From Intern to Consultant: My Kenway Journey

The first time I heard of Kenway Consulting was late in the summer leading into my junior year of college. Like most other students I knew at the time, I was not only gearing up for the advent of a new school year, but also preparing myself for the chaos of internship recruiting season by which I soon expected to be fully consumed. I anxiously filled out applications, spent untold hours practicing case interviews, and clumsily navigated my way through endless networking sessions.

Guiding Principles: The Heart of Kenway’s Culture

Throughout this process, I eventually connected with a Kenway employee who was fortunately willing to offer some insight on the firm and his experience as a Consultant. The conversation proceeded in a fairly typical fashion, with discussions of company history, project work, etc. However, what became instantaneously clear to me was how strong an emphasis the organization seemed to place on its culture. At the time, I couldn’t quite pinpoint why this portion of the conversation didn’t feel like merely another recitation of platitudes. Instead, it came off as much more of a genuine commitment to ensuring its employees thrived and felt challenged to grow. In retrospect, I now realize that this was because the conversation was anchored around a discussion of the concrete Guiding Principles that undergird every decision Kenway makes as an organization.

I ended up having the opportunity to intern with Kenway during the following two summers, and now as a full-time Consultant with just over a year under my belt, I can confidently affirm that, in fact, these are not mere platitudes. Kenway really is driven by a commitment to ensuring its employees thrive and feel challenged. It is truly not an exaggeration to say that I can scarcely go a day without taking part in a discussion during which a colleague makes reference to our Guiding Principles or implores the group to consider how they ought to inform our behavior in that particular circumstance.

I believe this is what differentiates Kenway from our competitors. Our culture, bolstered by our unwavering commitment to our Guiding Principles, is not only what enables such a strong internal work environment. It is also inextricably linked to the quality of our delivery and depth of client relationships. Moreover, it’s what has compelled me to keep coming back to Kenway.

Treating Each Individual Uniquely: A Personalized Experience

One of the Guiding Principles that has rung true for me since the very beginning is the commitment to Treat Each Individual Uniquely. Upon starting my first internship, I expected to be nudged through a series of rudimentary, cookie-cutter training models and low-stakes internal projects. Instead, I received one-on-one training and mentoring from a senior individual, had the opportunity to operate in client-facing environments, and was given the freedom and encouragement to pursue various internal initiatives.

With the appropriate safety nets in place, I was enabled to stretch the limits of my comfort zone knowing someone would be there to catch me if I fell. I was not treated as “just another intern” for whom my superiors begrudgingly manufactured busy work. I was, and continue to be, treated as a unique individual with the freedom to strive toward maximizing my potential.

Embracing Entrepreneurial Spirit and Tenacity

Another Guiding Principle foundational to Kenway’s culture is the promotion of an Entrepreneurial Spirit and Tenacity. While my understanding of this Guiding Principle has matured as I’ve become more engrained in the organization as a full-time Consultant, it is something I could genuinely attest to even during my time as an intern. I was encouraged to express my ideas and perspectives on live issues, and the extent to which my contributions were taken seriously was based on their quality and merit, not the title I held.

This continues to be true within Kenway’s culture and it’s also what enables us to be the dynamic, nimble organization we are. We never rest on our laurels and are capable of quickly pivoting strategy in the face of shifting circumstances, both internally amongst our employee base and externally on client engagements.

Means Over Outcomes: A Refreshing Perspective

Finally, I’d like to touch on what I believe to be Kenway’s most unique Guiding Principle - the prioritization of Means Over Outcomes. I was raised in accordance with the adage that “the ends do not justify the means”. Of course, as I grew up and began making contact with the real world, I quickly realized that not everyone shares this belief. This is precisely why I found Kenway’s commitment to means over outcomes so refreshing. This orientation may appear counterintuitive for a business that needs to generate revenue, compensate employees, and make future-oriented investments in the growth of the company.

However, these are far from incompatible efforts. We believe, and have continually demonstrated, that this model not only works, but thrives – and it allows us to mitigate the perverse incentive structures that plague far too many outcomes-oriented companies. While we understand and acknowledge the importance of outcomes, we simply believe that sufficiently stringent adherence to the right means breeds the desired outcomes for both our clients and Kenway as an organization. Doing right by our clients and employees and prioritizing our integrity as an organization is a long-term investment of much greater importance than any short-term concern with profits.

Connect with Kenway Consulting

Reflecting on the summer leading into my junior year, I’ve come to appreciate how fortuitous that initial conversation was. I now have the benefit of being able to call that individual a great mentor, colleague, and friend, and with over two years of cumulative experience at Kenway, I’m incredibly excited to see what the future holds for the company.

If you would like to learn more about Kenway and our culture, feel free to reach out to us to discuss how we can support your company.

Kenway Expands its Reach: Welcoming the Madrid Office

Kenway is excited to announce a major milestone in our strategic growth with the opening of our new office in Madrid, Spain. The vibrant cityscape, thriving talent pool, and deep local knowledge of the business landscape present unparalleled opportunities to spread the Kenway word and live out our mission “to help and be helped.” This expansion highlights our dedication to targeted geographic growth, particularly in the EMEA region. Our Madrid office is set to become a central hub, capitalizing on the city's rich reservoir of skilled professionals and meeting the diverse needs of clients throughout Europe.

