"Coming from a less academic background than many of my industry counterparts, I had always placed more emphasis on 'business reality' rather than 'business theory' in the work that I did with clients.

For instance, I found that many consultants would focus more on what to do and less on when and how to do it - yet to me, these were the more crucial components that made up 2/3rds of the equation.

I also found also that many of these consultants had never truly struggled or had run a business before that wasn't centered around themselves.  Try running a business where a new government regulation threatens to eliminate 50% of your product's market overnight, or where a new technology a larger competitor just acquired now makes your delivery time twice as long as theirs.  To me, these are different and more difficult situations than someone tasked with sell stories of what other companies do, which is what I believe the consulting industry is largely comprised of. 

I've been there, in the trenches, sweating like most real business owners do, and that work ethic has never left me.  Even now as a business advisor, rather than observe and recommend from a distance I'm the guy who usually rolls up his sleeves and gets invited right in there with the owners and the business units in order to get a true understanding of the business (imagine their surprise when I'm the first 'suit' not to actually slow down or disrupt their day!)  Then, when "solutions time" was needed, together we'd come up with a solution that didn't just work in theory, but in practice as well, and one that had credibility with all levels of their company.

All I saw with consultants at the time were "ivory tower dwellers" who would swoop down, charge a ton of money for their "stories", and then leave having really only just put a few more ideas in the owners' or executives' heads and hardly any real solutions. 

In 2006 when Bill and I were working for the same leading consulting and training company, we would often discuss how we'd do things differently if we ever had the chance.  In 2008, we got our chance and brought our respective talents and skills together and set out on a common mission - to change the industry for the better, and show companies that ideas don't equal solutions, and that there's a better way to achieve results.

Starting from scratch it has taken us a long time to build and a long time to test our ideas out in the field, but I think clients will agree it's been worth it.  It's been an honor to work with the companies that we've worked with so far, and I look forward to working with many new ones in this next phase of our development."