Consulting Manifesto

We move the needle from problem selling to problem solving

All large players in the consulting industry apply identical mechanics and incentive systems and they produce very similar results. The general narrative of these companies is to be client-centric. However, their incentive systems enforce - without exception - the opposite.

The entry-level positions are measured and compensated by how much time they invoice to clients (and fired if this figure is insufficient). For more senior people, there is one primary KPI that rules the industry: Sales Revenue. The consequences are that, first, the required efforts for any project are being stretched as much as possible and second, that consultants will spend a significant amount of their time (time that will be invoiced to their clients) to strategically infiltrate client companies and preparing the sales pitches for follow-up projects. And, even more fundamental: On a macro-level these mechanics lead to a strong incentive for the consulting leadership to strive for vendor lock-ins – they are building systems in which the client becomes dependent on their company as a service provider.

We completely change the mechanics of the industry, from volume to efficiency

We take an entirely different approach: We have our primary business lines that our consultants work in as business operators. They solve problems for clients as a secondary occupation. This serves two purposes: First, we run an actual business in which we can give responsibility for building real-world business models to our people and thereby train them with the required business skills hands-on. The exceptional problem solvers can then - next to their primary role in our organization - become advisors for our consulting clients.

So, our consultants also spend significant amounts of time on a variety of activities that are unrelated to their client projects. What's different is that they spend this time on building actual businesses within our organization and are taking the lessons learned to their consulting clients. Oh, and this time will obviously not be invoiced, so we achieve a true win-win scenario.

We systematically incentivize effectiveness when working on client projects

This is, why we critically question the relevance of our client's projects. This is, why we relentlessly optimize for what matters most and it is the reason why we often ask the question of whether we are working on symptoms or already found the root causes. This is, why we approach project planning backwards: Instead of estimating how much time it will take to solve a challenge, we determine the economical relevance of the problem at hand and then accordingly limit the time to work on this matter. With this, we incentivize solving problems as efficiently as possible, instead of training people to price deals cleverly. With this, we incentivize solving problems in a way that enables our clients to take our solutions and independently apply and evolve them. We gain not by introducing further problems that we can sell additional solutions for. We gain when our clients win. We gain by providing progress and growth that lead to more complex challenges in the future.

We attract curious, ambitious, and highly empathetic individuals

By removing the scheme of dangling carrot after carrot, by removing never-ending bonus systems and career ladders, we attract people that truly enjoy working on challenges that make them struggle for the sake of growing as a person. We attract people that pride themselves not in the amount of money amassed for an organization, but for a job well done. For genuinely making a difference and moving our clients forward.