Blog

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 info@kenwayconsulting.com.