Positioning Yourself As The Expert — How To Develop A Consulting Voice That Clients Will Listen To with Ron Carucci

Today I’m joined by seasoned consultant and passionate leader Ron Carucci. Ron and his partners at Navalent help companies that are in pursuit of a substantial transformational change, whether it be strategic formulation, organizational design, cultural shifts, or executive leadership behaviors. His work has taken him to over 20 countries in four different continents, and he is the author of several consulting and leadership books as well as a regular contributor to Forbes.com and the Harvard Business Review.In this episode, we talk about how Ron shifted from working in an organization to working for the best ones, the ideal size of a successful consulting firm, and the effective ways to implement changes in your work so that you are attracting only the most ideal clients. Ron has over 25 years of experience, and he has worked hard to position himself as a truly successful consultant. You won’t want to miss the insights and experiences that he shares in this episode of The Consulting Success Podcast. In Pursuit of His Passion For OrganizationsOriginally a student of the arts, Ron was performing in Europe when he found himself at a crossroads in which he had a life-changing realization about the importance of helping other people tell their stories. At that point, Ron began following his passion for examining the science behind leaders and organizations work together. Today, as a consultant, Ron gets to enter into the stories of successful businesses to help leaders write the next chapter of their adventures.But today, we’re focusing on Ron’s story. He has learned plenty of lessons over the years, and the stories he shares on in our conversation are valuable for any consultant that wants to make positive changes to their work.Inside the world of organizational development, Ron quickly learned that being an agent of change is a real challenge. As companies grow larger and larger, the work is no longer about effecting change. It becomes more about revenues and profits, leading and managing all aspects of the growing business. When Ron and some of his close colleagues realized this was the work they were faced with, they decided to start their own business in order to preserve their dream. Navelen was born and 13 years later Ron declares that he is still living his dream.He tells about the lessons he learned from his first practice. Although exiting a larger corporation was liberating, and the work he was doing paid the bills, Ron had to be honest with himself. He knew that he didn’t have 30 more years of expertise that he could make money on. Those kinds of brutally honest moments are the pivotal ones — and they are essential for any consultant who wants to stay on the path toward success. Building A Consulting Firm To The Perfect SizeMany consultants are successful as a one-man show, but Navelent is a larger consulting company by intentional design. Rather than marketing himself as the independent expert in his domain, Ron has built up his business with a group of colleagues that share his passion for the work they do. This expertise has provided the power to make the kinds of impact that they most wanted to make. As Ron explains, when you show up to a large corporation, you need to have enough resources ready that the company will be confident in your ability to get the work done.At Navalent, they are deliberate and intentional about the partners they bring on and the training they have to complete. There are clearly defined levels of branding, standards of practice, and expectations from each consultant within the firm. Ron and the other two owners of Navalent also make sure that they are modeling the behaviors and practices that they expect from their consultants, starting with getting into the trenches with...