Climb In Consulting Nick Synnott

Welcome to the latest episode of Climb In Consulting!

This time around, we were delighted to welcome Chris Southwell, Partner at The Berkeley Partnership, the consultancy that helps organisations transform under the most complex, challenging, and high-stakes circumstances to achieve their ambitions.

This thought-provoking episode of Climb in Consulting focuses primarily on a topic that’s incredibly close to Chris’s heart – mental health and wellbeing.

In this one, Chris talks openly and honestly about his struggles with mental health, and how his difficult upbringing led to a hugely challenging period in his life, when he first became a father.

It was this that led him to seek professional help and focus on getting himself mentally well. Chris worked hard to overcome his challenges and return to health, although as he points out himself, we are all a work in progress.

After returning to work, Chris went on to make Partner (with a small detour along the way), and has since seen Berkeley go from strength-to-strength.

As well as talking candidly about his own mental health struggles, Chris and Nick cover a host of fascinating topics in this episode, including:

- Chris’s challenging start in life, and how he came to see his upbringing as a strength and motivating force

- The three things Chris swears by to protect his mental and physical health

- Why Chris recommends talking therapies for everyone

- Why it’s vital to normalise and remove the taboo around mental health

…and much more!

If you’re currently wrestling with your own mental health challenges, or maybe you just want to keep your mental health as good as it can be, you’re going to find this episode invaluable.

We hope you enjoy the show!

Reach out to Chris: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-southwell/

Learn more about The Berkeley Partnership: https://www.berkeleypartnership.com/


Books, magazines, and websites mentioned in the show:

Atomic Habits by James Clear

https://www.helloself.com/

https://www.createengage.co.uk/podcasts/michael-mahony-the-berkeley-partnership/

Our guest on the latest episode of Climb in Consulting has an incredibly inspiring – and cinematic - story to tell. Since 2022, Paul Pugh has been CEO at Mason Advisory, an award-winning digital and technology consultancy that solves complex business challenges through intelligent use of IT.

Skipping back a few years, Paul had been firmly on the partner track at KPMG when he found himself boarding a train he was never supposed to take. On board, a chance meeting led to an offer that would go on to change the course of his career.

It was thanks to this ‘sliding doors moment’, that he ended up taking a director role at Mason Advisory, which back in 2016 was still a fledgling firm.

In this episode, Nick and Paul have an in-depth chat about his career, how Mason Advisory has scaled, and of course *that* train encounter.

As well as all that, they also cover a whole host of fascinating topics, including:

- What led to Paul’s decision to jump off the partner track at KPMG and take a leap into the unknown

- The importance of finding a role that allows you to stay true to your values

- How the team at Mason Advisory scaled the business, despite the challenging times

- Why he’s a big believer in giving people opportunities to flourish – and why we tend to learn the most during times of crisis

Whether you’re just starting out in your consulting career, planning to start a new firm, or thinking of switching tracks in your career, this episode is a must listen.

We hope you enjoy the show!

Reach out to Paul: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-pugh-4823a713/

Learn more about Mason Advisory: https://www.masonadvisory.com

Books mentioned in the show:
Good To Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't, by Jim Collins

In this week’s episode, Nick chats with Matt Cheung, CEO at Clarasys, the international business consulting firm, focused on delivering the best possible experiences for their clients and their people.

Regular listeners may recognise Matt’s name, and that’s because Matt was the very first guest on Climb In Consulting.

Having previously talked about the origins of Clarasys and Matt’s journey to founding the business in that episode, Nick and Matt wanted to do something a little different with this one, and use it as a chance to go into detail on many of the principles behind Claraysis’s success.

In this Conversation Nick and Matt talk about a range of topics that challenge the common orthodoxy in consulting, as Matt shares his perspective on why these widely held beliefs are actually holding people and consultancies back.

