| | By Mick James
A few months ago we
reported on an unusual
job search being
undertaken by management
consultancy Symbia. The
firm’s founders, Peter
Jenkins and Jim
Humphris, had decided to
step back from their
leadership roles and
appoint a new chief
executive. The new CEO
is now in post: Carl
Dugdale is the former UK
managing director of
Celerant Consulting, and
has also worked for PA
Consulting and CSC
Index. I spoke to him
about the challenges of
his new job and the role
of leadership in modern
consulting.
“I was looking for a
leadership opportunity
in consulting, the
chance to take a
business and mould it
and grow it,” he says.
“There aren’t many
opportunities to be a
CEO in consultancy —
they normally promote
from within and only
look outside for a
turnaround leader when
the company is in
crisis.”
This unusual
situation means that,
for Dugdale, “time is on
my side — there’s no
crisis and I’m not going
to be hurried into
decisions”. He says he
is very conscious of the
need to get the balance
right: between too-rapid | |
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| | change and the need for
change and new direction
in the business.
“I’m very conscious
of the current culture
and the team dynamics,
but at the same time the
need to show a way
forward — that’s what
the owners wanted,” he
says. He believes he
will be helped in this
by the “very
entrepreneurial and
fluid” culture at
Symbia.
“A lot of consultancy
firms find it very
difficult to institute
new methods and
skillsets and treat them
with equal respect to
the old ones, but here
they’re very welcoming
to new ideas,” he says.
“My first impressions
are of a firm that’s
been very adaptive and
has a very wide and
diverse skillset, far
broader and deeper than
you would expect from
its size.”
One of Dugdale’s
first tasks will be to
organise the firm’s
capabilities into offer
sets that harness this
capability: “All we are
is a set of people,” he
says. “Our potential
offer is determined by
the collective skills
and knowledge — I
believe we’ve not always
highlighted the full
depth of capability to
fuel our growth.”
This capability | |
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| | centred approach will
underlie Dugdale’s
growth strategy: “We’ll
need to make key new
hires to strengthen the
business where we have a
toehold but need
critical mass,” he says.
“You cannot overestimate
the importance of that,
the cost of poor hiring
is immense.”
Dugdale hopes that he
will be able to
successfully translate
the firm’s functional
capabilities across
industries into adjacent
areas. “Entry into new
markets will come from
introductions from other
clients — who might be
non-execs in other firms
— and from the transfer
of functional skills,”
he says. “Clients do put
great store by industry
experience but if you
look beyond the
immediate past of
consultants you often
find relevant
experience. I do think
the fundamental axis is
the area of capability —
it only takes a couple
of weeks to get up to
speed in the dynamics of
an industry.”
The other areas
Dugdale will focus on
are “re-energising”
skill sets that have not
been employed that
recently but are still
current, and growing
existing engagements.
“You’ve got to make
sure you’re not abusing | |
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| | clients’ trust and are
doing something that is
genuinely value-added
rather than just milking
it,” he says. “When
you’ve already
demonstrated value, that
gives you the right to
describe your other
capability sets.”
Dugdale says he
doesn’t believe in
growth for growth’s
sake, but recognises
that a growth
environment is essential
to meet the aspirations
of his people. He
believes in being ahead
of the game in hiring,
so that new people have
time to bed down, but
also in keeping the firm
slightly behind its
maximum growth
potential.
“That’s so we don’t
follow a route that’s
not right for us,” he
says. “We like to be in
a position where we can
turn things away;
clients respect an
honest ‘no’ and hearing
the reasons why — you
never see them take so
much notice of what
you’re saying.”
Dugdale is a believer
in leading from the
front: “It’s very
important that I get out
in the marketplace and
sell,” he says. “That’s
not just glad-handing
but adding value to the
agenda. The way I
conduct myself is an
embodiment of how I want | |
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| | the firm to be.”
He also believes that
consultancy firms need
to be led by
consultants: “You don’t
want someone who’s never
won the work and doesn’t
understand the culture,”
he says. “They might be
an excellent
administrator but
they’ll never lead the
firm or the people in an
inspirational way.”
However, he believes
that the requirement for
professional management
in consultancy has now
gone beyond charismatic
leadership. “Consultancy
firms have to be better
managed,” he says. “The
days when you could
afford to run a sloppy
ship and still make a
decent margin are gone.
Consultancy has grown
up, it’s had its massive
vertical cliff face of
growth, and now looks
more like a normal
business.”
Given the reluctance
of many consultants to
take on leadership
roles, the ability to
attract strong leaders
may become a key
commercial weapon in the
increasingly competitive
consultancy market. By
making this enlightened
move, Symbia may well be
ahead of the curve.
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