Madrid and Europe offer a vibrant business ecosystem, home to a diverse array of industries, including telecommunications, healthcare, and financial services. Incubators such as Madrid Investment Attraction, which supports foreign investors, and Madrid RE-SKY Worldwide Leadership, aimed at promoting comprehensive and human leadership, support people and companies by adding value through the values of transversal communication and exchange of thought. With our extensive experience across these industry verticals, Kenway is well-positioned to meet the evolving needs of clients and provide tailored solutions that drive growth and innovation.

At the heart of our Madrid office lies a team of seasoned professionals, adept in Data & Analytics, Contact Center Solutions, Salesforce, Application Development, Product and Program Management, and Artificial Intelligence. Their collective expertise, entrepreneurial spirit, and growth-mindset ensures that we are positioned to meet the unique challenges and opportunities presented by the dynamic EMEA market.

The new Madrid office seamlessly integrates with Kenway’s main headquarters in Chicago and our regional office in Charlotte, NC. All Kenway Spain employees bring invaluable experience gained from working in Kenway's Chicago Office. This close integration ensures that the Madrid office operates in tandem with Kenway's global strategy, leveraging synergies and sharing best practices to drive sustainable growth and deliver exceptional value to clients worldwide.

Our culture and guiding principles—treating each individual uniquely, always leading with integrity, focusing on means over outcomes, swift and effective communication, entrepreneurial spirit, tenacity, value, and quality—are deeply ingrained in the fabric of our organization. As we expand into Madrid, we're proud to carry these principles with us, ensuring that every interaction, every project, and every endeavor reflects our commitment to delivery excellence and doing what is right for our clients in every scenario, regardless of the outcome.

As we celebrate our 20th anniversary, this expansion into Madrid represents a significant milestone in Kenway's collective journey. It underscores our commitment to being the most trusted consulting services partner in the industry. Our growth, predominantly fueled by client referrals, stands as a testament to our success in building deep, trust-based relationships and delivering value to our clients.

We invite you to join us on this exciting journey as we embark on a new chapter in Kenway's history. Whether you are a current client, a prospective partner, or simply interested in learning more about our services, we encourage you to connect with us.

¡Continuemos forjando juntos esta historia de éxito! Nos encantaría conocerte en persona. El lugar lo ponemos nosotros. Pongamos que hablo de Madrid.

 

The Weight

I was back to work full time at Kenway for about a week after a year of working part time, full time and to be honest, a lot of “no time.“ I walked into our 2018 first quarter all company meeting with a strong assumption about how the day would progress. This month marks my seventh year at Kenway, so I’ve been a part of my fair share of these meetings. My expectations quickly changed when my co-worker, Noellen, kicked off the meeting by sharing her story about the weight on her shoulders.

Noellen talked about how there are times when she has a difficult client project coupled with pressing responsibilities at home that make it difficult to give 100% of her focus to work. To summarize her eloquent monologue, she talked about how Kenway’s Why, which is to help and be helped, positively impacts her life. In short, she greatly appreciates that Kenway employees help each other out. There have been a few blogs about this in the past. You might remember The Why from such blogs as Finding the WHY at Work and Culture Comes First among others. It hit me hard. She was right. One of the best benefits of working at Kenway is the people. Top to bottom, the people at Kenway are aligned with our Why and want to help. Whether it is helping your business solve a business problem, helping each other on a project or teaching each other new skills. Now I want to share my personal Kenway Why story….

My wife and I welcomed our first child, Emma, to the world in December of 2016. I took a few weeks of paternity leave to help make sure we were all settled at home into our new routine, our new life. Emma was a happy and healthy baby that slept well and ate well. Eventually my wife’s maternity leave ended, and she went back to work. Up until this point, the weight on my shoulders was what you would expect from a new dad in a family with two working parents. But then things changed.

Baby Emma started getting sick. One doctor visit turned into two, which turned into three. We took Emma across the street from the doctor’s office to the ER. That normal “dad weight” was shifting as I moved the car from one parking lot to another. We waited, not sure what was coming next. Finally, the doctor had news. I don’t remember the look on her face. I just remember what she said, “You’ve got two brain tumors. We are finding a bed for you upstairs.” The shifting weight on my shoulders quickly turned into an elephant.

At three and a half months old, Emma fought through two brain surgeries, two failed extubations, and a tracheostomy. I am fortunate that I had my wife by my side. When the lab results came back, Emma was diagnosed with Atypical Teratoid Rhabdoid Tumors (AT/RT), before she turned four months old. That weight I’ve talked about, well now it felt like two elephants.

We moved into Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago on May 4th, 2017. We met with the Hematology/Oncology team (Hem/Onc) and learned that her disease is treatable, but it affects only one in a million children. You always think your child is one in a million, well mine was, just not like I expected. After two brain surgeries removed all visible signs of her tumors, we started to see our little girl smile again, which helped ease some of that weight. A now stable Emma was cleared to start the first of five rounds of chemo, while we learned how to help Emma cope with the awful side effects of the drugs. Finally, at the end of June, after nearly three months of living, eating, and sleeping in a hospital, we went home as a family.

