A recent article on CFO.com by Russ Banham about the balance of power between clients and consultants is enlightening.  It may lead some to consider alternatives to traditional big consultancy practices.

An excerpt follows:

Over the course of his finance career, Jeff Henderson, CFO of Cardinal Health Inc., has hired consulting firms to offer insight on strategy, outsourcing initiatives, expense-reduction tactics, and large IT projects. While he believes strongly that consultants are an important management resource, he, like many other finance chiefs, is wary of their downsides, from high cost to inferior advice. “I’ve learned the hard way,” he confides. “You can spend too much, not get the service you thought you were getting, and end up with the second-tier team [rather than] the ’stars’ you were told you’d get.”

Such complaints about consulting engagements are commonplace. As David Bean, vice president of finance at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biotech company, sees it, “There is a tendency among consultants to get hired merely for the purpose of getting more work.” In CFO’s recent survey of 400 finance executives, the majority — 55% — said they were only somewhat confident that their consulting spending was producing an acceptable return on investment, while 16% said they were not confident or didn’t know: not exactly a stunning endorsement of the consulting universe.

But the situation may be about to improve. Thanks to a spate of mergers and acquisitions, along with the emergence of newly energized firms, a very different consulting industry is rising from the ashes of the recession, one in which competitive pressures are driving prices down for buyers.

In addition, new pricing structures, in which consultancies are willing to take it on the chin financially if their promises fail to materialize, are emerging. All told, prices for consulting services have dropped anywhere from 5% to 20% in the past year. “It’s a buyer’s market out there,” says Lynne Schneider, senior analyst at Kennedy Consulting Research & Advisory.

To be sure, the U.S. consulting industry, remains a financial powerhouse. Last year, it generated $397 billion in revenue ($240 billion for IT consulting alone), according to Jenny Sutton, co-author of Extract Value from Consultants (Greenleaf Book Group, 2010). That’s a mere 2% decline from 2008, suggesting that, despite client misgivings, consulting remains virtually recession-proof. Sutton projects that total consulting revenue will resume an upward trend this year.

The industry tumult has several causes. For one, the Big Four accounting firms have returned to consulting with a vengeance now that Sarbanes-Oxley-related compliance work is drying up. In addition, a wave of megamergers has created more-comprehensive “soup-to-nuts” consultancies, particularly in IT. In the past 18 months, hardware providers Dell, Xerox, and Hewlett-Packard have acquired Perot Systems, ACS, and EDS, respectively. Now, “the acquirers are looking to leverage their existing distribution channels to sell more of everything, and they are more willing to cut their rates if asked” says Susan Tan, research director of IT services at Gartner.

Be Prepared
But this metamorphosis also poses a risk: in their rush to compete, consultancies may be more prone than ever to overpromise and underdeliver. “Clients hire a multiservice consulting firm to do strategy, and then are pressured to hire the same firm to implement that strategy even though this may not be its core expertise,” says Sutton. “Too many buyers end up using consultants in areas that are not their power alleys.”

Of course, clients also bear some responsibility for engagements that come unglued. One of their main peccadilloes, some experts say, is driving too hard a bargain. “We’ve seen buyers press the consulting firm to discount services so far that they ended up with the ‘B’ team on their projects,” Kennedy’s Schneider says, resulting in “bargain basement” advice.

Clients also suffer for not being well prepared. A “major trap,” says Sutton, is allowing the consultant to define the scope of the engagement. “It’s up to the buyer to know what problems it has to solve. And it should do that by spending more time upfront defining its needs,” she says.

To help your organization leverage the top-tier of the flexible workforce, visit www.msquared.com

Most people know that it makes good business sense to listen to, acknowledge, motivate and reward employees.  A recent article in Workforce Management cites how the Gallup Organization created a feedback system for employers that would identify and measure elements of worker engagement most tied to the bottom line–things such as sales growth, productivity and customer loyalty.

After hundreds of focus groups and thousands of interviews with employees in a variety of industries, Gallup came up with the Q12, a 12-question survey that identifies strong feelings of employee engagement. Results from the survey show a strong correlation between high scores and superior job performance. Here are those 12 questions:

• Do you know what is expected of you at work?
• Do you have the materials and equipment you need to do your work right?
• At work, do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day?
• In the last seven days, have you received recognition or praise for doing good work?
• Does your supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about you as a person?
• Is there someone at work who encourages your development?
• At work, do your opinions seem to count?
• Does the mission/purpose of your company make you feel your job is important?
• Are your associates (fellow employees) committed to doing quality work?
• Do you have a best friend at work?
• In the last six months, has someone at work talked to you about your progress?
• In the last year, have you had opportunities at work to learn and grow?

