Luiz Carvalho has dedicated his career to the success of Proudfoot Consulting. And the work has paid off: In April, he was named co-managing director of Management Consulting Group, of which Proudfoot is a part. In his new role, Carvalho now runs all operational consulting for MCG. He recently spoke with Consulting about his new role, and the future of the consulting firm he's grown with.
Consulting: Can you tell me a little about your background?
Carvalho: Proudfoot is my first and only employment. I've been here for twenty-six years.
Consulting: Why have you stayed with the firm so long?
Carvalho: I don't know. (Laughs.) I was lucky enough I guess in the beginning of my career to believe in the product. It was an immediate fit with the values and the principles of the company, and my own. And as I worked through the ranks and worked through different parts of the world, I got exposed to very different situations and people and cultures and it was always very enjoyable. I think the company has treated me well, and there was no reason for me to leave really.
Of these twenty-six years or so, I've spent at least sixteen or seventeen of those under the operating group of Proudfoot, working with clients, delivering projects. And then the last ten or so at management levels doing different things from different functions within the company. I've worked on everything, from financial services to heavy manufacturing to light manufacturing to auto dealers. I've worked in Brazil, Europe, the U.S., Jamaica and the Caribbean, Hong Kong.
Consulting: How have you seen operational consulting change over your career?
Carvalho: I think the market today is much different than it was twenty-some years ago when I joined. I believe clients are much more demanding in terms of what the expectation is from a results perspective. I think Proudfoot's sweet spot is actually our ability to help clients implement changes in their operations rapidly in order to improve the financial and operational results. And I think that in essence is what differentiates most of the operational consultancies from other consultancies.
[As for the consulting industry in general,] I think it's a highly diluted industry today. Everybody's called a consultant. The definition of a consultant today is a much broader term than I've ever seen really. When I started, it was a little more restricted. Proudfoot was never called a consulting company, because in essence, we don't provide advice, we don't consult really. Our strength is on the implementation of programs, more than anything else. From a market perspective, I believe clients are much more demanding than they ever were. Today, the businesses are run by much more professional, mature people than they were 20 years ago. The level of management has improved tremendously in the marketplace. I think with that, the level of expertise has obviously changed dramatically. So I think consultants today need to be much more accountable in delivering real benefits, rather than just advisory and suggestions and really consulting, if you would.
Consulting: How do you see Proudfoot evolving?
Carvalho: In 1946, when Alex Proudfoot launched the company, it was under the premise that we were going to be different from other consulting firms. We weren't going to just be an organization that generates suggestions and recommendations and write books and so forth. We actually were going to implement and deliver tangible results. So I think that the current market today plays absolutely to our strength.
Proudfoot has seen over the last number of years our ups and downs, obviously as any other business. I think today we are in a very, very good position, we're a reasonable global organization, we've got about 500 employees all over the world—we're growing in most parts of the world. The outlook in my view, is pretty attractive. And I think that we will continue to grow in the countries that we're in, [and] I foresee some regional expansion over the next three to five years as well. I see no reason why we can't double the business in the next five years.
Consulting: Even with the economy as it is?
Carvalho: Absolutely. Our offering is such that in different economic cycles, we can do different things. And obviously with the economy under pressure, with the current credit situation and financial services and so forth, we can actually position cost reduction as an offering. If the economy goes up and starts to grow again, then obviously there are opportunities for revenue enhancement. Over the last sixty-two years we've had a number of different economic cycles, and we have adjusted not necessarily the offering, but what we position to our clients at different stages of the economic cycle. The only downside for us is if it's not going up or down, it's just flat, then perhaps people will be a bit more cautious in terms of what they actually need to do for the next economic turn. But if the economy is shrinking or growing, then I think we're very well positioned to help our clients either way.
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