Emma fought through chemo bravely. Her treatment schedule was long and difficult, including two induction rounds, three rounds of high dose chemo, and three stem cell transplants. She bounced back from each round of chemo faster than the previous and genuinely shocked the team with her quick recovery, not to mention the grace she showed with each drug, test, and fever. The doctor that started the program at Lurie said to me in an elevator one morning, “Your daughter is incredible.” Emma finished her chemo on Halloween and rode out of the 17th floor dressed as a strawberry after delivering candy to the staff. We hoped that would be our last time staying with our Hem/Onc friends and adopted family and looked forward to long stretches at home. Before Thanksgiving, it was time for the first post treatment scans, but we didn’t get the news we wanted. Her larger tumor was growing back and quite rapidly. A week before Christmas, Emma underwent her third brain surgery and established a plan to start a new protocol of treatment on January 2nd.

On February 2, 2018, Emma lost her battle with AT/RT. She was 13 months old and the strongest person I’ve ever met. However, her story fortunately doesn’t end here. Doctors removed her tumor and saved it. There was enough tumor to share with the team at Northwestern, a tumor bank in Philadelphia, and to use in a new clinical trial that the team at Lurie has pioneered. Someday, families will be able to hug their children for years to come, because Emma came first.

My wife and I learned a lot during our stay in the hospital. We learned how to manage life with a very sick child. We saw what cancer families go through to cure their children, and we witnessed what these brave kids go through to fight their disease. We’ve made it our mission to support these families and the organizations that treat pediatric brain tumors. We’re raising money to help Emma’s doctors get closer to a cure. The National Cancer Institute provides only 4% of its budget for pediatric cancer. These researchers need more than 4%. Emma’s Memory will change that. You can help us raise money for Emma’s Memory through Lurie Children’s Hospital and find out more about us at EmmasMemory.org.

How does this story relate back to Kenway, our Why, and our wonderful, helpful people? Well, during the time that passed in the paragraphs above, I didn’t work. Sure, I checked my email and would help where I could but nothing close to the 43-hour work weeks I committed to for the year. As the year progressed, I never got back to full time. It didn’t fit with my weight, and Kenway couldn’t have been more helpful. I was never asked when I was coming back or even if I was coming back. I was given full freedom to focus on my daughter and on my family. Like Noellen said at that Q1 meeting, the Kenway consultants took the weight of my client and internal work off my shoulders when I couldn’t bear it. I’m incredibly lucky to work for a company that values me and my family. Too often, you see a company tout guiding principles on their website but then not always live them. Kenway lives them, and not that I doubted it before, but I understood even further when Kenway did “welcome and respect the uniqueness of each individual,” which is one of our guiding principles. I was unique, my situation was not normal. A while ago, Kevin Sechowski wrote, Why I am not leaving Kenway Consulting. This is my story. This is why I’m not leaving Kenway Consulting.

2024 Update

May is Brain Tumor Awareness Month, so I wanted to share what we’ve been up to in the last 6 years.

Since I wrote this blog in 2018, our family and I have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support from our community, friends, and colleagues at Kenway Consulting. The Kenway team has stood with us, showing unwavering support. We recently updated our corporate goals. I was excited to see one specifically tailored to philanthropy.

Positively Impact Our Community Philanthropically: Foster a culture of practicing the means necessary to positively impact the communities in which we operate.

My wife, Sadie, and I have been dedicated to raising funds for Lurie Children's Hospital since 2018. We organized Emma’s Memory to honor Emma’s life and to join the community together to help find a cure for pediatric brain cancer. Research for pediatric cancers, and pediatric brain tumors specifically, remains highly underfunded and under-recognized by the medical community. Doctors rely heavily on philanthropic efforts to fund their research.

Currently, childhood cancer research still receives only 4% of federal cancer research funding, and since 1980, fewer than 10 drugs have been developed for use in children with cancer, compared to 23 drugs developed for adult treatments in just one year. ​Our mission is to help find a cure for pediatric brain tumors so families can hug their children for years to come. We hope you will join us in raising awareness and funds towards our goal.

In both 2022 and 2023 Kenway has been a sponsor of Run for Gus and with the help of fundraising by supportive colleagues, raised a total of $13,496.22.

Run for Gus 2023

In addition to sponsoring Run for Gus, Kenway hosted a fundraiser after our Q3 meeting in 2022, where the team came together over food and drinks to support Pediatric Cancer Month in September. Together, we raised an incredible $14,000 for pediatric cancer research.

Thank you to everyone who has stood by us and supported our cause. To date, we have raised over $400,000 to support critical research and care for children battling cancer. Together, we can make a difference and bring hope to families facing pediatric cancer.

