I founded a wellness startup after leaving McKinsey. Hustle culture is a liability, not an asset.

"I became interested in consulting through some older friends while studying at the University of São Paulo in Brazil. Their stories about how fast you could learn and grow in the career made me want to pursue it. I applied to all the top firms and accepted McKinsey's offer to be a business analyst in 2010 as soon as I received it. It was the best thing I could imagine as a long-term career."

"I was at McKinsey for about two years before they encouraged me to pursue an MBA. At that time in Brazil, you could only become an associate or a manager if you had one. I applied to Harvard Business School with the intention of returning to McKinsey and continuing the consulting journey. But the summer of my first year in Boston, I had the idea of starting WellHub."

"The working environment at McKinsey was super intense. I would do an average of 10 to 12 hours a day, and when there was a crunch, it could be more. As a consultant, I often traveled to different cities or juggled between a client's office and McKinsey's office. There were no gym memberships that provided access to facilities in different locations."

Cesar Carvalho left a consulting career at McKinsey to found Wellhub after noticing a lack of portable wellness options for busy consultants. He experienced 10–12 hour workdays, frequent travel, and unused gym memberships that left gaps in stress management and physical activity. Wellhub became a global corporate wellness platform providing flexible, location-independent access to fitness and well-being services for employees across client and office locations. Over 14 years Wellhub scaled to change corporate wellness practices and includes McKinsey among its clients. Carvalho identifies hustle culture as detrimental to workforce productivity and emphasizes convenient wellness access to improve well-being. The platform addresses scheduling, multi-location access, and integrates with corporate needs to reduce stress and support workforce performance.

Read at Business Insider