FORTUNE -- Ask Corey Gordon how old he is and he couldn't tell you, because he has no birth certificate. His childhood was fragmented, just as his memories of it are.
He says he vaguely remembers an older woman taking care of him in his infancy, but she wasn't his mother. He remembers being cold and walking barefoot on ice. He remembers going hungry, and being so malnourished that when he coughed, he had to pull worms out of his mouth.
The abandoned child of a Korean woman and an American soldier who met during the Korean War, Gordon was, like so many children of such unions, ostracized. His mother abandoned him, and he might have been forced to survive on the streets had he not been delivered to an orphanage, where he experienced his first shower, food security and kids his own age to play with. He recalls the day an orphanage staffer told him he'd been adopted by a family in Minnesota. "It was a dream come true. All I wanted to be was to be American," Gordon says.
Adjusting to the dream, and his new surroundings, would be tough for Gordon. "On my first day of school I ran away because I thought I was being given away. My parents had to come with me to school for several weeks so I could realize that I could come home every day," Gordon recalls.
read more: http://features.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2014/05/30/from-consulting-to-consoling/
Friday, May 30, 2014
Thursday, May 29, 2014
Making the Second Sale and Beyond
If you ask any politician about the power of incumbency, you’re likely to hear that the odds are usually stacked in the incumbent’s favor, but that it doesn’t take much for the hold on incumbency to slip away with little warning.
Consultants face a similar challenge—how to grow an ongoing, profitable relationship with an existing client, instead of doing one project and moving on to the next client.
An existing client relationship confers the incumbent’s advantage. Many consultants squander that advantage by failing to build on their access to client decision makers and the measure of trust they have earned.
Perception = Reality
Often, the perception of a consultant’s performance bears little resemblance to reality. But if a consultant does a good job and the client doesn’t perceive it that way, the reality is that getting follow-on work will be a real stretch.
In an extreme example, a consultant with a rare medical condition dozed off in a client meeting. Even though the client knew of this consultant’s condition and valued his work, the consultant never shook his reputation for being paid to sleep.
For many consultants, a gap exists between the perception they’d like to create and the one they end up saddled with. And that gap can undercut their ability to develop lasting relationships. The sleeping consultant knew his days were numbered, but some client situations aren’t as clear cut.
Closing the perception-reality gap can be one of the most productive steps you take to move a relationship to the next level. In many cases, you can close that gap by opening honest lines of communication—and acting on the feedback you receive.
Almost all consultants ask their clients how they are doing, either verbally or through a more formal evaluation process. Some take it further. For example, you might ask other executives in the organization, who are not directly involved in the project, about their perceptions.
read more: http://mindshareconsulting.com/second-sale-and-beyond/
Consultants face a similar challenge—how to grow an ongoing, profitable relationship with an existing client, instead of doing one project and moving on to the next client.
An existing client relationship confers the incumbent’s advantage. Many consultants squander that advantage by failing to build on their access to client decision makers and the measure of trust they have earned.
Perception = Reality
Often, the perception of a consultant’s performance bears little resemblance to reality. But if a consultant does a good job and the client doesn’t perceive it that way, the reality is that getting follow-on work will be a real stretch.
In an extreme example, a consultant with a rare medical condition dozed off in a client meeting. Even though the client knew of this consultant’s condition and valued his work, the consultant never shook his reputation for being paid to sleep.
For many consultants, a gap exists between the perception they’d like to create and the one they end up saddled with. And that gap can undercut their ability to develop lasting relationships. The sleeping consultant knew his days were numbered, but some client situations aren’t as clear cut.
Closing the perception-reality gap can be one of the most productive steps you take to move a relationship to the next level. In many cases, you can close that gap by opening honest lines of communication—and acting on the feedback you receive.
Almost all consultants ask their clients how they are doing, either verbally or through a more formal evaluation process. Some take it further. For example, you might ask other executives in the organization, who are not directly involved in the project, about their perceptions.
read more: http://mindshareconsulting.com/second-sale-and-beyond/
Friday, May 23, 2014
The Downside of Client Relationships
It’s no secret that most professional service providers aim to grow
their businesses by building their relationships with clients (even if
it’s not always clear that’s what clients want). The goal, of course, is
for the investment to pay off in follow-on work and future referrals.
Accenture, the global consulting firm, for example, reports that nearly 85 percent of the firm’s 100 largest clients have been clients for ten years or more.
Naturally, there are advantages to on-going relationships. Over time, and with the completion of flawless work, you and client can build mutual trust that allows each to take risks that wouldn’t be possible with purely client-vendor transactions.
When a client-consultant relationship works well, both parties benefit. With strong, trusting business relationships, consultants report lower cost of sales and higher project profitability; they can define and deliver work more quickly, and with a lot less hassle. That should mean higher quality work, at a lower price, for the client.