 

Why We're Different: Tailored Consulting Solutions for Your Unique Needs

In the vast sea of consulting firms, finding a distinctive voice and value proposition is not just important—it's essential. At Kenway Consulting, we've long understood that our “why” and “how” are just as vital as our “what”. This philosophy is not merely a tagline; it's the bedrock of our operations, our client engagements, and, ultimately, our success. What sets us apart is our commitment to providing tailored consulting solutions that address the unique needs of each client. This dedication ensures that we deliver not just solutions, but value that truly makes a difference.

Our Cultural Foundation: Why We Do What We Do

At the heart of Kenway's differentiation is our culture, deeply rooted in a simple yet profound mission: to help and be helped. This mission transcends the typical transactional nature of business and is woven into the very fabric of our interactions with clients, colleagues, and the broader community. 

Our culture-driven tailored consulting approach sets us apart from many organizations that prioritize growth and revenue above all. Our goal is to be the most trusted—not the largest—consulting services provider. This trust is cultivated through every action we take, emphasizing the right means for our clients over any potential revenue. Our growth, predominantly fueled by client referrals, stands as a testament to our success in building deep, trust-based relationships. It's a clear indicator that when culture and values lead the way, success naturally follows.

Tailoring Our Approach: Delivering Unmatched Value

Understanding the unique complexities of each business challenge is where Kenway truly excels. Our approach to tailored consulting is anything but one-size-fits-all. We pride ourselves on delivering white-glove, tailored services that address the nuanced needs of our clients.

This commitment means that throughout an engagement, we dynamically adjust the mix and volume of skills we bring to the table. Instead of starting with a “bloated team of resources,” we carefully select the right skills, at the right time, in the right volume, for the right duration. This method not only ensures a more cost-effective solution for the same level of quality but also highlights our adaptability and responsiveness to the ebb and flow of project needs.

Managing these fluctuations across projects is a complex challenge, but it's one we embrace wholeheartedly. We believe this flexibility and focus on delivering precisely what our clients need is a crucial component of the value we offer.

Beyond Solutions: Our Collaborative, Trust-Centric Approach

In the consulting world, jumping directly to solutions is a common pitfall. At Kenway, we take a different route. We believe in first understanding the substance of the business problem before even beginning to think about solutions. Our clients come to us not for cookie-cutter answers but for customized, effective strategies born out of a deep understanding of their unique challenges.

Our team's broad diversity of experiences, combined with our seniority and adaptability, allows us to work closely with our clients, taking a hands-on, personal, and collaborative approach. This method is not just about solving problems—it's about building trust and ensuring that we're not just consultants, but partners committed to achieving the best possible results.

Ready to Experience the Kenway Difference?

At Kenway Consulting, we're different because we believe that in the world of tailored consulting, the why and the how matter just as much as the what. And it's this belief that drives us forward, inspires our work, and, most importantly, delivers results that matter. To learn more about how Kenway Consulting can meet your specific needs, please reach out to us today.

 

Dreamforce 2022: Top Takeaways and Highlights

This past week, I had the pleasure of attending the Salesforce 2022 Dreamforce conference with my colleague, Clay Wolff, on behalf of Kenway. As Kenway’s Salesforce Practice leads, this was a big deal for us as it was both ours and Kenway’s first time attending the event live. While we didn’t know what to expect walking into the first in-person Dreamforce in the last two years, we were anything but disappointed - the atmosphere was buzzing when we arrived and the ecosystem of partners, products, customers and Salesforce representatives were out in full force throughout the week.

WHY DREAMFORCE?

While the product launches and updates at Dreamforce are amazing (and I’ll get into them later in this blog) to me, the true power of this expansive conference is bringing Salesforce employees, customers, and partners together in person. Kenway was able to experience this in spades at the conference. In many cases, we were able to connect with customers we had never met in person, Salesforce reps we’d only spoken to on the phone, or prospects we’d only hoped to connect with live. Kudos to Salesforce for affording us that opportunity.

KEY INSIGHTS GATHERED AT DREAMFORCE 2022

While at the conference, we had the opportunity to attend a health equity talk led by one of our clients. We witnessed how something that we helped this client create (leveraging the power of Salesforce Marketing and Health Clouds) goes so much further beyond the platform and actually impacts the lives of those that don’t even know it exists. This product and app resulted in the ability for our client to onboard multiple vendors to their Salesforce platform so they could better provide services for a typically underserved population in America. This conference platform provided our client and Kenway the opportunity to take a moment and gain a greater respect and understanding of the ‘why’ behind their company mission and vision, and realize how this effort has and will impact hundreds of thousands of lives across the country.

We also had the opportunity to meet with our internal Salesforce contacts and discuss the latest products and trends they are seeing across industries to better inform how we can help our clients and prospects. One meeting we had was with a Salesforce resource that had a deep knowledge of the manufacturing industry due to over 20 years in the space. During this conversation, we took the time to dive deep into current and past trends in the industry and how Salesforce is helping organizations evolve into the digital age and transform the domain. This particular encounter is one that we would normally not have the opportunity to conduct but, again, this is an example of Dreamforce 2022 bringing people together. Kenway was able to walk away from Dreamforce with (Salesforce) lightning in a bottle.

