| | By Mick James
What does the future
hold for an outgoing MCA
president? For Hugo
Were, it’s quite
literally the ride of
his life.
He’s marking his
departure from the MCA
oval office with a
fundraising off-road
trip across Africa on a
motorbike whose main use
apparently is for
herding sheep. The trip
has been organised to
support a number of
charities and projects,
including Touch Africa,
Unicef Born Free from
HIV, the Princes’ Fund
for Lesotho and the
Nelson Mandela
Children's Fund.
“A friend of mine
came up with the idea
last summer,” he says.
“And my wife said you
can do it, but only if
you raise £25,000 for
charity.”
Were’s tenure at the
MCA has covered a year
of dramatic contrasts.
A “year of two
halves” as he describes
it, or rather three
reasonable quarters
followed by one
tumultuous one. After
posting record revenues
year on year, for the
first time in ages the
consulting industry is
facing an uncertain | |
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| | future.
“Obviously, the
consulting industry
follows to some extent
what happens to our
clients,” he says. “Some
areas, such as financial
services, are finding it
really tough. But we’re
not hearing very many
dire stories of distress
from our members, no
cast redundancy
programmes.”
Even recruitment
continues, although Were
says it’s “reduced and
very focused”.
With MCA members
reaching an all-time
peak in 2007, 2008 was a
good moment to take
stock of the industry
and the Association’s
role within it.
The review found that
members wanted the MCA
to be a real voice for
the profession, and to
take a more proactive
position in championing
professionalism,
integrity and ethics.
“They also wanted
more engagement with the
MCA, and more
opportunities to network
on a peer-to-peer basis
with colleagues in other
firms,” says Were.
These three themes –
voice, professionalism
and networking – give
the MCA a clear | |
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| | and the Fortune 500.”
The MCA is also
looking for novel ways
to address the
networking issue.
“Consultants are by
and large poorly
networked with their
peers and competitors,
for a variety of
reasons,” says Were.
“One is the great focus
on the value of your
time – we don’t really
attend conferences for
instance – we’d rather
spend time with our
clients.”
Now, says Were, there
is an increasing thirst
among consultants to
understand and share
with each other.
Initiatives under way
from the MCA include the
popular Young MCA social
events and a plan to
expand the Future
Leaders group, aimed at
new partners.
“We’ve also looked at
the ways in which you
create teams,” says
Were. “And we found that
the way you do it is to
give them a problem to
solve together.”
Increasingly, the MCA
will be taking its
internal groups and
tasking them to create a
position paper or
externally focused | |
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| | campaign. Already the
CSR group has been
charged with outlining
what the MCA and the
consultancy industry’s
unique contribution to
the debate on
sustainability and
carbon efficiency should
be.
For Were, his
farewell to the MCA also
marks his (temporary)
departure from the world
of consultancy, stepping
down after 24 years with
Accenture.
“It’s a natural
pause,” he says. “And I
was looking for new
challenges.”
He plans to return
later in the year with
his own consultancy but
in the meantime all his
thoughts and energies
are focused on the
preparation for his
trip. Given that most of
the journey is off-road,
and Were never sat on a
motorbike before this
year, taking on such a
physically demanding
task is adventurous to
say the least, and we
can only wish him all
the best as he –
literally, for once –
rides off into the sun.
You can read more
about the charities, the
Enduro Africa and how to
sponsor Hugo at
www.myrideforlife.co.uk | |
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