In any economy it pays to have engaged employees.  The answers to the questions above will shine a light on how well you’re doing.

For information on how to develop your contingent workforce to the fullest, contact M Squared Consulting at msquared@msquared.com or 1-888-818-2505.

According to Staffing Industry Analysts, the use of contingent labor is expected to become a more critical element in the corporate strategy. And that it will increase overall in the coming years. Couple that with complications with healthcare reform, an intensified hunt for misclassified independent contractors and the perils of the work environment — some are more risky than others — and you may have what many have called “the perfect storm.”

Some legal teams find themselves swamped addressing workforce issues and can scarcely pay attention to contingent workforce challenges (much less stay up-to-date with CW related legal requirements). And, even more important, CW risk is not confined to the legal realm.

The SIA identified six critical areas of risks related to your use of a contingent workforce. Left un-managed, these risks expose your company to a potentially significant loss of money, reputation, security, and competitive advantage, not to mention the potential loss of freedom for your company’s executives.

1. Legal/Regulatory Risk
   must comply with Federal and State laws related to your use of contingent labor.
2. Strategic Risk
   You must use contingent workers without upsetting or disrupting your customers/partners, and without divulging critical intelligence to your competitors.
3. Operational Risk
   You must ensure high productivity, deliver quality talent, and avoid business interruptions.
4. Asset and Reputational Risk
   You must protect your intellectual property and brand/reputation.
5. Security Risk
   You must control access to facilities and be prepared for threats of workplace violence or terrorism.
6. Insurance Risk
   You must have a full understanding of indemnification agreements with suppliers and how these agreements affect your own business insurance.

Companies that use contingent workers must pay close attention to the risks.  Two information sources include:

·         Collabrus (www.collabrus.com) – a subsidiary of M Squared Consulting and a leader in senior level contingent workforce management and compliance solutions

·         Also consider attending the 2010 Contingent Workforce Risk Forum (May 11-12, in the Washington DC area).  Check out their newly updated program agenda at www.CWRiskForum.com.

To find the right contingent consultant or team for your next project, contact M Squared Consulting at msquared@msquared.com or 1-888-818-2505.

There have been many stories about the alleged lack of talent looming from the aging of America.  But is it real?  Peter Cappelli, management professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, likens alarms about a talent famine to breathless warnings from information technology professionals that computer systems could fail catastrophically when clocks rolled over to January 1, 2000.

In retrospect, of course, the Y2K hype was overblown. With that example in mind, the current sky-is-falling labor predictions could easily be called Gray2K.

It is true that in 2014, some 78 million baby boomers will fall between the ages of 50 and 68. But partly because many of them will work beyond the age of 55, the U.S. labor force will continue to grow during the next eight years, according to government projections. Other factors helping to soften the blow of baby boomer retirements include immigration and the prospect that U.S. companies will send more work offshore.

The real question surrounding the labor force in the next five to 10 years is where tightness in specific talent markets might emerge. Already some industries, occupations and geographies are showing signs of a squeeze.

The Conference Board of Canada recently reported that Canada is facing a workforce shortage once baby boomers recover financially from the recession.  The organization reported that the current economic downturn has only delayed the anticipated labor shortage, and urged companies to plan for it.

Among the loudest voices sounding a Gray2K labor shortage alarm is consultant and author Roger Herman, who preached the importance of keeping good employees during the economic downturn in 1990. In 2003, he co-authored a book titled Impending Crisis: Too Many Jobs, Too Few People.

The book’s cover jacket displays a chart purporting to show a shortage of 10 million workers by 2010. That figure comes from the difference between what the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projected as the civilian labor force in 2010 and the number of jobs it estimated for that year.

The BLS’ most recent projections show a smaller difference of 2.4 million between the two figures for 2014. In any event, the bureau explicitly warns that these figures are not strictly comparable. Norm Saunders, coordinator for research projects in the BLS’ projections program, says one problem in mixing the two data sets is that people can hold more than one job. But he’s not surprised the figures have been misrepresented.

“If it’s a good sound bite, some people will run with it,” he says.

