Q. A recent report showed that five management consulting firms lead the way among companies producing CEOs.[1] So is it any wonder that 32.1%[2] of MIT Sloan’s recent graduating class chose consulting as their post-graduation career?
A. Choosing between options like consulting, joining a Fortune 500 company, or pursuing other paths available to top MBA graduates isn’t about right or wrong—each offers unique advantages. Starting in consulting, for example, quickly builds strong analytical and communication skills. Early exposure to a range of industries and business functions can also create a valuable foundation of diverse experiences.
Having worked at IBM, PwC, and Tata Group—all of which offered excellent career development—I found that some consulting lessons needed to be unlearned to succeed as an SVP at Cencora, a Fortune 10 company with annual revenue of about $300 billion. For instance, when leading the rollout of emerging technologies to drive business solutions across North America, I learned it is essential to take longer-term decisions, keeping our customers’ and employees’ change management in mind.
Consulting or any staff function job allows one to get a bigger picture of a problem an organization is trying to solve as an outsider. That helps to build problem-solving skills and look at it holistically without being too much into the details. Then the same skill needs to be translated into how you would shift to a line function leader role in the corporate world by owning and driving the solution yourself.
Q. What guidance would you offer to students graduating from top business schools, such as MIT Sloan, who are seeking to launch and build successful careers at Fortune 500 companies like Cencora right after graduation?
Some initial thoughts that come to mind include:
1. Try to build foundational skills in process or technology, and at the same time, some sort of industry vertical. So I would always invest in building a vertical and a horizontal skill.
2. Do not get distracted by short-term gains. Be focused on obtaining expertise in any horizontal skill at the beginning of your career, and then take leadership roles in a vertical skill. Measure yourself every three to six months in terms of what you learned in vertical and horizontal skills.
3. Do not hesitate to take risks and get out of your comfort zone. If someone is willing to invest in you to do a role outside of your comfort zone, please trust your gut feeling, in addition to all the scientific analysis you will do of the options you have.
4. With corporate goals’ success depending upon the cohesion of a firm’s employee base, individualism can rarely support an employee’s career goals. Look at it as a team sport. Try to play some team sport or follow a team sport to get lessons that you will apply in your day-to-day job.
5. Actively network and find the right mentors, leaders, and peers. Invest your time and energy to learn from these interactions.
Finally, let me provide three career tips for your readership to consider: First, consider the unique advantages that a Fortune 500’s scale and scope can provide, especially when it comes to participating in large-scale transformation initiatives. For example, by joining Cencora, you become part of an organization where each employee contributes to a company that generated approximately $805 million per day in fiscal 2024.
Second, identify the business area that aligns with both your interests and experience, as well as the company’s growth priorities. Many MBAs are drawn to M&A after completing internships in the field. Cencora’s M&A team, for instance, completed the $4.6 billion acquisition of Retina Consultants of America (RCA) in 2025, a single transaction that approaches Forbes’ estimate of $7 billion for Bain’s annual revenue last year.[3] Cencora’s M&A strategy focuses on expanding into high-growth specialty services like ophthalmology and oncology, leveraging cross-selling opportunities, creating operational synergies, and strengthening its competitive position in a consolidating healthcare market. This environment offers an exciting opportunity to apply the skills and insights gained at MIT Sloan.
Third, recognize the breadth of career paths available within Fortune 500 companies, particularly at Cencora. The company operates across the full healthcare spectrum, from preclinical research to global distribution of goods and services, covering everything from generics to specialty, as well as human and animal health products. With an ambitious 10% growth target for this year—requiring nearly $30 billion in additional sales on top of a $293 billion base—Cencora needs top talent in all functional areas. Product managers, for example, act as CEOs of their offerings, while HR business partners play a crucial role in integrating new talent from recent acquisitions. We are also seeking individuals who can envision how emerging technologies like AI will transform our business over the next several years. With such diverse opportunities and a retention score in the top 30% of large companies,[4] it’s clear why Cencora is an attractive destination for ambitious graduates.
Bios:
Kedar Mahadeshwar is the Senior Vice President and Head of Information Technology for the North America region at Cencora, Inc. (formerly known as AmerisourceBergen). Before joining Cencora, he worked at IBM for nearly two decades, during which time he held roles including Vice President. Earlier in his career, Mr. Mahadeshwar was an Engineer at Tata Group. Mr. Mahadeshwar holds an MBA in Finance from the University of Pennsylvania. He also earned a BE in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Mumbai and a Master’s in Industrial Engineering Management from the Indian Institute of Management, Mumbai.
Partha Anbil is a Contributing Writer for the MIT Sloan Career Development Office and an alumnus of MIT Sloan. Besides being VP of Programs of the MIT Club of Delaware Valley, Partha is a long-time life sciences consulting industry veteran. He is a Senior Advisor to NextGen Invent Corporation (https://nextgeninvent.com/), an AI, Data Analytics, and digital transformation company. He has held senior leadership roles at IBM, Booz & Company (now PWC Strategy&), IMS Health Management Consulting Group (now IQVIA), and KPMG.
Michael Wong is a Contributing Writer for the MIT Sloan Career Development Office and an Emeritus Co-President and board member of the Harvard Business School Healthcare Alumni Association. Michael is a Part-time Lecturer for the Wharton Communication Program at the University of Pennsylvania, and his ideas have been shared in the MIT Sloan Management Review and Harvard Business Review.
[1] https://www.ondeck.com/resources/which-company-produced-the-most-ceos (McKinsey & Company 7.10%, Bain 6.67%, BCG 6.03%, Kearney 5.6%, and Oliver Wyman 5.3%)
[2] https://mitsloan.mit.edu/sites/default/files/2024-12/MBA-Employment-Report-2024-2025.pdf
[3] https://www.forbes.com/companies/bain-and-company/
