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| Corporate Development Associates, Inc. |
In The News |
The
following article appeared in the Chicago Tribune Silicon Prairie website
on September 26, 2000
Experienced consultants better than gimmicks any day
Education: Met.E., Colorado School of Mines; M.B.A., University of Chicago; Ph.D., LaSalle University; Certificate of Advanced Management, University of Chicago Previous job: Manager of corporate planning and head of a manufacturing and sales division for a Fortune 500 corporation How I got this job: I left my previous employer to establish my own company. A look at the path I've chosen: When I founded my company, I had an excellent start-up client lined up. They had a good product with great market potential. We were hired to handle marketing and sales. It could have been a profitable and enjoyable job, but they could not manufacture their product to their own specifications. As a result, products that had been sold and delivered were returned as unsatisfactory. Our new client went out of business. Our relationship had lasted about four months. I had a mortgage, car payments, a new consulting business, and no income. Talk about scary! A couple of weeks later, I was talking with a secretary who worked for a manufacturer of analytical instruments. She told me how she was collecting marketing information that was in big demand. I figured that if the information was that valuable, someone would pay for it. I was right. We contacted the leading manufacturers of laboratory instruments and computers. We told them we were going to be collecting marketing information at the leading trade shows, and invited them to participate. They were to send us money and questions they wanted to have answered. We would collect the information, analyze and summarize it, and send the results to them. It worked. Within weeks we had some of the major corporations in the world as our clients. This was less than six months after were staring at bankruptcy. We did this for about three years before we found another, more profitable business area. While performing market research on computers at a COMDEX conference in Las Vegas, we came across a start-up company that had developed low-cost software that allowed engineers to do their design work on a personal computer: Computer Aided Design and Drafting (CADD). I had spent time at a drafting table and recognized the tremendous potential of the product. That began our 10-year relationship with Autodesk. We designed and built custom computers for our clients to enhance operation of the program. We developed our own programs to extend the capabilities of AutoCAD. We installed computer networks and provided training and support services. We had about three hundred manufacturing, engineering and design firms as clients. Our clients ranged from Fortune 100 firms to designers working out of their basements. Then, low-priced personal computers put us out of the computer building business, and the CAD software market became saturated. It was time to change direction -- again. Working closely with so many companies, large and small, provided us with tremendous experience about what they did, both right and wrong. So, what did we do? We returned to management consulting. We used our extensive skills and experience to help companies solve problems. We are now well-qualified business consultants in profit improvement, organizational change, business analysis and planning, and design and manufacturing problems. We develop databases to provide mainframe program types of capabilities to small and medium companies. We still install and support computers and networks, and remain an AutoCAD developer. Main responsibilities: Sales, client services, consulting, teaching. What makes me good at my job: I have many years of experience in production operations, in technical, and in management positions. That experience provides me with an excellent background to help solve the organizational and operations problems of other companies. The most important skill for this job: Listening to people to determine what they want and need. Often people will tell you what they "want" but it isn't really what is needed. For example, a manager who wants "to improve profits" may really need improved communications and product quality. If these are addressed, the improved profits will follow. That is why I provide no "magic solutions" or simple, easy-to-understand gimmicks. I solve business problems by asking questions. I ask many questions of managers, employees, suppliers and customers to determine what the real problem is. Then we work together to determine the proper solution to the problem, and, together, we implement the solution. We continuously monitor the implementation to determine if it is working as planned. If it is not, we change the implementation until it does. Best thing about this job: It is really exciting. I get to meet lots of great people. I get the satisfaction of solving intractable problems. I have to keep up with changes and developments in numerous fields, but I can't so, I have to pick and choose to select the ones that will help pay the mortgage. I wish I had more time! Worst thing about this job: The long hours. If I am not meeting with people I am reading; I'm studying to keep up with new developments; I'm writing. This takes many hours every day and most weekends. My ideal next job: I don't have time to think about a "next job." I am enjoying this one too much. My dream day at work: A 9-to-5 workday with time for a round of golf on the weekends. Then I could sit down in the evenings and read all of the books I currently don't have time to enjoy, and get together with good friends more often. The industry trend that troubles me most: Generally, a consultant is called because a business is in dire straits. The problem has gone beyond management's ability to solve it. Management has neither the time nor the interest to solve the business problem. Instead, they look for the quick cure or the magic pill that will return their company to prosperity. Management consultants understand this. To obtain lucrative contracts many use easy-to-understand concepts such as the Boston Consulting Group's grid of "Star," "Cash Cow," "Dog" and "?" business classifications, or the "Learning Curve," or the recently discredited magic solution of "Business Reengineering." Business managers can understand these simple-appearing concepts, so the consulting firm is hired. Unfortunately, reliance on these simplistic, but useless, concepts has caused great financial and organizational pain for many corporations. The solutions are not as simple as many consultants would have you believe. Most management consulting firms are extremely capable and perform good work. However, other firms overextend their offerings and hire platoons of sharply dressed, utterly inexperienced, recently graduated MBAs using all of the latest buzzwords to fill in their skilled-personnel gap. These inexperienced MBAs must rely on the consulting firm's pre-defined book of rules and procedures to analyze and solve their client's problems. My company doesn't use simple-sounding gimmicks or rule books. Serious problems aren't solved by pre-defined procedures and rules. We dig in and determine what the real problem is. We find out what exactly caused the problem. We then work closely with management and employees to develop a real solution that will provide lasting results. We also have gone in before any problems occur to investigate and recommend changes to avert potential problems. Preventive maintenance isn't just an engineering term. It is required for successful organizations, too. Something that's big today but will be gone tomorrow: The thing that is still big, but is going away is the overabundance of .com companies that are started by techies with great ideas, but without the overall management experience to develop the great idea into a viable product. Valuable funding, time of skilled people, and much energy are squandered by entrepreneurs who fail to realize that other people have valuable input that can assure the viability of their venture. Advice to job seekers in this field: Pay attention to the world around you. Know what is happening. Take courses in things you don't know. Become more knowledgeable about the whole world, not just your little piece of it. You never know from where the next technology or the next useful (or seriously damaging) idea will come. And remember, regardless of changes in technology, everything is dependent on people. Be aware of them, get to know how they operate, and enjoy them.
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