Consulting

Two stories from my consulting career are seared into my mind and shape what I offer clients.

In 1993, as a young, idealistic consultant, a team of Harvard MBAs and I designed a Risk Management strategy for one of the biggest banks in the world. We produced a $4m, 1000 page analysis. Nothing happened. Zero implementation. I left this project completely disillusioned with my new career and thinking: when will someone blow the whistle on this industry?

Then, in 1999, some of my research into training effectiveness found that only 10% of the content of management development programs was actually transferred back to the job!

And in addition to these two findings, I've seen surveys that damage morale and have line managers shrugging their shoulders wondering what to do, 360 degree feedback that leaves executives no better off, and quick-fix interventions of all kinds that leave consultants better off, and organizations worse so.

These situations are intolerable and inexcusable. My mission as a consultant is to make sure that no project or training program that I am associated with suffers from this lack of accountability and results. This includes a willingness to put my money where my mouth is and link fees to results in everything I do.

Read on to learn some of the approaches that my associates and I use to offer clients what they deserve: results!

Services

Culture Change
Leadership Development
Management Development
Top team strategic alignment
Change Management

Client List

KPMG - Performance Turnaround through Culture Change
British Airways - Transforming the Finance Function
Barclays Bank - Emerging Markets Strategy
PwC - Global Partner Development
Anglo American - Global Safety Assessment
Major Government Agency - Change management on $1bn change program
Major Retailer - Change management support for ERP implementation
HSBC Bank - Top Talent Development program

Testimonials

"A prudent question is one-half of wisdom."

"By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest."

"It requires wisdom to understand wisdom: the music is nothing if the audience is deaf."

"Learning sleeps and snores in libraries, but wisdom is everywhere, wide awake, on tiptoe."

There is an entire billion dollar industry devoted to taking the business’ temperature through surveys of all kinds. Most of those are a waste of money because there are few good doctors who know what to do next to reduce the fever!

In order to be an inspirational leader, you need to first be inspired.

Culture Change is the most talked about and most infrequently achieved change in the business arena. Everybody says they want it, few are prepared to do what it takes.

Great talent development and a high-performance culture are key differentiators between world-class businesses and the mediocre. Sadly, few organizations know how to sustainably produce those.

What Gandhi taught us about leadership is that it is an inside job. He was shy, bookish and incapable of giving a public address. He knew he could only change India as quickly as he could change himself.

We don’t think a moral person is someone who merely obeys the law. We set the bar higher. Contrary to Milton Friedman, the same applies to businesses: an ethical business must have higher standards than simply avoiding the courts.

Nelson Mandela used to jog in place daily in his toilet-sized cell. Why? Despite being twenty years into a life sentence with no hope of reprieve, he said “one day I will lead my people to freedom, and to do that, I will have to be fit.” That sort of resolve is sadly missing from most of today's business leaders.

360 degree feedback is a recipe for mediocrity. If Winston Churchill scores 7 out of 7 for inspiration, how come so many business leaders score between 5.5 and 6 on 360 degree instruments. If raters standards dervie from those they see around them, we have a recipe for mediocrity.

Most of my life, I’ve had an IQ above 160. However, I’d trade 20 of those points, for 20 character-quotient points any day. The latter are much more valuable and much harder to come by.

Spirituality is essential for human flourishing. By that I mean living a life of meaning, connectedness, values and purpose. However, the connection with religion makes the word taboo. Leadership development requires working very hard on a leader’s spirituality, but never call it that.

Paul Gibbons

Consulting

Testimonials