Saunders says shortages in the U.S. labor market tend to be short-term and isolated, thanks to the laws of supply and demand: Wages rise in the area lacking enough workers, drawing new people into the field. He also says the overall labor force can increase beyond the BLS’ projections. A jump in wages could reverse a decline in the share of men in the workforce as well as accelerate the rate at which women are joining. Saunders also says immigration, which is assumed in U.S. Census Bureau population projections to be 900,000 documented immigrants arriving in the states each year, could be higher.

A larger percentage of older people have been working than in the past, with the trend likely to continue. Plus, Saunders adds, work at U.S. organizations in many cases can be sent to other countries. That’s been happening in growing numbers of service fields, including banking, software and travel services.

As a result, Saunders has a dim view of any looming wide-scale lack of talent.

“My sense is, it doesn’t exist,” he says. “There are lots of different ways for the supply to grow to meet the demand.”

Herman concedes that the bureau’s projections for the labor force and jobs are “apples and oranges.” Yet, he says, the numbers nonetheless point to trouble ahead in hiring.

“We don’t know if the shortage is 10 million or 14 million or 8 million,” Herman says. “The key is, we’re going to have a multi­million-person shortage of skilled workers.”

To ensure that you’re winning the war for talent by leveraging the high-end of the flexible workforce, visit www.msquared.com or call us at 888-818-2505.

Sources:  www.workforce.com, www.UPI.com

At the World Economic Forum’s meeting in Dalian, China, experts discussed the challenges and opportunities that aging populations present to business.

(excerpted from strategy + business)

The world is in the midst of an epochal demographic shift that will reshape societies, economies, and markets over the next century. The big news is that the world population, according to United Nations forecasts, will either stabilize or peak around 2050, after growing for centuries at an ever-accelerating rate. The main reason is the decline occurring in birthrates as nations advance economically, and it is already having a significant impact: As birthrates drop and better health care prolongs life spans, the world’s population is aging rapidly. For example, between 1950 and 2000, the percentage of the world population older than 60 rose almost imperceptibly to 10 percent from 8 percent. By 2050, however, that percentage will more than double, to 21 percent. And in many countries — notably Japan and those in western Europe — the share of population age 60-plus will be more than 40 percent by mid-century.

The demographic dynamics in the developing world are radically different. Birthrates are still high, and populations are both growing and becoming younger. Over the next few decades, many of these countries will experience what David Bloom, chair of the department of global health and population at Harvard’s School of Public Health, has called a “demographic dividend”: a rising proportion of young people entering the workforce, driving productivity and economic growth.

There are also anomalies among nations. In the developed world, the United States has many of the same demographic attributes as Japan and Europe, but high rates of immigration are offsetting the trend toward aging. In the developing world, the population of China is destined to begin aging rapidly as the result of the government’s past policies to limit population growth. Today, only 11 percent of the Chinese population is older than 60, but by 2040 the proportion will rise to 28 percent.

These demographic shifts will drive massive change in markets and economies, and will require entirely new approaches on the part of both policymakers and business leaders. But the shifts seem to get less attention than they deserve — largely because they take place over time spans much longer than the political and business cycles that drive most legislative and managerial agendas. To identify some of the most significant challenges that will need to be addressed as populations age, strategy+business teamed with the World Economic Forum to convene a roundtable of notable thought leaders with expertise in Asia.

What would you consider the most significant challenge that political and business leaders face related to aging populations?

Yoshito Hori, Dean of the Globis Management School: We’re seeing a very big generation gap opening up, between the older people who are enjoying government benefits and the younger generations that are bearing the financial burden. Japan is a rich country, as are many of the other countries where the population is aging, and people today seem to feel we can afford the policies we have; there is no apparent urgent need for policies to change. But people are not aware enough of what’s going to happen in 10 or 15 years’ time. Budgets and resources are limited, and at some point you have to make decisions: Is the priority of the country to care for the elderly or to look to younger generations for innovation? It will be an issue in the future, and there will be a need for much discussion.

As we turn to potential solutions to some of the problems posed by population aging, are there approaches from business that could be helpful?

Jean-Pierre Lehmann, Professor of international political economy at IMD in Lausanne, Switzerland: We have to explore all sorts of different options. One obvious solution that would be beneficial for both Japan and Europe as they try to deal with aging populations would be to open up the frontiers to migration and allow in younger workers from less-developed countries. Another idea is to encourage elderly people to live elsewhere — it’s something the Japanese tried in the past, but dropped. It was unpopular, but it’s something I’m advocating in Europe. It helps on the pension front. You say, “Look, the bad news is that we have to reduce your pension. The good news is we’re moving you to Libya, where the standard of living is much lower and your pension will go a much longer way.”

