It is amazing. I have been a management consultant since 1980, working with several hundred clients, and observing all sorts of business owners and managers. I have seen owners who are risk takers or risk adverse; visionaries, bureaucrats with no vision, or dreamers; driven by sales, technology, or expense management; customer focused or self focused (one regularly referred to customers as “the bastards;” leaders, pushers, autocrats, or those who delegate well; overextended or underutilizing their skills; procrastinators, impulse driven, having analysis paralysis, fear, or hiding in the details; brilliant and not-so-brilliant; great bosses or horrible bosses. And so on.
Yet the amazing thing is that most of their companies earn profits and create wealth for them, the owners. Sometimes I wonder how, other times I am convinced failure is just around the corner. I have seen brilliant people, dreaming and not doing anything, make a little money. I have seen not-so-smart owners get into a fixed pattern and over time grind out a fortune. Each individual is different; their blend of qualities works for them in their circumstance. I have seen fortunes squandered and fortunes made.
The point is, all businesses are different, making the business of management consulting fascinating. It’s our job to figure out who and what we are dealing with and create ways to help them seize opportunities and fix problems. It’s an ever changing mosaic providing new challenges and no boredom. It is the joy of management consulting.
Charles R. Schaul, Founder of SixPillars Research Group, focuses on increasing business profits by resolving the problem of customer attrition. Aligning companies with their customers; generating and implementing strategic initiatives; and promoting employees’ customer focus through commitment, responsibility and accountability combine to achieve the result.
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