There are three distinctive competencies that we believe set us apart.
Unencumbered by Conventional Thinking
As reflected in our tagline, Non impediti vulgatum cogitationis, we are unencumbered by conventional thinking.
Imagine you live in a village in China, and you want to build a new home. But you don't want to build just any kind of home, you want to build the best home your village, and even the villages around you, have ever seen. So you recruit the ten smartest, most experienced, most respected members of your village to design this new home. You tell them that price is no object—if they can conceive it and physics will permit it, you will build it.
What are the odds they'll come back with a Williamsburg Colonial? Zero. It may be the best home to ever come out of that Chinese village, but it will still be a Chinese looking home. And the same would be true if you lived in a Virginia village. The Virginian villagers may design the best home ever to come out that Virginia village, but it will still be a Virginian looking home.
Given the breadth of our experience, given that experience comes from experience on the field, not the sidelines, and given our core value to push beyond the conventional envelope, we can help you break out of your Chinese village.
“On the Field” Experience
Our consultants are seasoned professionals; they are people who have hands-on experience. They’ve been in your shoes. They have run the plays sent in to them. They have audibled at the line. They have had plays break down for a big loss, and they have had plays break away for big gains. Our consultants are not professional spectators who’ve spent their career in the press box; our consultants have proven themselves on the field.
Grounded in a sound theoretical context, we know how to move quickly to pragmatic issues. Yes, we like to push the edge of the envelope, but we are not reckless. Using a “Plan-Do-Check-Adjust,” or PDCA, cycle, we take theories from the safe, predictable confines of the conceptual laboratory to the irregularities and ambiguities of real life.
Engagement & Fee Philosophy
Like many consulting firms, our consulting services are provided on a time and material basis, with the fees varying depending on the caliber and other dimensions of the engagement.
Unlike many consulting firms, we will not seduce your business with senior consultants, and, once won, backup and unload a bus full of recent MBA grads who displace or subjugate your staff, while those senior consultants cloister themselves and build a 5-year plan to stay in your wallet. We won’t do that.
Rather, our aim is to teach you what we know, get you off to a good start, provide you with the consulting, coaching, and mentoring you need to become self-sufficient, and then have the good grace to leave.
Because it is also our intention to empower you, not to abandon you, as you approach self-sufficiency you also have the option to retain us for regular, but perhaps less frequent, reviews to checkpoint progress, plans, and issues.
To get started on any engagement, it makes sense to pre-qualify each other to determine if there is good mutual fit, thus saving everyone a little time and money. The process need not be anything more than a conversation so we can clarify your particular needs, time frame, and budget parameters. We can then follow-up with targeted information, and submit a proposal specific to your situation.