If you’re reading this blog and would like to get a more robust, detailed account of Kenway’s involvement at the conference, please reach out to me directly HERE to learn how we can help you unleash that (Salesforce) lightning in the bottle and solution for your toughest business needs.

In the meantime, you too can experience the Dreamforce 2022 keynote here:

 

For those of you only interested in what is coming down the pike on the Salesforce platform – we’re here to help you with that too! Below you’ll find a quick-hitting list of some of the exciting developments being rolled out on the platform in the coming months.

Dreamforce 2022 Product Announcements

Salesforce Genie

This is one of the biggest announcements of Dreamforce and also one of the most exciting to give organizations a way to combine systems and bring data together. A real-time tool to integrate your data across your entire company. Genie will ingest and store massive amounts of data in real-time and combine it with your Salesforce data. This will then give you a single clean record for each of your customers across the hundreds of apps used by your organization.

Net Zero Cloud

Many of our customers want a way to help offset their carbon footprint and Net Zero cloud is a perfect way to do that. Keeping with Salesforce’s commitment to the environment, expansion of the Net Zero Cloud is coming this year. The Net Zero Cloud helps customers meet their sustainability goals and manage that data. It was announced that they will be launching a Net Zero Cloud Marketplace to connect buyers to ecopreneurs. It will launch with 90 projects in 11 countries.

Hyperforce

This is extremely exciting news for anyone that needs more control over their data. Hyperforce was launched in 2020 to deliver Salesforce “Cloud” products on major public clouds such as Google and AWS. Hyperforce is expanding on its security and data residency models with a new external encryption ecosystem. This will allow customers to take the keys from Salesforce using cryptography. It will allow customers to have full control over their data and enable them to comply with stricter data privacy rules across the globe.

If you’re ready to transform your business with Salesforce, reach out to us today.

 

More Than Just A Hashtag: The Lessons in 2020 and What’s Next

The confluence of events of 2020 has forever changed our lives: beginning with COVID-19, the ensuing economic crisis, civil unrest, and seismic protests driving a sea of change. We will be speaking with two dynamic Diversity, Equity and Inclusion professionals to talk about what we can learn from 2020. On December 8, 2020 Kenway hosted a women's networking event with special guests Kara Wright and Deirdra Donahue. 

Kara Wright is a strategist, facilitator and trainer working to build resilient, equitable, and inclusive organizations. She holds a vision for people’s lives, workplaces and communities until they can envision it for themselves. She has over 18-years experience leading and managing multinational, multigenerational and multicultural teams through major organizational changes. Kara leads this work with both head and heart through a lens of care for each of her client partners. You can learn more about Kara and her work here.

Deirdra Donahue is the equity and inclusion lead for the Leo Burnett Group creative agencies in North America responsible for creating a culture where inclusion & belonging are the norm, and for ensuring that all talent has access to equitable opportunities while also feeling empowered and supported. Deirdra is a certified Co-Active™ Coach, she provides personal and professional coaching both in the agencies and as a private coach. Learn more about Deirdra’s coaching practice here.

For a refresher on diversity, equity and inclusion terms, please see the DEI Vocabulary sheet provided by Envisioning Equity. You can also watch the full event here.

 

A Message for the Kenway Community

As with most companies, we have spent the last several days learning as much as possible about COVID-19 and its possible ramifications on our health and economy, while focusing on the urgent measures needed to ensure the safety of our employees, our clients, and their families.  With so much new information being shared so quickly, it is clear that we all will be dealing with significant unknowns over the next several weeks. Given this new reality, I wanted to reach out to our clients, partners and friends of Kenway as we all adjust to navigate these unprecedented circumstances.

In thinking about the potential impacts this health crisis could have on Kenway’s employees, clients and our community, I keep coming back to our Why – our mission – which is simply, “To help and be helped.” Our goal every day as Kenway consultants is to help our colleagues and clients in every way possible, and to ask for help when we need it.

While we are living in a world of uncertainty, this foundation made Kenway’s initial response directed to employees quite clear. Late last week, we acted to help maintain the health of our employees and clients by updating our business continuity plan, and asking all employees to stay off of public transportation, to work remotely, to practice social distancing, and to let Kenway leadership know if working from home productively is complicated by childcare needs. We are committed to working with each individual to ensure a safe and productive work environment.

In further considering how best to help our clients in these uncertain times, I also reflected on Kenway’s Guiding Principles, which serve to steer each employee’s decision-making process and center on integrity, quality, respect, and focusing on the means and not the outcomes. It’s that last part about focusing on means over outcomes upon which I’d like to expound. For more than 15 years, Kenway’s commitment has been to simply do what is right for clients, employees and the community. Every decision made has been focused on doing what is right to help our clients and employees, regardless of revenue or profit considerations. We have operated every day to simply do what is right that day.

Our Why, Guiding Principles, and namely focusing on means over outcomes is what has made us the company we are today, and it is what will make us the company we will be in the future when this crisis comes to an end.

Without our clients, there would be no Kenway. So, in this time of great uncertainty, please know that we are here to help do the right thing, regardless of the outcomes. Kenway has always been in business for the long haul, and we plan to be in it with you.

