CEO Update 11.08

CEO Update
11/2008


The past few months have undoubtedly been the most turbulent that the business world has witnessed in living memory and the Lausanne Consulting Group has not escaped this. Many of our clients have found themselves in a situation where they have had to look at expenditure and make some drastic cuts. Although freezing consulting spend is often the first reaction, it is often doing the opposite that will help the client company make the greatest changes. Thankfully, a number of Lausanne’s clients have chosen this approach and placed their trust in us to help them get through these challenging times. I would like to thank them for their on-going commitment and assure them that we will do everything to justify this trust.

Internally we have always prided ourselves with our ability to read a situation and react according. It is therefore no surprise that we started making a number of fundamental changes to our business back in the summer. The first of these was a strategic decision to move our commercial strategy from the traditional consulting model to a market driven series of commercial offerings that would address the needs that we felt would be the real drivers for business leaders during the second half of 2008 and 2009.

Moving from a model that had served us well for many years to something far more dynamic meant changing the way we do business without loosing the cultural strength and history that is the basis for the Lausanne Consulting Group. Unfortunately we lost a number of colleagues during this process, however what we have gained by introducing new professionals and management far outweighs these losses.

Biting this bullet early has been painful but 2009 now looks very exciting indeed!

As part of our long term commitment to offering our clients real solutions to the problems they face I am very pleased to announce that in October of this year we formally launched our recruitment division. Under the careful guidance of Carlotta Navarro, the President of this division, we have developed a number of offerings that answer the needs of our clients in a way that is unique in the market. Closely linked to the Academy, the recruitment services we are offering go far beyond the simple recruitment of people. (If you would like to know more, please contact us directly).

The end of the year will soon be upon us and we will look back at 2008 with mixed feelings: With sadness for some of the things we had to do as part of the restructuring. With excitement for what we are about to do in 2009!

Which ever way you choose to look back at 2008, the Lausanne Consulting Group fundamentals will never change:

Offerings that meet the needs of our clients; Quality that enables us to over-deliver on expectations; a work ethic that is both professional and realistic; and above all, a belief in what we are doing.

Thanks for your support.

Marcus Hillman