They cover some fascinating areas, including:

- Why Matt believes the traditional hierarchical approach to running organisations has had its day

- The importance of being open and honest with your people, even in difficult times

- Why Matt thinks many Consultants are unhappy – and the ingredients we all need to find happiness at work

- How and why Matt took the decision to turn Clarasys into an Employee Ownership Trust

…and much more besides, including a chat about Matt’s fascinating book ‘Trust and Patience’ – the story of how he built Clarasys.

So if you’re just starting out on your consulting journey, thinking of making the leap from firm to founder, or simply enjoy listening to values-driven success stories, you’ll love this episode of Climb in Consulting.

We hope you enjoy the show!

Reach out to Matt: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattcheungclarasys/

Learn more about Clarasys: https://www.clarasys.com/

Books, magazines, and websites mentioned in the show:

Trust and Patience, by Matt Cheung and Samantha Roberts

Reinventing Organizations: A Guide to Creating Organizations Inspired by the Next Stage of Human Consciousness, by Frédéric Laloux

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, by Daniel Pink

Corporate Rebels: Make work more fun by Joost Minnaar, Pim de Morree

The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth, by Amy C. Edmondson

In this week’s episode, Nick chats with Anush Newman, Managing Director at JMAN Group, the global data consultancy specialising in the private equity market.

Anush’s story makes for a fascinating listen. He cut his consulting teeth in the oil and gas industry, working in roles that took him all over the world, to locales as exotic as Kazakhstan, Sellafield and Northern Scotland! After tiring of all the travel, Anush embarked on a successful contracting career which eventually led (by way of a broken spreadsheet!) to the creation of JMAN, the global data consultancy Anush founded with his cousin Leo.

Fast forward to today, and JMAN now a team of over 200 consultants working across London and Chenai with plans for further global expansion. Earlier this year, they were recognised as one of the Times ‘Top 100 Fastest Growing Companies’ with an annual growth rate of over 80%.

But Anush and JMAN’s journey hasn’t been without its hiccups, and in this episode Anush shares openly the challenges they faced and how they managed to turn them around to go from almost going under to becoming one of the UK’s fastest growing firms.

If that wasn’t enough, there’s a whole host of other fascinating topics that Nick and Anush discuss in this one, including…

- Anush’s decision to move from the stress-free world of contracting to running his own firm
- How breaking a client’s Excel spreadsheet led to the lightbulb moment behind JMAN
- The single-minded approach that led to JMAN breaking into the private equity market
- Creating a ‘one-team’ culture in an organisation that spans the globe

If you want to learn the secrets of someone who’s gone from contractor to successful consulting leader, then this episode is a must listen.

We hope you enjoy the show!
Reach out to Anush: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anush-newman-b314476/
Learn more about JMAN: https://jmangroup.com/

Books, magazines, and websites mentioned in the show:
Legacy: What The All Blacks Can Teach Us About The Business Of Life, by James Kerr
The Captain Class: The Hidden Force Behind the World’s Greatest Teams, by Sam Walker
The Pyramid Principle: Logic in Writing and Thinking, by Barbara Minto

In this week’s episode, Nick chats with Simon Clark, a consulting industry veteran who’s done everything from founding and exiting his own successful consultancy CVL, to launching his own tech platform, to advising a whole host of boutique consultancies and marcoms businesses on their growth journeys.

Simon’s story is a great example of how diverse consulting careers can be. He hit the ground running, having started his own digital and e-commerce consultancy back when the internet was in its infancy – and when Simon wasn’t much older!

At the tender age of 25, with his first major client already secured, he launched CVL, a firm that he went on to sell after 14 successful years.
After an extended travel adventure that involved living alongside locals in Lima and even doing an internship in a media startup, Simon returned to UK shores and founded Metis, a new tech start-up in the professional services automation space.

Having built a great platform and learnt a ton about the boutique end of the consulting space, Simon and his co-founder called time on Metis, and Simon went on to the next stage of his career advising boutiques big and small as they navigated the challenges of growing a consulting firm.

Nick caught up with Simon, who is currently enjoying a well-earned career break, to find out more about his career so far, and what he’s learned from his varied experiences.

