family ValuesWithin its diverse workforce, Booz Allen instills a prevailing ethic that resonatesclearly across the firm. “Booz Allen is a company made up of many individuals,who are very different, but have in common that they believe in the samevalues,” says one insider. “Based on that, one could say that we have a culturewhere the individual comes first, closely followed by the firm—not the otherway around.” Similarly, a government-side insider says, “The culture of WTB iscentered around a set of core values that are explicitly stated on the first pageof the [employee] manual. Every single employee, no matter what level, isassessed on them every year. It’s the first thing the senior managers look atwhen determining how to progress someone. It’s not a platitude. It’s very mucha values-based culture.”40