What about the skills gaps that we see opening in the developed countries where the aging population is currently rising? The demographic forecasts show that the same kinds of gaps will begin to appear in China a decade or two out. What are the challenges and the opportunities for corporations?

HORI: I think there are two main things. One challenge for corporations is losing a market, which is what you see if you look at Japan. There’s a shortage of children; when you look at primary schools, for example, you just don’t need the number that exist. This is a big burden for companies that are serving the younger-generation market. There has to be a big market shift in terms of the corporate sector.

The second challenge is the workforce, because it is going to shrink as well. How should we incorporate such a decline? There are several dimensions: One is the need to increase productivity through approaches like robotics and IT. The second is migrant and immigrant workers, as we discussed. The third is offshoring, shifting the business to either China or India. So I think this is going to be a major challenge as companies adjust to these shifts.

Your mention of offshoring raises the question of the degree to which companies are going to be able to do demographic arbitrage — locating their headquarters and production in relation to where they can find an employee base or markets for their goods and services.

Vanessa Wang, Mercer LLC: For 90 percent of the companies in these countries, there is a labor force issue. Companies that I consult with are offshoring many, many jobs to China and India because of skills issues and the advantage of the youth dividend there.

One of the main costs of running a business is represented by the cost of fixed salaries, because salaries don’t go backward — they keep going upward; the same is true of health-care premiums and pension costs. It costs companies a lot to hire older employees. So rather than fill their skills gaps locally or by hiring older workers, companies go offshore to solve their problems. And until there are good incentives for them to meet the skills shortages in their own countries, that will continue. In many ways, companies can’t stop what they do; at the end of the day their job is to keep producing more profit. Solving this problem would require innovation in financing pensions and health care so the companies aren’t bearing all the costs, as well as retraining and other issues. It will take a shifting — a redistribution — of social resources.

For information about how to intelligently use the high-end of the flexible workforce, visit www.msquared.com or call us at 888-818-2505.

Last week’s 2010 Staffing Industry Analysts Executive Forum in Las Vegas gathered more than 500 senior executives from the staffing industry for three days of learning and networking.  The conference, the 19^th annual, had a theme of “The Upside of the Downturn…Thriving in a Brave New Staffing World.”  Representatives from many “brand name” companies (Manpower, Allegis, Spherion, and others) were in attendance, in addition to hundreds of others from up-and-coming enterprises.

In reviewing the state of the staffing industry, new SIA president and chief analyst Barry Asin struck a cautiously optimistic tone in his opening keynote address:

·         U.S. staffing revenue was down 26% in 2009, but is expected to grow 5% in 2010

·         The Economic Cycle Research Institute (ECRI)’s leading index indicates growth

·         Unemployment claims were down in February

·         Bureau of Labor Statistics shows Temp employment heading higher

While his talk was optimistic, he tempered his remarks in light of the ongoing challenges many companies face, including continuing pressure on margins, market consolidation, and the vagaries of an unsettled economy.  Among the keys to achieving success, Asin says, are critically assessing the markets you compete in and refining your positioning (find a defensible niche).

Geoff Colvin, author and senior editor of Fortune Magazine give a fascinating address entitled, “The Upside of the Downturn: Ten Management Strategies to Prevail in the Recession and Thrive in the Aftermath.”  As the economy recovers, the business world we’re entering won’t be anything like the pre-recession world.  What is the new normal?  What are your most valuable assets?  Dramatic changes aren’t necessarily dangers – they’re typically opportunities for companies and leaders that respond fastest and smartest.

Among his recommendations on how to ensure that your business moves from recession to recovery:

·         Evaluate employees better.  In good times it’s easy for employees to look like stars, so evaluations tend to be less rigorous.  In tough times it’s much easier to distinguish the true stars from the third-stringers.

·         Set new priorities to confront new realities.  Example:  Government is taking a larger role in the life of every business.  The global economy is becoming less U.S.-centric.  What are the ramifications for your business?

·         Find new solutions to new problems; don’t just discount prices on current inventory.  Develop a creative culture that looks for needs customers didn’t know they had.

·         Re-examine your business model.  What is your essence?  The core?  What is the one thing you’d never cut?  Also, what is the profile of your customer base, and has it changed with the recession?  Take a look at your industry – has it changed fundamentally, or just been thrown off a bit?

