Robert Rourke / L.E.K. Consulting
Excellence in Leadership
Robert Rourke is a Managing Director and Partner in L.E.K. Consulting's Chicago office where he leads the firm's Americas Building Products & Materials practice and is a member of L.E.K.'s Global Leadership Team. He advises clients in the industrials, building materials and products, and retail industry sectors.
Ask him to narrow down his career accomplishments to just two and he'll say the first is helping establish and grow L.E.K. Consulting's Building Products practice. "We have a super team of talented, motivated partners and staff who are truly deep in the space and collectively we have built a leadership position in the industry on issues related to strategy and M&A," Rourke says. "The second, of course, is the client impact. Nobody stays in a consulting career if they don't like working with clients and working on the problems. I have been truly blessed to have been able to work with such a diverse and strong set of executives in a very dynamic industry over the years; I consider many of them friends more than clients at this point."
More recently, he says there are three things that have occurred over the past 12 months of significance. The first is that he stepped down as the head of the Chicago office at the end of his six-year term. "The office has become one of the stronger offices in the L.E.K. Consulting Global Network by most measures," he says. "It has been an honor working with my fellow partners in Chicago to help drive this outcome."
The second achievement is that he was elected to L.E.K.'s Global Leadership Team, and it "will be a true pleasure collaborating with my international colleagues to help drive the global firm in the years ahead," he says.
The final accomplishment was that he took a two-month sabbatical in the summer of 2017 as part of an L.E.K. plan for senior partners, spending 100 percent of his time focused on his family.
Rourke has more than 25 years of consulting experience and has directed more than 500 consulting projects focused on growth strategy and mergers and acquisitions across a variety of industries. "Making an impact and being helpful is very rewarding. By the time a client calls you and asks for help, you know the issue matters to them. It is very nice to work on things that make a difference," he says. "I have always loved variety and have always loved problem-solving. This industry is the perfect nexus of those two topics."
Q&A: What's been the biggest factor to your success?
Rourke: "The day I walked into L.E.K. Consulting as a freshly minted MBA from Kellogg, I was struck by the quality, humility and integrity of the staff. Their intellect was inspiring. Everybody in the industry refers to the "horsepower" of their team. Well, I felt like I was being strapped into a dragster at L.E.K. It has been an awesome ride over the past 21 years. The key is always to surround yourself with people who inspire you. I also cannot forget my family. I have a supportive and caring wife and I couldn't do this job without her. My children are also a source of inspiration. When I see their passion for each of their individual interests and the happiness that stems from those pursuits, it inspires me to be the best I can be in my profession."
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