1. Clearsulting
Headquarters: Cleveland Billable Consultants: 75 Client Industries Served: Healthcare, Consumer Packaged Goods & Retail, Technology, Financial Services, Manufacturing, Energy, Transportation Consulting Service Lines: IT, Financial Consulting, Operations
After making a stellar debut on the Best Small Firms to Work For list last year as the No. 2 ranked firm, Cleveland-based Clearsulting did the only thing it could do for an encore—moved up to the No. 1 ranking on the list!
"Given how competitive the consulting industry is globally, being named to the Best Small Firms to Work For list is an absolute honor," says John Tilow, a Partner with Clearsulting. "Being named to this list two years in a row re-enforces the success of our strategies for our employees, current and future clients, and recruiting candidates."
Tilow says Clearsulting's team members can be proud to work for a company that is differentiating itself from its industry peers. "Our clients and future clients can be assured that we are building our brand and are positioned for continued growth," he says. "Lastly, from a recruiting perspective, being named to this list will allow us to continue adding top performing talent to our growing team." It's not surprising than that Tilow says morale is high across all levels of the firm. "We have a strong culture across our offices; our team is invested in both personal and company growth," he says. "With that said, our day-to-day reality is not all rainbows and butterflies."
Consulting is hard, he says, and the demands of startup consulting shouldn't be underestimated. Days can be long and stressful, encountering obstacles is normal, and sacrifices are made by all team members to allow the firm to reach its goals. "We persevere by living our core values of grit, growth, balance, accountability, and teamwork," he says.
Tilow says Clearsulting doesn't focus on fancy offices, job titles, or internal politics but rather on "grit"—the key differentiator for success in a startup consulting environment. Despite the reasons why the firm shouldn't be successful, it's been able to beat those odds, disrupt the market and compete and win against the some of the most prestigious firms in the world.
"We are building something special, enabling our team to get rewarding professional experiences nearly impossible to get elsewhere," Tilow says. "We've had to earn every inch of market share from our competitors. Grit is in Clearsulting's DNA; this team embraces the 'run into the storm' attitude. Grit is what makes us unique."
In January, Clearsulting organized the company by business units, primarily serving the Office of the CFO, he says. As the firm continues to refine how it goes-to-market, Tilow believes there is tremendous opportunity to drive cross-BU collaboration. "Our clients benefit as they will get access to our team members across disciplines, giving them the ability to tackle some of their most challenging/complex issues, something our well-established competition struggles to do well given scale, conflicting interests, competing priorities."
On the survey, the firm excelled in the areas of Client Engagement; and Culture. Why do you think that is?
Tilow: When we launched, the odds were stacked against Clearsulting being successful. To continue growing, it's critical for us to develop strong, lasting relationships with our clients. Every day, we help our clients implement practical solutions to their most complex business problems, from strategy through execution. Our cutting-edge culture and streamlined business model allow us to deliver world-class talent at an unbeatable value. Our clients like working with us because we are different.
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