- Matt

 

Team Kenway

Let me regale you.

Imagine 90,000 people clad in purple, red, green or yellow chanting so loudly in unison that their reverberating voices are louder than a jackhammer, live rock music, or a sonic boom – a 112-decibel expression of the complete and absolute devotion to an institution shared so passionately by tens of thousands of comrades.

Now imagine those 90,000 pairs of eyes, with thousands more watching from home, focused entirely on you with the expectation that you perform an athletic task deemed so repeatable and seemingly effortless that only perfection is acceptable. Imagine not only the inescapable pressure you would feel, but the pure exhilaration.

I would argue that this is adrenaline in its most visceral and natural form, and I experienced it every fall weekend just a handful of years ago.

Contrary to what you’re thinking, I was not shooting free throws for the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2016 NBA Finals to topple the mighty Golden State Warriors and bring back the Larry O’Brien trophy for the first time since 1964. Rather, I’m referring to the time I spent as a kicker for the Northwestern Wildcats during the 2017 college football season (Go ‘Cats).

Thankfully, I was the kickoff specialist rather than the field goal specialist, because I could barely keep the ball within a target 53 1/3 yards wide (the width of a football field), let alone between two field goal posts. Despite not holding the magnitude of the responsibility held by the quarterback, running backs, receivers or linebackers, I was nevertheless exposed to and molded by the same values to which nearly every current and former student-athlete is accustomed: diligence and a strong work ethic, personal and team accountability, and the drive to take initiative without being prompted.

Naturally, upon graduation, I strove to find an employer that shared these values. It is no coincidence I found Kenway Consulting.

A company of 51 employees, Kenway is home to nine former collegiate athletes – six football players, one baseball player, one track and field athlete, and one rower – and several current marathoners. The environment Kenway has cultivated is ideal for current and former student-athletes, as well as the broader population of motivated self-starters.

How, you ask? Great question. Let’s explore how three of the six themes of our Guiding Principles – Entrepreneurial Spirit & Tenacity, Value & Quality, and Means Over Outcomes – have helped foster this environment.

Entrepreneurial Spirit & Tenacity

Competition is unforgiving. It is generally accepted that the most successful players in a given sport are those who possess the humility to acknowledge weaknesses and the drive to strengthen them without being prompted by a coach, teammate or other external force. This internal motivation to proactively identify and capitalize on opportunities for growth is crucial to the success of one’s athletic career, and the same is true for one’s professional career.

There are few qualities valued more deeply by organizations than the ability of an employee to proactively identify, debate and implement solutions to address the needs of the market, clients or internal stakeholders. This quality is comprised of two key components:

  1. The foresight to identify risks, opportunities for improvement, and a path forward
  2. The drive to take action without being prompted

I cannot emphasize enough how profoundly corporations – Kenway included – depend on this quality to maintain and build competitive advantages and, therefore, how imperative it is for employees to hone this skill if they are to maximize the value of their careers. Unfortunately, this quality is rare, which is why Kenway has invested significant time, effort and energy into recruiting employees who possess this skill, while also cultivating an environment internally in which employees can build it organically.

Recognizing that Kenway is a small firm, each employee is accountable for a greater share of the company’s success or failure relative to a larger firm. It is, therefore, expected that each Kenway employee is consistently looking to the future to identify ways to improve the company. Generally speaking, this is the essence of entrepreneurship, and the following Guiding Principles capture Kenway’s sentiment toward this theme:

  1. “To never rest on our laurels, always looking to the future to identify necessary changes to maintain and improve Kenway’s strategic advantages.”
  2. “To engage employees to help build Kenway via involvement in internal operations.”

The concept of never resting on one’s laurels is evident throughout Kenway’s history. Kenway’s Salesforce partnership, custom application development service, and upcoming website relaunch are examples of an employee identifying an opportunity to improve and/or grow, and subsequently investing the time, effort and energy required to implement the change they saw necessary.

In fact, the creation of Kenway itself is a result of this concept. Demand was identified in the market for premium consulting services provided by a company focused on being good, being truthful, and always, under all circumstances and all economic conditions, doing the right thing. Brave, like-minded individuals have since elected to join Kenway and contribute to its mission by taking ownership of the company’s successes and failures, always looking to the future for improvement and never resting on one’s laurels.

Value & Quality

Arguably the most familiar concept to student-athletes is the act of being rewarded based on performance rather than seniority or status – a concept to which I can relate personally, as I have experienced both ends of the spectrum. Starting as a freshman and being benched as a senior are equally humbling, and quickly make one appreciate the concept of merit-based rewards.

Let me share with you two of our Guiding Principles that align with this appreciation:

  1. “To reward all parties with whom we come into contact based on quality, effort and integrity.”
  2. “To utilize a value-minus-cost approach to assess each employee’s performance.”

Tightly intertwined, the former Guiding Principle serves primarily as a guiding force in our decision-making, while the latter serves as a tactical implementation of the former. Together, the two manifest in a performance evaluation process and compensation model unlike any other.