Nick and Simon discuss some fascinating topics in this episode, including:

- Why sales training is the best possible grounding for anyone who aspires to run their own consultancy.

- The associate focused strategy that led to CVL becoming a huge industry success – and why Simon stuck with that model for the life of the business.

- How to diversify and explore new avenues to boost your bottom line without alienating your core client base

- Why Simon recommends taking time out to travel early in life, to gain experiences that will benefit you throughout your career

All this, plus fishing, football and rugby metaphors aplenty!
Whether you’re just starting out in your consulting career, planning to start a new firm, or simply enjoy listening to brilliant interviews, you’ll love this episode of Climb in Consulting.
We hope you enjoy the show!

Reach out to Simon: https://www.linkedin.com/in/clark/

Books, magazines, and websites mentioned in the show:

Die With Zero: Getting All You Can from Your Money and Your Life by Bill Perkins

Who Moved My Cheese: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life by Spencer Johnson

Traction - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Traction-Get-Grip-Your-Business/dp/1936661837/ref=asc_df_1936661837/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=310623486223&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8979635967067327876&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006502&hvtargid=pla-404289645110&psc=1&th=1&psc=1

Get a Grip - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Get-Grip-Everything-Entrepreneurial-Business/dp/1939529824/ref=pd_bxgy_img_sccl_2/260-6024775-4577939?pd_rd_w=x76lz&content-id=amzn1.sym.40f919ed-e530-4b1a-8d7e-39de6587208d&pf_rd_p=40f919ed-e530-4b1a-8d7e-39de6587208d&pf_rd_r=CQVFHXGH785W5J0S0RNT&pd_rd_wg=sSkks&pd_rd_r=fcb004fe-8126-432d-9c47-785bb011c6bf&pd_rd_i=1939529824&psc=1

In this week’s episode, Nick chats with Tony Clark, Founder of NextWave.

Regular listeners to this podcast will know that we centre the discussion on the various routes our guests’ careers have taken, in order to highlight the endless possibilities offered by a career in consulting.

Tony’s journey is a fascinating one. After spending nine years at Accenture, he was on course to make Associate Partner, but instead changed track and helped to scale two successful boutique consultancies, MA Partners and Crossbridge Consulting – both of which grew and eventually went on to be acquired by larger groups.

During his time leading those firms, Tony honed his consulting and business growth skills, delivering complex technology solutions for clients in financial services, and this led to an idea for his own venture.

NextWave launched in 2020, just before the Covid-19 pandemic hit, but despite the difficult start, the firm has already grown into a £6m+, 60-strong digital acceleration consultancy. Recently recognised as the UK’s fastest growing consultancy and 13th fastest growing business in the UK as a whole, with an annual compound growth rate of almost 200%.

Nick and Tony dive into some fascinating topics in this episode, including…

- Tony’s decision to start the firm and the signs that he saw in the industry that helped him set the course for NextWave

- How Covid-19 almost derailed NextWave before it even got started – and how the firm not only bounced back but went on to achieve phenomenal growth in just three short years

- Why not being ‘billable’ ended up being one of Tony’s best business decisions in founding Nextwave

- How living the company values has resulted in a culture that people want to be a part of

…and much more.

In fact, there’s so much in this episode, it’s almost impossible to summarise! Suffice to say, if you’re thinking of making the leap from Big 4 to boutique, planning to start up your own firm, or simply enjoy listening to epic success stories, you’ll love this episode of Climb in Consulting.

We hope you enjoy the show!

Reach out to Tony: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-clark-07160b/

Learn more about NextWave: https://www.nxwave.com/

Books, magazines, and websites mentioned in the show:

To Sell is Human: The Surprising Truth About Persuading, Convincing, and Influencing Others by Daniel H. Pink

24 Assets: Create a digital, scalable, valuable and fun business that will thrive in a fast changing world by Daniel Priestley

NextWave Perspectives: The Sunday Times Best Places to Work Award 2023