It’s been a great run, but I think I’m done. Too hard to leave the kids each week and I’m also just getting tired. Maybe I’ll start with a simple question - what did you do when you knew it was time? Go on Search? Find a job while working? Something else?

Start networking with the view of "I'm considering a change". Talk to people who left in the last few years to get a feel for their path and process, as well as their network onwards.
Presuming you didn't get CTLed at PDRC, you've got a year where you can more or less do what you like. Wind down your work on things that don't energise you.
In January, if you're still here, reach out to Partner Personnel and ask to understand the implications of going on Search as you're considering what to do. Given you'll likely have had low utilization, the process will probably be to give you an extended Search period if you pull the plug before PDRC. (E.g., this year it was until October if you withdrew before PDRC and were considered at risk of CTL).

Retire early

I went internal. Best decision I ever made but it was hard.

No answers OP, but I feel you. McKinsey is a tough place at the moment.

Finally had enough at my firm. The job has changed SO much from when I started in this career 25+ years ago. I realized that I loved my job, but hated the bureaucracy that my firm became and the crazy travel.

2 years ago I took a headhunter call and met with leadership at a very well-respected boutique-sized firm and it was like a breath of fresh air for me. I resigned and never looked back, and it’s been the best thing I’ve done in a long, long time. Now I do the kind of work I love and with people I really like in an environment that’s entrepreneurial and collaborative, and only really travel for pitches. It’s a different types of stress, but the good kind: growth, team development, re-networking.

Yes, it’s a LITTLE less $ but at this point I don’t really need a little extra $ for a lot more misery. Plus, we’re not an eat-what—you-kill comp model, which is nice. Virtually no sales credit arguments or “whose P&L gets what” discussions. While we’re definitely at scale for a boutique firm, we’re still small enough that it just works.

Best. Decision. Ever.

My advice is to answer the phone, even if you usually wouldn’t, and reach out to recruiters just to see what’s out there. If you get the feeling that I got from my situation, then jump and don’t look back.

Took search, just landed a new role that I'd started the process on and I could not be happier.

Moved to leadership in a mid market PE-backed company. A whole different kind of stress, but much less time flying.

Left the firm a few years ago, zero regret.

Were you concerns to AN?

First I started discussions internal about how to transition to role that better fit my “sources of energy” - people development and innovation. I also leaned into my recruiter relationships. This second plank hit and I retired to a great opportunity that energized me. As that role came to a transition point I fully retired. And have now started providing part-time advisory to past clients that leverage my consulting and operational experience.

I bought cryptos and palantir