By Dr. Kathleen Miller

When I started Miller Consultants in 1980, I did not envision the company surviving for thirty years.  I defined success one engagement at a time and felt lucky to continue day to day.  As a young, single, unencumbered adult, I had very little to lose if the business didn’t make it for the long haul.  My initial investment consisted of a personal computer which I purchased with a credit card.  Since I am an extrovert, I found it easy to market services through personal networking and public speaking.  In the beginning,  the services which I provided at no cost almost equaled   those for which I charged a fee.  Gradually the business grew.    Even so, in those early years, my vision was to achieve a strong reputation locally.  I didn’t think about building a company that could provide services nationally let alone internationally.

Now we are well into our 30^th year.  While we remain ‘small’ by choice, we have worked with large, global clients.  Our consultants are located across the U.S. and Canada.  We have had the opportunity of working with some of the most successful companies in the world on long-term, substantive projects.  We have formed profitable strategic partnerships and have developed lasting friendships.  We have achieved more than I ever envisioned 30 years ago.

Over the last few months I have reflected on what has made this journey worthwhile for me personally, and what I have learned along the way.

My Reflections

1. We have been guided continuously by our mission of turning knowledge into value.  When I taught college, knowledge for knowledge sake was enough for me.  However, nothing matches the satisfaction that I feel when our clients realize success through the knowledge that we share with each other.

2. We have maintained our long-term commitments.  We have stated that we will only provide services that we believe will create value for the customers.  We mean it and we live by it.  Likewise, we have pledged to always tell the truth as we see it.  Sometimes that ‘truth’ has been painful for us to share and difficult for the clients to hear.   Nevertheless, we have stood by that commitment.

3. My greatest fulfillment has come from my long-term connections with colleagues and clients.  Recently, we have reconnected with all of our clients - or as many as we could find.  The stories that we have heard and the relationships that we have reestablished are inspiring.

4. My professional energy comes from working with our talented internal team.  What a great group of people!  Their intelligence, creativity and eagerness to do their best work every day make my job not only easy but deeply gratifying.

What I have Learned?

Many things including……

1. Avoid getting trapped by our own answers.

Only those who are internal to the client organizations really know what they should attempt and can accomplish.   When we assume that we are the experts and, therefore, we have all of the answers, we do less listening and more selling.   Also, when we position ourselves as the experts, “ownership” of fixing the problems subtly and often implicitly shifts from the clients to us.   In reality, we consultants can never fix the problems.    We can bring our knowledge to the table and advise.  Ownership of the issues and the fixes must reside clearly with the clients.   In the words of one of my favorite clients, “We have to want the changes as much as you do.”

2. Keep our egos out of the room.

In their book entitled Leadership Presence, Kathy Lubar and Belle Linda Halpern advise the following:

• Be present not pretentious.

• Reach out, don’t look down.

• Be expressive not impressive.

• Show self-knowledge not self-absorption

The concept is very simple.  The embodiment of it is tough - especially in these tough times!  Over the years we have coached many of our clients’ leaders  to engage in real dialogue with their employees, to  be more humble, to look for ways to solve problems so that everybody wins.  We succeed in our roles as consultants when we do the same.

3. Strength comes from the collective.

The work that I do on my own is never as good as the work I do with others.  The power of collective intelligence has been demonstrated to me over and over.  When I collaborate with a team, whether it is the Miller team or a client team, the results of our joint efforts are always higher quality and certainly more satisfying. 

So how do I sum up the first 30 years of work?  It has been more fulfilling than I could have ever envisioned all those years ago.  Our greatest successes have come when we have followed the advice that we give our clients.   We may not always see the impact of our work immediately.  After all, we are in the business of enabling change.  The outcomes of our efforts will almost always be long term.  Therefore, we will continue to succeed by staying true to our commitments and by maintaining our energy and passion for our work. And for me that passion comes from maintaining strong personal connections to my team and to clients past and present.