Throughout the year, Kenway tracks performance across 18 dimensions ranging from learning agility and structured problem resolution, to alignment and adherence to our Guiding Principles. Scores in each of these categories are used, among other factors, to calculate the value consultants add to Kenway and our clients. Our individual costs, which are primarily comprised of our salaries and overhead, are subtracted from our value, and the difference is used to make subsequent compensation decisions.

In this model, employees with higher salaries inherently have higher costs and are, therefore, required to generate value in greater magnitudes if they are to grow their value-minus-cost delta outlined above. No direct considerations of age, status or tenure are made when making compensation decisions. Not only is this compensation model a balance of art and science in an attempt to make it as objective as possible, it is a conscious effort by Kenway to reward employees based on quality, effort and integrity. As a result, employees are compensated in a fair, just and merit-based manner – something I believe many former student-athletes can appreciate.

Means Over Outcomes

Despite having 23 Guiding Principles, there is one Principle that could be considered the basis for all others and the metaphoric heart of Kenway. It is the Principle that is so deeply ingrained in every Kenway employee’s thoughts, actions and beliefs that we broadly equate it with how Kenway operates.

It reads as follows:

“To focus on the means and not the outcomes, always in line with our Guiding Principles and always with integrity as our cornerstone.”

The concept of focusing on means over outcomes is so central to Kenway’s identity as a company that it is written on our walls, assimilated into the lives of our employees, and shared with each client and prospect with whom we interact.

It mandates that the outcome of any endeavor is acceptable, so long as the means were sound. This emphasis on always acting with integrity is directly related to the discipline, personal accountability, and team accountability required by student-athletes to avoid becoming complacent. The concept of holding oneself and one’s teammates accountable is far from foreign to student-athletes, and the same is true for Kenway’s employees.

For example, Kenway was recently honored with designations on the following lists:

  1. Inc. magazine’s “Inc. 5000” list, an annual ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies
  2. Vault.com’s lists of the best consulting firms to work for in North America, the “Vault Consulting 50” and “Best Boutique Consulting Firms”
  3. Crain’s Chicago Business’ list of “Best Places to Work in Chicago”
  4. The National Association for Business Resources’ (NABR) lists of “Best and Brightest Companies to Work for in the Nation®” and “Chicago’s Best and Brightest Companies to Work For®”

Although we have celebrated these honors and recognitions, they are ultimately outcomes that remind us of the sound means we employed throughout the previous year. Rather than fueling complacency, these awards have amplified our focus on practicing the right means.

Since receiving these acknowledgments, we have introduced new internal teams, developed a comprehensive growth strategy, and enhanced our business intelligence capabilities to track company and employee performance with tremendous insight. Each of these initiatives is intended to improve employees’ abilities to hold each other accountable and focus on means over outcomes, both of which are initiatives to which I am sure most student-athletes can relate.

Conclusion

As mentioned before, it is no coincidence that Kenway is home to a variety of current and former athletes. The invigorating work environment Kenway has created is the product of years of investment in the Guiding Principles discussed above, which align with many of the qualities cultivated by collegiate athletics.

However, it would be remiss of me if I didn’t mention one last Guiding Principle that underscores the premise of this article:

“To avoid collectivist thoughts, words and actions.”

Intuitive, yet powerful, this Guiding Principle articulates Kenway’s mission to avoid making broad, sweeping claims and classifying individuals based on stereotypes. As such, I would hope that you have been reading this article with skepticism, as none of the values we’ve explored together are unique to student-athletes (nor does every student-athlete embody these values).

You and I both know countless friends, family members and coworkers without athletic backgrounds who possess entrepreneurial spirit and tenacity; value quality, effort and integrity over age, status and tenure; and hold themselves and their teammates accountable to focusing on means and not outcomes. And my hunch is that if you’ve read this far, you possess many of these qualities as well.

If this is the case, and something feels “right” about Kenway, I encourage you to reach out. Whether you’re pondering your next career move, searching for a new consulting partnership, or are generally interested in learning more about Kenway, contact us at [email protected].

We look forward to hearing from you.

 

Where I Always Wanted to Work

When I was a young kid, I watched my father work long hours, travel a great deal, take minimal vacation, and hold firm beliefs about what his role was supposed to be.  He lived that role with such conviction, that it was extremely difficult to give a second thought to whether he was honoring his role, or whether he was right or wrong in understanding what his role ought to be.  I was young.  I trusted that was the way it was supposed to be.

I am now older than my father was in those recollections of him.  Like him, I have firm beliefs about my role.  And like my younger self, I have long trusted things were the way they were supposed to be.

But are they?  What measures ought we use to assess where we are in life, and the role we play in it?

I have long held the belief that the best way to operate Kenway Consulting is against the barometer I’ve used since the day its doors opened in 2004 – for Kenway to be the company for which I always wanted to work.  Thus, my every decision, every gesture, every word has been measured against that belief.  But has that been “right,” and does it continue to be?

As Kenway has evolved and the number of employees has thus continued to make me a greater minority by the day, is the way I thought how to operate a company the way other folks would want it to operate?  Put differently, is Kenway the company for which they always wanted to work?

