When Earle Steinberg started leading Thomas Group as CEO in March, he had some significant challenges ahead of him. Within a month, the firm would announce a one-third reduction in its approximately 155-person staff. Government business was down 31 percent in the first quarter, and revenue decreased 17 percent over that same period. But Steinberg is confident change can happen from the inside. With 32 years of management consulting experience behind him, Steinberg had consistently been looked to for answers from clients. But the question remains: Does he have the answers now? Consulting spoke with Steinberg about the new environment at the firm. Consulting: You've worked at a number of consultancies in the past, including Booz Allen Hamilton. Do you see many parallels between those firms and Thomas Group?
Steinberg: Oh, absolutely. I think management consulting is a challenging profession; each of the firms has their own culture that they bring to the tasks that we face and the issues that we have to deal with. Thomas Group is just like all the firms that I've been in; it has its own unique culture, and we bring our own approach to excellent client service delivery in consulting just like all the firms do.
Consulting: Your firm, like many other firms, has had some economic challenges in early 2008. Do you foresee any more layoffs before the end of the year?
Steinberg: No.
Consulting: How do you see the rest of '08 shaping up?
Steinberg: I think for Thomas Group the rest of '08 will be a period of building a strong pipeline and one of expansion from where we are right now. Over the last couple of years, we've been highly concentrated in government consulting doing outstanding work with the U.S. Army and the U.S. Navy. In 2008, we're paying specific attention to growing what we used to call the commercial side of our business so that by the end of 2008 we're better balanced between government and commercial.
Consulting: How is the firm organized?
Steinberg: We operate with six different practices; they are industry practices. They are Army/Navy, Air Force, aerospace, transportation, healthcare and industrial. And shortly we will be developing an operations practice, which will cut across all of those industry groups.
Consulting: How would you describe the culture at the firm right now?
Steinberg: The culture at Thomas Group is one of excitement, high energy and pride in our accomplishments. We're entering our thirtieth year. We have a culture that we want to be and is very transparent, very collegial, very cooperative and totally committed to our clients' success.
Consulting: What key traits are you looking for in prospective hires?
Steinberg: That's actually an easy one. For our prospective hires, we look first at intelligence, work ethic and craft skills or potential craft skills. Consulting is not a science, and it's not a pure art either. I view it as a craft, which is sort of a mixture between science and art. So for us for prospective new employees of ours, we want to see the raw intelligence and capabilities to be able to deal with complex problems that we have to face with our clients and we want to see just an outstanding work ethic, which will reflect a total commitment to our customers' success.
Consulting: Are you taking steps internally to build a culture that would attract that kind of employee?
Steinberg: Oh absolutely. We've taken huge steps to open up our culture, to become much more transparent, to build a collegial environment, to build the kind of culture where everybody's mostly concerned first with not letting their colleagues down as opposed to being concerned with what your colleagues are going to with you or around you or to you. We've worked really hard at that. Our organization is a circle and it's everyone's job to get inside.
Consulting: What draws employees to the firm?
Steinberg: Well, I think Thomas Group is an exciting environment. We're a relatively small firm when you compare us with the Big 4 [or other larger firms]. What draws people to Thomas Group is the excitement of being in a small, aggressive and competent but highly skilled, well-focused and high-performing organization.
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