·         Grow yourself.  Expand beyond your previous limits.  Be seen early and often.  Act fast.  And show fearlessness; employees want their leaders to demonstrate that they’re not afraid.  In business that means facing bad news head-on without cringing.

Separately, the SIA conference breakout sessions were also worthwhile, with each finishing with a list of actionable takeaways.  Overall, the 2010 Staffing Industry Analysts Executive Forum was a worthwhile event that provided a good snapshot of the development of the industry.

For more about how to intelligently use the high-end of the flexible workforce, visit www.msquared.com or call us at 888-818-2505.

Business is all about customers and selling. That’s why every manager and executive should be a salesperson once in his career. The skills and lessons are indispensible and difficult to learn any other way. 

Whether you manage engineers, marketing, operations, or customer service; you’re still a salesperson. You sell every day. You don’t just sell products and services; you sell your projects, budget, ideas, and capabilities. And your customers aren’t just the paying kind; they include everybody you interface with.

What Every Manager Should Learn From Sales 

A brilliant essay in the Wall Street Journal (www.wsj.com) this week entitled “How to Succeed in the Age of Going Solo” by Richard Greenwald wisely points out that while anybody can become a consultant, not everyone does it well.  He continues to prescribe what’s needed to thrive as a consultant in today’s business environment.

Some key findings from his research:

Think Long Term

Too many freelancers see their condition as only temporary—one that will go away as soon as economic conditions improve. It’s just a stage between jobs, they figure.

Some of them may be right. But the odds are that most are wrong. They’re going to be on their own for a long time. So freelancers need to think in terms of the long haul, preparing for a marathon, not a sprint.

Understand: This isn’t easy. Many of these people have known only 9-to-5 jobs, and it can be scary to think of freelancing as all there will be.  Scary, but necessary. Because if a freelancer views the condition as temporary, it’s almost a guarantee that however long it lasts, it won’t go well. Unless you think about it as a job itself—requiring time, investment, thought—you won’t get much of a return. Waiting for business to find you is not something successful consultants do. Clients know a halfhearted attempt when they see one.

Join a Network

The image many of us have of the lonely consultant toiling on his or her own is touching. And dated.

Most successful consultants are in a network or community of consultants. These networks are important sources of new clients; most consultants, in fact, say they get as many clients from these networks as they do from client referrals. What’s more, an increasing number of consultants share work, taking on bigger projects that require more hands. In this way, teams of consultants can function like a small boutique firm.

Have Your Own Space

We have long been told that one of the joys of working on your own is being able to putter around in your pajamas and bunny slippers. And such flexibility is, no doubt, an attraction of consulting.

But there’s a limit, and successful consultants say that having a work space separate from your living space is crucial. Clients do not want to have an important phone conference interrupted by a nagging two-year-old, a TV in the background or the sounds of street traffic. Most freelancers I spoke to have a space in their home that is solely for work—a bunker, as it were.

Others have started using shared spaces that provide a quiet space and a cubicle or desk to call your own. These spaces, called co-offices, often have other incentives. They give freelancers a place to go, which helps them keep schedules. They usually also provide a receptionist service, so someone always answers calls. And they provide a sense of workplace that is something many consultants complain about missing.

Think Like an Entrepreneur

Here’s probably the most important ingredient that distinguishes the most successful consultants: They think like entrepreneurs.

Too often, freelancers drift from project to project. That’s a mistake. They need to have a business plan or mission statement. If all they do is take everything that passes over the transom, they will be viewed as a nonspecialist in a world of specialists.

Consultants are known for the work that they do, and this often means the work they don’t do. With a mission statement and business plan, they can decide if a certain job is worth it. Sometimes the short-term gain in income becomes a long-term loss in reputation.

This doesn’t mean you should starve: Sometimes, any work is good. But too many consultants say yes to anything that comes along, so when the perfect project arises, they might be too busy to take it. What’s more, in this competitive world, prospective clients want to know what projects you’re working on. If they aren’t impressed, they may not hire you. So being able to say no to certain work, referring it to someone else, is a sure measure of a certain level of success.

To learn more about joining M Squared’s elite network of consultants, visit http://www.msquared.com/consultants/introduction.html

Cloud computing is changing the business IT landscape through its ability to provide scalable computing resources without the traditional technology overhead. Now, the same characteristics powering this charge—virtualization, integration, and value-added management—are poised to alter the face of business consulting.  A new cloud consulting white paper highlights the parallels between cloud computing and cloud consulting, as pioneered by M Squared Consulting, and explains how the new model is an effective alternative to the expensive, cumbersome, and outdated traditional consulting model.

