Brad Kitchens, president and CEO of ScottMadden, says being the tortoise has been the key to success. "We have not enjoyed some of the 1999-2000 30 to 40 percent growth that some firms enjoyed, but nor have we struggled with the subsequent 30 to 40 percent contraction that many of those same organization faced when Y2K and some of the ERP activity slowed down. We've been the tortoise versus the hare, if you will." The firm, with nearly 100 consultants and offices in Raleigh, N.C., and Atlanta, now marks its 25th anniversary specializing in the energy sector. He recently spoke with Consulting
about some new ideas for getting ahead of those hares.
Consulting: How did your consultancy find its niche?
Kitchens: Our founder, Peter Scott, in 1983 was a former utility professional so when he founded ScottMadden, he decided to focus primarily on the energy sector. And that was exclusively what we did for our first 10 years. And then we began a process of diversification and realized many of the things that we were doing for the energy sector were transferrable outside of that industry and into other industries, and that's when began to build our shared services practice. The government focus really is a byproduct of some of our shared services work and the sustainability focus that we have today is really a byproduct of our deep understanding of the energy sector.
