We’ve always worked hard to remove the things that might otherwise get in the way of only ever doing “what’s right for the client”. We bring an independent mindset to all our clients' business challenges and focus entirely on what we think is right in response. In doing this, our clients quickly realize that our only agenda is their agenda which many find both refreshing and or course valuable. This helps build trust and allows our clients to turn to us with the confidence that we’ll work to be used only ever in the right way for the right reason.
The other thing that I do think feels different for our clients is our balance between “content versus process”. We bring the latter where it's needed of course, but first and foremost we major on the “content” of the client’s business context. Many are surprised how quickly we subsume ourselves in their business and how, as a result, we are able to provide consulting advice that really responds to the nuances of their environment in a way that’s practical and specific.
Keep it simple! It’s easier said than done but it’s something that we work hard to keep front of mind, both in our consulting work with our clients and in terms of how we operate as a business. Like most things, building this in as a habit takes some doing; right back to the start of my Berkeley career this struck me a something that we place more significance and value on than perhaps elsewhere.
Likewise, we place great importance on being able to communicate complexity clearly and simply. For us this is critical. That’s not to say we don’t often need to get into significant levels of detail in support of this, but the key from our perspective is how best we can then extract the compelling story so its consumable and actionable by our clients - who invariably have 101 things on their agendas and not enough time to balance them all.
All the usual things as a leader at Berkeley – lots of challenging work with lots of great Berkeley people, at lots of interesting clients. Outside of the office, I’ve never been one for big goal setting but I would like to get the chance to get to do some of the things I did a lot of way back when but haven't had the chance to for a while – sailing, windsurfing, water-skiing, anything water based to be honest, although I’d possibly have to up the fitness levels a bit to avoid injury / excess embarrassment.