The Trade-Offs
In spite of all the good reasons to grow your client relationships, there are trade-offs. I know consultants who have found that great relationships with a small number of clients stalled their careers and long-term financial success.
read more: http://mindshareconsulting.com/downside-client-relationships/
Accenture, the global consulting firm, for example, reports that nearly 85 percent of the firm’s 100 largest clients have been clients for ten years or more.
Naturally, there are advantages to on-going relationships. Over time, and with the completion of flawless work, you and client can build mutual trust that allows each to take risks that wouldn’t be possible with purely client-vendor transactions.
When a client-consultant relationship works well, both parties benefit. With strong, trusting business relationships, consultants report lower cost of sales and higher project profitability; they can define and deliver work more quickly, and with a lot less hassle. That should mean higher quality work, at a lower price, for the client.
The Trade-Offs
In spite of all the good reasons to grow your client relationships, there are trade-offs. I know consultants who have found that great relationships with a small number of clients stalled their careers and long-term financial success.
read more: http://mindshareconsulting.com/downside-client-relationships/
Thursday, May 22, 2014
4 Essential Tips on How to Grow Your Consulting Business
Here's the great thing about being an expert on anything: You can build an empire around it.
People who have honed their skills, their craft, more than their counterparts have a great chance of developing a multi-million dollar business. For many successful entrepreneurs, the business that can deliver such lucrative rewards is a consulting practice.
Consulting businesses are built on the experience and expertise of the CEO.
It could be about anything: business management, social media marketing, information technology, security, personal image and credibility, and so on. Because consulting has become a lucrative business, the industry is growing faster with lots of competition from big businesses and emerging firms -- so you're going to need quite an arsenal to gain an edge.
Here are four essential tips on how to grow your consulting business:
1. Be distinct -- and address unmet needs in the market or learn to resolve them differently.
You can reduce the competition you'll be coming up against in the consulting industry by being different. Consider what you are good at and how you can make your approach different than the other consultants'. For example, if most consulting businesses in the market are already focused on leadership, your consulting business could concentrate on branding or operational excellence.
2. Be the authority in your field.
People tend to gravitate toward consultants who have established a certain level of authority.
read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brian-horn/small-business-consulting-tips_b_5269357.html
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
ABout Me - Gregory J Callegari
Greg Callegari earned a BS degree from SUNY and an MBA in finance from Pace University in 1982. In 1983 he was hired by Hong Kong Shanghai Securities and started in their credit training program. After the training program he moved on the trading side of the business as a counterparty analyst where he was responsible for evaluating hedge fund counterparty risk for the bank. In 1987 Mr. Callegari left to join Barclays Capital as vice president of Credit and Market risk for capital markets.
In 1991 Gregory Callegari established an allocation program at Barclays where capital was allocated to specific hedge funds. In 1995 Mr. Callegari was promoted to Head of Credit and Counterparty Risk and relocated to London where a number of different groups with Global responsibilities fell under his responsibility. This included proprietary trading, global currency options and counterparty risk. In 1997 Barclays had allocated to over 80 different hedge funds and Mr. Callegari had established several different hedge fund allocation portfolios designed specifically for Commodity trading advisors or black box programs and discretionary hedge funds.
In 1997, after almost 10 years at Barclays, Greg Callegari joined ABN AMRO in Chicago to begin their fund of hedge fund program and run proprietary trading. He was later ran Global options trading and hedge fund relationship sales. Mr. Callegari began ABN’s first hedge fund of funds and grew this from inception to over $350 million in assets. His performance exceeded the relevant benchmarks each year and in 2001 he decided to begin a new career in consulting.
Since 2001, Mr. Callegari has owned and operated his own consulting firm which provides analysis and advice to financial institutions, start-ups and financial advisory firms. He has actively been involved in mortgage financing, fund of hedge fund analysis and performance reviews, and has fulfilled CFO roles for startups and technology companies.
In 1991 Gregory Callegari established an allocation program at Barclays where capital was allocated to specific hedge funds. In 1995 Mr. Callegari was promoted to Head of Credit and Counterparty Risk and relocated to London where a number of different groups with Global responsibilities fell under his responsibility. This included proprietary trading, global currency options and counterparty risk. In 1997 Barclays had allocated to over 80 different hedge funds and Mr. Callegari had established several different hedge fund allocation portfolios designed specifically for Commodity trading advisors or black box programs and discretionary hedge funds.
In 1997, after almost 10 years at Barclays, Greg Callegari joined ABN AMRO in Chicago to begin their fund of hedge fund program and run proprietary trading. He was later ran Global options trading and hedge fund relationship sales. Mr. Callegari began ABN’s first hedge fund of funds and grew this from inception to over $350 million in assets. His performance exceeded the relevant benchmarks each year and in 2001 he decided to begin a new career in consulting.
Since 2001, Mr. Callegari has owned and operated his own consulting firm which provides analysis and advice to financial institutions, start-ups and financial advisory firms. He has actively been involved in mortgage financing, fund of hedge fund analysis and performance reviews, and has fulfilled CFO roles for startups and technology companies.
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