As an employee, I always wanted to be rewarded for what I did, in the year I did it.  I wanted to stay hungry, to excel now, and be rewarded for that effort – not for work I did in the past.  Once rewarded, I wanted it to be forgotten, and I wanted to prove myself again.  Thus, Kenway’s value minus cost compensation model.

I always wanted to be in it for my coworkers.  And I wanted them to be in it for me.  If someone found the next client assignment for me, I always wanted to find the next client assignment for them.  Not only did I want to be the recipient of chargeable work, I wanted to find it as well.  And I wanted to work for a company where coworkers wanted those things for each other, had each other’s back, and reciprocated efforts – particularly the hard ones, like finding the next piece of chargeable work.  Thus, Kenway’s approach to business development.

I always wanted to have my work/life balance respected.  And since all of us are unique and all of us have different definitions of the ideal work/life balance, I wanted to work for a company that takes the time to understand each person’s ideal balance and respects it.  Thus, Kenway’s approach to vacation/PTO and chargeability targets.

I hope as Kenway evolves, I continue to evolve with it.  I hope that the company for which I always wanted to work continues to improve, to inch closer to becoming that ideal.  And I hope I, as a leader, continue to improve.

But ultimately, I hope others find Kenway the way I do – as a continuously improving company, striving to be the company for whom they’d want to work.  And I hope they take the measured steps to make it be that company.

If you feel as though I’ve described a place you’d like to work, contact us at [email protected].

 

A "Career"ture of Habit: How Being a Creature of Habit Can Boost Your Career

Have you ever gone to the same restaurant a few times in a row or taken the same route home from work for an extended period of time without straying from the course? You may have been called out for your tendencies and labeled a "creature of habit." People may even consider you dull, boring or routine.

So, habits are a bad thing, right? I beg to differ.

Although you might think it will pay off to spice up your restaurant choice, intentional habits can actually be a very successful tactic to getting ahead in the workplace. By incorporating the following simple changes into your everyday life, you can improve your level of productivity, enhance the impression you make on your clients, and boost your confidence in the skills you hone.

  1. Wake Up Early: You know what they say about the early bird …
  2. Dress for Success: Don't forget your smile!
  3. Be Punctual: To EVERYTHING!
  4. Take the Initiative: Try adding a bonus item to your “To Do” list.
  5. Practice Daily Affirmations: I am the best for this job because <BLANK>.
  6. Ask that Question: You know, the one you figure you'll just send off in an email later …

Alright, so telling someone to build a habit is the easy part. Making it stick takes work. But what if it didn't have to be hard to build habits to further your career? I know I'd be all in.

To help us get there, I'm going to lean on a fundamental technical concept – the Minimal Viable Product (MVP). In case you aren't familiar with the term, an MVP is a product with only the core functionality needed. The MVP is then tested to see how the market responds to it before a model is built with the full set of features.

So, what would happen if we applied the same theory behind the MVP to building a habit (instead of a product)? The Minimal Viable Habit. You could start small with just the basic concept of the habit and continue to test, iterate and add on "functionality" until you reach your intended goal.

Following the same process as the MVP …

  1. Start with your goal or your vision: I want to wake up early.
  2. Identify an assumption that would help support your habit and test it for a short period of time: It will be easier to wake up if I use a song as my alarm sound.
  3. If your experiment fails, try something new and continue to iterate until something works: If I put my alarm across the room, getting out of bed to turn it off will wake me up.
  4. When you've finally proved your assumption, continue to add "functionality" until you reach your goal: If I wake up 10 minutes earlier every week, I will eventually make it to 6:30 a.m.

It doesn't pay to invest too much of anything into something that isn't going to work. Utilizing the MVP theory allows you to build habits that work for YOU. But you must be committed – no company would abandon a potentially profitable concept after just one failed market test. You shouldn't give up on habit building either.

In my own life, I wanted to make being productive after work a habit. At first, I committed to myself that I would not sit down in front of my TV until after 8pm. Although that effort helped to encourage me to find other things to get done between the time I got home from work and the time I was ready to relax (8 o’clock); I still felt like sometimes I would wander around aimlessly for a few hours rather than actually be productive. Following the MVP model, I shifted my assumption to creating a list of three things that I would like to achieve before 8 o’clock. This second iteration provided me with both the timeframe and the focus that I needed. I’m happy to report that after two weeks of focus, the habit has stuck and has increased my productivity and overall feeling of accomplishment in my day.

I know encouraging habits seems to negate what everyone says about getting out of your comfort zone and getting comfortable staying there. But it's actually the opposite! Building strong habits makes the easy success factors routine and secondary, enabling you to not only get out of your comfort zone but thrive in it.

Before coming to Kenway, 100 percent of my work week was spent working remotely; away from my clients and away from my colleagues. Kenway’s unique focus on people and culture encouraged me to build the habit of being onsite, even though we are fully equipped to be remote consultants. To my surprise, that simple habit has done wonders for my career, professional relationships, and productivity.

I challenge you to challenge yourself and see what habits can do for your career. And if you want to learn more about how instantiating habitual frameworks can help you derive unrealized business value from your organization, we’d love to help. Reach out at [email protected].