The 2022 Top Consultants: Lia Keel

Lia is Managing Director at North Highland. She has more than 25 years of experience in large-scale transformation engagements for Fortune 100 organizations. She also has deep expertise in the areas of strategy, performance improvement, solution design and development, process analysis, and digital in a number of different verticals and environments. Her industry experience spans the retail and CPG, financial services and utilities sectors.

What has motivated you to excel over the course of your career?

Two things have kept me motivated and helped me to excel during my career.

First off – helping clients. I love nothing more than talking to different clients, understanding their business needs, and helping them find solutions. Sometimes that's helping them on a project, but other times it stretches beyond the engagement – it's providing support with networking and finding talent, or connecting them with a peer at another company to share similar problems. Sometimes it's even helping them with a personal need.

The second thing that has motivated me is the satisfaction I derive from coaching and mentoring a diverse group of consultants. In 'phase 2' of my career, I've turned from focusing on my personal achievement to helping others climb in their careers, which is arguably more motivating.

No two days are the same in consulting; I appreciate each experience and the ability to interact with such talented and diverse people, including clients and employees alike. That's what keeps me motivated. It's not just business, it's personal for me. I'm truly invested in the success of my clients and team, and I consider each interaction and client success a personal win.

Connecting the dots and solutions to problems also sparks my creativity. Some people enjoy painting, I enjoy building puzzles and seeing how the pictures come together in the end. When I look back at the completed project and the dent we made – that makes me proud.

What has been the biggest factor in your success so far?

There's a famous quote "alone we can do so little, together we can do so much." Early in my career, I realized that my personal growth and success really came down to teaching others and trusting my team to get the work done.

I truly value the power of mentorship and coaching. I believe that by upskilling others I'm helping both my team and myself grow. I've had many powerful moments mentoring people that just needed to be given a chance to shine.

One example that comes to mind was an early career consultant who I nurtured by bringing along to meetings and client interactions. Although I constantly stretched his talents, he responded with eagerness and became himself a mentor to others by teaching his team to be people builders, relationship makers and business developers.

So, as you can see, my success has been beyond what I've delivered on my own, and more so a reflection of how I enabled my team to leverage their talents to realize success. That's the power of the mentorship ripple. When you build up one person, they build up a team, and that team builds up their community, and the impact continues.

What do you enjoy most about your career in the consulting industry?

The answer to the question, what do I enjoy most about my career, again comes down to people. I have met so many talented and diverse individuals over the course of my consulting career. I'm continuously learning from my interactions with clients and the challenges they share.

Each challenge brings a new opportunity to adapt, learn and solve problems differently. To think on my feet and consider multiple possibilities for solutions. I remember one recent client project that showed the power of bringing different skills and experiences together to find a solution to a digital transformation initiative.

It wasn't merely the technology but consideration for the many areas that would enable a smoother transformation journey – including the people, culture, ways of working, etc. It was looking at the heart of change and finding that at its core, it's the hearts and minds of people that bring it to life.

What is your proudest achievement to date?

My proudest achievement is not a one-time win, but a lifetime of striking a balance on the things that matter most to me – my family unit, professional career and personal commitments. I've been able to celebrate critical moments in all three areas (going to my son's game, having dinner with clients, sponsoring an employee resource group, or taking time to recharge). That's why I feel so fulfilled today. I'm proud of my continuous commitment to setting expectations and attending to the different commitments in my personal and professional life.

What's the best advice you've ever been given?

This one is a two-parter. First, ask for help – you can't do everything yourself. Growing up as an extremely independent person I had to check myself when I was drawn to doing things solo. I quickly learned that asking for help is not a sign of weakness, but of strength. Ask for help from your personal network, co-workers, direct reports and even your boss, when you've hit a wall. Give people the opportunity to solve problems with you and perhaps they'll see something you didn't.

The second part builds on this: "to grow the company you have to grow others." You can't move a structure if you're the only one pushing it. It takes a village as they say. This means enabling others, trusting them and allowing people to try, fail, learn and rise up.

What does this recognition mean to you?

As I've taken on more senior leadership roles, I have gained a sense of responsibility for growing others around me. The more influence I've gained, the more I've used it to be an advocate for the more marginalized. To create a space for my colleagues and team to grow in parallel. This awesome recognition gives me the opportunity to build the path for employees or clients to step into my shoes and build their own paths.