For the second time in three years, Stroud Consulting, a 70-person operations firm headquartered in Bermuda but with offices in Marblehead, Mass., and England, has claimed the top spot in Consulting magazine's annual Best Firms to Work For ranking.
Nathaniel Greene, managing partner for Stroud Consulting and leader of the firm's global consulting practice, says one of the keys to Stroud's success is in keeping its people happy. "Happy professionals deliver better results and are more fun to be around. Life is about people, so make sure you work with a great group of people who are doing something that makes them happy," Greene says. "Our clients always point out both the capability of our team and how much they enjoy working with them. Stroud is a firm of abundant thinkers. Opportunity is everywhere and we can make the difference in realizing that opportunity," he says.
As with previous years, Stroud's results were impressive in all six areas the survey measures. The firm finished in the top two in each of the six categories, including compensation & benefits and career development.
"There is a great talent density at Stroud and a culture that drives openness to giving and receiving advice," he says. "When you combine this with the resources that we commit to personal improvement you get great career development."
Indeed, the people and career development opportunity is one of the facets of the firm its consultants raved about in the comments section of the survey. The other area employees overwhelmingly praise is the type, scope and breadth of client work they do for the firm. Stroud scored an eye-popping 4.91 out of a possible 5.0 on the questions focused on The Job area of the survey.
"The work we do is interesting and challenging. We work as part of the client team and help deliver results that are typically thought to be impossible," Greene says. "This is hugely satisfying and builds strong trusting relationships. Each consultant has ownership for a meaningful and holistic result—seeing the direct positive impact that flows from your work is fantastic."
This, in turn, helps keep morale at ultra-high levels across the firm, he says. "Every year since we started, we have made steep change improvements in our offering and this year has seen yet another leap forward."
And when it comes to summarizing his tenets of running a successful firm, Greene points to doing the basics really well. "Get your hiring right, force rank your people and use that to highlight opportunities to strengthen the team," he says. "Don't hide from what needs to be done—take action. Help people move on to new opportunities where appropriate, and have the tough conversations to help people break through the development challenges they face."
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