The 2020 Fastest Growing Firms: Summit Leadership Partners

Consulting: What were the main factors that contributed to your firm's exceptional growth?

Hawkins: At Summit's core, we operate as advisors and partners and not solely as service providers. Our founder and senior consultants have worked as operating executives at successful companies. That makes us very focused on business outcomes, not just the trade we practice. When Summit was founded, our team already had a deep Rolodex of contacts for new business growth and since then, we have expanded our client base exponentially based on referrals and with existing clients. We are very business and client centric. We are fit for purpose and not a cookie cutter consulting firm. Those differentiators have made us stand out and have contributed to our exceptional growth.

Consulting: How is this year shaping up for your firm?

Hawkins: As soon as COVID-19 hit, we immediately had consultants allocated to shifting our products and services to full digital capabilities. In the past, a lot of our work was done in-person, so our digital work this year has grown significantly. Our business has bounced back to pre-COVID levels despite being 100% virtual. I am happy to report that we did not have any layoffs or mandatory pay reductions. In fact, we have been hiring and increased our workforce over the summer.  This year, we have launched new services such as due diligence assessment, board effectiveness, CEO acceleration and have migrated our services completely to remote delivery. One of our biggest announcements thus far is the launch of a new CEO acceleration program for one of the largest technology private equity firms in the country that owns more than 400 technology firms. 2020 has had its challenges, but this year is shaping up nicely.

Consulting: How would you describe your firm's outlook for 2021? Where do you see the most opportunities?

Hawkins: We are very excited for 2021. Summit's business model is very diversified and we do not service any specific industry or segment as a majority of our business. For instance, 60 percent of our clientele is private equity and the other 40 percent of our business is with publicly traded companies. We do a great deal of work with technology, healthcare, industry, business services and consumer products. It is spread very nicely across all industries, so while one industry may be up in the market, another may be down. That allows us to avoid a significant drop in business. When the economic downturn started this year, we slowed down some of our expenses we felt were variable and doubled up resources on our new products.

Consulting: What would you say are your firm's biggest challenges in 2021?

Hawkins: Working remotely 100% of the time has been challenging for everyone.  It looks as if there is no end in sight and I do not anticipate business travel or working in offices to be back for a long time. I often worry about our team's well being and ability to recharge when working in front of computer all day. We really enjoy meeting with our clients and spending time with each other as a team! We have a 'work hard, play hard' culture at Summit and this is difficult to maintain when we are all remote. We have spent time developing and investing in our culture with yoga classes, wine tastings, happy hours and team learning events.  It does not compare, however, to being together in person.

Consulting: What does being named a Fastest Growing Firm mean to your firm, employees and clients?

Hawkins: Many of our consultants at Summit were previously Fortune 500 executives and we all left with a common passion to work for a firm that helps fast growing and mid-cap and mid-market companies grow and help them build leadership and organization capabilities. We saw a great need in the market and we wanted to form a very different consulting firm – one that was grounded in collaboration, fun and exceptionally talented, smart people. And we have accomplished that. Recognition as one of the fastest growing firms would validate that we are on to something and serving a middle market that needs help. It would confirm our team's hard work and show further proof that we have a special formula that not only works for our employees, but for our clients as well.

Editor's note: Summit Leadership Partners CEO Dan Hawkins provided some additional clarification on a few responses in this article that had become factually incorrect between the time the firm submitted their responses and publication.