2021 Clearsulting All Hands Recap

We held our company-wide all-hands event last week. I’ve never felt more inspired by our team at Clearsulting. I’ve highlighted my key takeaways from the sessions below.

Our values create our value:

One of the reasons I started Clearsulting was that I saw a huge flaw in the way the consulting industry operates. Too much focus and pressure from the top is placed on revenue metrics, utilization KPIs, and profitability. This approach causes stress and turnover of top performing team members, ultimately leading to inconsistent delivery quality to clients. I call this working in a “transactional” atmosphere.

Our strategy is much different. We aggressively invest in creating the best ecosystem the industry has ever seen. This attracts and retains the best talent in the market who are eager to grow and put their handprint on something special. As a result, we consistently exceed expectations across projects and our clients are eager to continue to work with us on future efforts. The revenue, utilization, profitability, and other KPIs are a by-product (not focus) of the investment in our ecosystem. We operate in a meaningful atmosphere.

I define our ecosystem as the combination of our core values (Accountability, Grit, Growth Mindset, Joy, Teamwork). Multiple team members spoke during the event about what our core values meant to them, which was my favorite part of last week.

Our ecosystem takes pride in caring about the holistic human being vs. just the team member. Our Head of Innovation, Tim Nicholls, kicked off the meeting last week by walking through how working with amazing team members at Clearsulting and enjoying his job fuels even more joy at home in his family life.

Our ecosystem creates safe spaces for team members to take risks. Learning via failures is applauded -- our innovation depends on it.

Our ecosystem works together to row the boat in the same direction (no ego, no internal politics). We cheer when our teammates succeed vs. competing against one another.

Our ecosystem encourages extreme ownership. When things go right, we look out the window to give our teammates credit. When things go wrong, we look in the mirror and take ownership vs. placing blame on others.

Our culture will continue to scale with future growth

One of the most common question I receive from both team members and within my network is “how do you scale your special culture as you continue to add team members?” We have the luxury of starting about 6 years ago. Since day 1, culture has been our #1 priority. Our culture has gained strength every year since 2015.

In 2015, we had 3 team members.

In 2016, we grew significantly. Our ecosystem drastically improved from 2015.

In 2017, we grew significantly. Our ecosystem drastically improved from 2016.

In 2018, we grew significantly. Our ecosystem drastically improved from 2017.

In 2019, we grew significantly. Our ecosystem drastically improved from 2018.

In 2020, we grew significantly. Our ecosystem drastically improved from 2019.

In 2021, we grew to ~150 team members. Our ecosystem is stronger than ever.

We’ve established the Dream Team across every service offering

In 1992, the best professional basketball players in the World joined forces to form the Olympics Dream Team. They dominated the Olympics, won the gold medal and were arguably the best team ever created.

The talent we’ve been able to add to our team over the past few years is second to none. We’ve created the dream team of consulting within the areas we operate. If we don’t believe we can be 10x better than the next best firm, we won’t invest in the respective service offering.

We will continue to actively invest in our team. We surveyed our team earlier in the year to understand where we can get better. Based on the feedback received, we made exciting announcements during our meeting around “For You Friday” afternoons, 401k match, increased benefits (especially for families), paid meditation app, and many others. All these items were a direct result of the survey, and I’m proud that we actioned on them without hesitation.

The best part about our team is that they are not only the best consultants in the world, but also are genuinely great human beings. I met many team members for the first-time last week and I can’t wait to grow and develop meaningful relationships with them in the coming years.

The best is yet to come

While we’ve come a long way, it’s still very early in our journey. Our best years are ahead of us, and we have more momentum than ever. Our ecosystem has never been stronger, our team has never been more motivated, and our clients have never been happier.

As CEO, my back is against the wall daily to continue to invest in our ecosystem and make it the best this industry has ever seen. I’m 100% accountable to make sure our team members operate in an atmosphere where they can grow, develop, and maximize their potential more than any other firm in the world.

There is no one else I’d rather continue this exciting journey with than the Clearsulting team. I consider myself lucky to have a seat in the locker room around such talented people.