Back when there was one unified Booz Allen Hamilton, the consultants who worked on the commercial side of the business always had a suspicion that the morale and culture on their side was different than the government side. Now they have proof.
Booz Allen Hamilton, of course, split its government and commercial businesses into two separate firms earlier this year, thus creating Booz & Company, the $1 billion global consultancy focused on the commercial side of the business.
"I think the split was very important to our culture. From a Booz & Company perspective, the split brought with it a lot of energy about who we are, what it is that we stand for and what our business is going to be like, and I think that created a tremendous lift for us," says Cesare Mainardi, managing director of North American business for Booz & Company.
"What your Best Firms survey never measured before was culture on the commercial side of Booz Allen Hamilton versus the government side. So, what this says to me is that we've always had a positive culture within the commercial business, but it sort of got lost when we were still one firm."
Well, consider it found. The brand new Booz & Company is ranked No. 5 on our Best Firms to Work For list. (Booz Allen Hamilton was ranked No. 6 on last year's Best Firms survey.) "It's the best of the both worlds—we have a tremendous brand, we're a billion-dollar business, we're growing rapidly in all markets, and we have no debt," Mainardi says. "It's sort of like we were all just given this phenomenal job offer to work at a new firm."
In many ways, they were. Mainardi says the split has also given Booz & Company the chance to re-invent itself to become an even better firm—and, for its consultants, an even better place to work.
For instance, he says the former BAH had an expert career track that had to apply to both the government and the commercial side, a difficult task considering the two business were very different in terms of a consultant's career development, compensation, bonus structures, etc.
"The separation allows us to adjust these career tracks for commercial markets," he says. "We all knew what was sub-optimized but we gladly accepted it because we were part of this bigger portfolio, but now we can immediately make adjustments to benefit our consultants."
While those internal changes are great, he says, what's really driving the excitement at Booz & Company is that the business is growing and taking market share. Over the last three years, the commercial business has a compounded annual growth rate of at least 17 percent a year, and it shows no signs of slowing even in a difficult economy, Mainardi says.
"Our staff sees that and that's hugely energizing," Mainardi says. "Everyone sees the market impact of what we're doing, and the fact that we've made this move to drive results for clients causes everyone in the firm to take notice. It's an incredibly exciting time to be a consultant at Booz & Company."
—Joseph Kornik
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