In a groundbreaking article released this week, M Squared Consulting launched the innovative concept of cloud consulting™, which could transform how organizations meet their consulting needs.  “Similar to how cloud computing has forever changed the face of IT, cloud consulting will soon become the norm for skills-based delivery,” said Marion McGovern, the white paper’s author and founder & CEO of M Squared Consulting.

So what defines the “cloud” in this new model? The definitions may be as varied as the clouds they describe but the key elements remain very consistent. A cloud is built on virtual resources that are integrated, managed, and available on demand. In general, a cloud provides:

• On-demand access to a full range of resources
• No overhead infrastructure costs
• Use-driven pricing
• Reliability
• Scalability
• Flexibility
• Geographic Independence

In addition to these elements, the cloud has a unique ability to accommodate shifting business demands. By its very nature, the cloud is changeable, adapting to meet the needs of the business. By staying in step with business changes, the cloud provides greater agility and a competitive edge.

The Cloud—Remaking the Face of Consulting

Cloud consulting, as pioneered by M Squared Consulting, applies these core cloud concepts to professional services by integrating and managing virtual human capital to deliver an on-demand, cost-effective, reliable, and scalable resource system. By reflecting how human capital and intelligence resources are really employed, the consulting cloud is able to support business processes and resource demands at a cost that more closely reflects their true utilization.

It is important to note that how resources are linked and delivered defines the cloud more so than the resources themselves. For instance, in cloud computing, the resources are more commodity-like. But in cloud consulting, the resources are more specialized. In each case, it is the virtualization, integration, and management of the resources that makes the cloud a “cloud.”

Clouds on the Horizon

Today’s economic climate has forced companies to find ways to operate more cost-effectively. With fiscal pressures showing no signs of retreat, these cost concerns will continue to grow in all areas of business. And, because of its cost efficiency, so will the cloud concept.

By applying the cloud principles of virtualization, integration, and managed oversight, cloud consulting can help companies make their human capital and consulting budgets work harder and more productively.

To view or download the new Cloud Consulting whitepaper, please visit http://www.msquared.com/home/m2/Whitepapers/cloudconsulting.pdf

The cover story in the current issue of BusinessWeek entitled “The Permanent Temporary Workforce” is a fascinating read about the state of the American workforce.  The article describes the hardships faced by those affected by layoffs, and how many companies are turning to temporary help to protect profits in the economic downturn.

But in contrast to similar articles in recent years, the authors here point out that the current recession has fueled a “leadership on demand” phenomenon, meaning that many of the temporary workers are white-collar professionals, not “sneaker-footed admins”.  Many are seasoned professionals who relish the flexibility of a free-agent lifestyle.  “People with sought-after skills can earn more by jumping from assignment to assignment than they can by sticking with one company,” the authors write.

Déjà vu?

In her groundbreaking book, “A New Brand of Expertise: How Independent Consultants, Free Agents, and Interim Managers are Transforming the World of Work,” published in 2001, M Squared Consulting founder and CEO Marion McGovern tackled this very subject in some depth.

In particular, in the chapter about why many professionals choose “free agency”, Ms. McGovern’s writings are more relevant today than ever:

“Whether it is control over where they work, their hours, or their vacations, overwhelmingly it is a desire to make work fit into their lives and not vice versa.  One of our consultants of Dutch descent explained that she became an independent practitioner because she thought that American vacation structures were untenable; being used to at least six weeks of vacation annually, she couldn’t continue in the American mode of two weeks per year.  In today’s 24×7 world, time has a currency all its own.”

She continues….

“Some consultants want control over what they do, a sphere of influence that as a mere mortal in a large enterprise was beyond their reach.  At M Squared Consulting, we see this often with the alumni from large consulting firms.  Exposed to many types of industries and products, they may have been able to indentify the type of work they most enjoyed, but they may not have had the opportunity to do it again.  For these individuals, the type of work – the “what” – is most critical.

So in addition to being prescient, McGovern’s book illustrates that there are some long-term trends in place affecting American business, and the savvy consultant can take advantage of the opportunities that present themselves and thrive in today’s work environment.  And challenge, pay, and control are not the sole discretion of either the employer or employee.

With its collaborative approach, long-term relationships, and commitment to the success of both its clients and consultants, it’s no wonder that M Squared Consulting attracts top-tier professionals to its network.  To join the M Squared consultant community, please register on our website at http://www.msquared.com/consultants/join.html