November is Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month

Did you know that November is Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month? This month is exceptionally important to Croixstone Consulting as three of our senior leaders have families who have been impacted by this challenging disease.

Croixstone’s CEO and co-founder Patti Weber lost her father to pancreatic cancer, our Managing Partner and co-founder Mark Weber lost his mother to the disease, and our Senior Manager of Business Operations Grace Lynch lost her niece to the disease.

Pancreatic cancer is the 10th most commonly diagnosed cancer in the USA and is the nation’s third leading cause of cancer-related death. Despite these facts, the typical American knows very little about the disease.

To honor the loved ones they’ve lost to pancreatic cancer. Patti, Mark and Grace are determined to educate Americans about the disease. In 2020, the trio launched a non-profit community organization (The Charlotte Pancreatic Cancer Alliance) to increase awareness of the disease with a hyper local focus on the fast-growing Charlotte, North Carolina region.

Charlotte Pancreatic Cancer Alliance is a member of the World Pancreatic Cancer Coalition (WPCC) which is a global consortium of pancreatic cancer advocacy organizations. In October 2021, WPCC profiled Charlotte Pancreatic Cancer Alliance along with Patti, Mark and Grace in its monthly newsletter.

Read the profile here.
Learn more about the symptoms and risks of pancreatic cancer here.

WOSB Recertification

We are continuing to celebrate a memorable week at Croixstone Consulting! In follow-up to our news on September 26, 2022 that we have received national recertification as a Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE), Croixstone is proud to announce a second achievement this week.

Our CEO, Patti Weber, announced today that Croixstone has been granted recertification as a Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB). The certification was granted by the Greater Women’s Business Council (GWBC), a regional certifying partner of the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), who serves as an approved third-party certifier for the U.S. Small Business Administration’s WOSB Federal Contracting Program.

This latest achievement fuels continued growth opportunities for Croixstone by allowing the firm to compete for federal contracts set aside for the WOSB Federal Contracting Program.

Read our Press Release here.

WBE Recertification

The Croixstone team is excited to announce that we have received national recertification as a Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE) by the Greater Women’s Business Council, a regional certifying partner of the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC).

Croixstone was first certified as a WBE in 2020. The enterprise certification is a powerful tool that enables Croixstone to expand the firm’s visibility among decision-makers in supply chain diversity and procurement.

Read our Press Release here.

Consulting Industry Trends

So what is the big picture in consulting?

The Croixstone Consulting team dedicated some time last week to dig into the latest research to provide some fresh perspectives in answering this question. Here’s what we found.

  • Global Consulting Market: Was estimated at $132 billion USD in 2020 (Statista)
  • North America: Is the largest consulting services market worldwide with annual revenues estimated at $64.4 billion. (Statista)
  • Regional Analysis: North America and Europe are highly mature markets contributing to 75% of the global consulting market revenue. (Beroe)
  • Number of Management Consultants in USA: 768,450 (Statista)
  • Growth Rate: Management consulting is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of more than 6 percent from 2021 to 2026 (Beroe)
  • Growth Drivers: The demand for operational efficiency, regulatory compliance and technology improvements. (Beroe)
  • Demand by Industry: Financial Services (25%), Manufacturing (16%), Public Sector (14%), Natural Resources & Power (12%), Wholesale & Retail (10%), Healthcare (7%), Communications & Media (7%), Aerospace & Defense (4%), Other Industries (5%) (Beroe)
  • Profits: Over the next 5 years, management consulting industry profitability is expected to remain steady as rising global business sentiment and profit drive new businesses. (Beroe)
  • Disruption: New business models such as crowdsourcing and network-based consulting are evolving in the industry, which can be disruptive in nature. Think of Wikistrat, HourlyNerd, and Business Talent Group as examples. (Beroe)

Croixstone Consulting is a boutique management consulting firm known for connecting the brightest minds in business and community. Learn how we drive business outcomes by accelerating and sustaining transformations here.

2022 Global Supplier Diversity Accelerator Program

The Croixstone team is celebrating!

In June of 2022, our CEO and co-founder, Patti Weber, was accepted into the 2022 Global Supplier Diversity Accelerator Program (GSDA) sponsored by Santander US (the diversified financial business with $155 billion in assets and 15,000 employees) and Monica Motivates (a supplier diversity consulting firm).

GSDA offers training and development programs for supplier small businesses owned by women, minorities and veterans to enhance their skills and knowledge to win key business contracts.

Patti completed the 12-week program last week by flying to Dallas to deliver a pitch to a team of Santander US leaders including:

  • Dr. Virnitia Hendricks / Chief Diversity Officer
  • Christopher Pfirrman / Santander Consumer USA Chief Legal Officer
  • Corley Cowan / Santander Consumer USA Senior Director Sales Strategy and Implementation
  • Jason Christensen / Santander Consumer USA IT Chief Operating Officer
  • Emiliano Ariel Diaz / IT Category Mexus Regional Lead

Congrats to Patti and her fellow program participants on a job well done, and thank you to the teams at Santander US and Monica Motivates for your commitment to supporting supplier diversity in such a high impact way.

Check out this LinkedIn post from Santander US regarding the Class of 2022 here.

Learn more about Santander US here.

Learn more about Monica Motivates here.

Martha Stewart and Leonardo da Vinci? They have more in common than you know.

Leonardo da Vinci.
Andy Warhol.
Walt Disney.
Martha Stewart.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

Two weeks ago, our Managing Partner and co-founder Mark Weber returned for a command performance to LOOM Coworking, Gallery and Event Space in Fort Mill, SC to share insights on the common thread that ties these five, highly accomplished professionals together.

The common thread?

Each of these famous people built a “portfolio career”, a style of working where a professional combines multiple streams of income to earn a robust living. Think of a portfolio career like an investment portfolio whereby you derive income from multiple streams that you professionally manage with a high degree of care, strategy and intentionality.

Portfolio careers are booming. In a recent article published by Ben Legg, the former COO of Google Europe, it was noted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (based in Paris) in its Future of Work study that an estimated 50% of developed country workforces would be gig workers by 2030. Similarly, Ladders published a story that featured a forecast from Statista, the market research firm, that freelancers will make up more than 50% of the USA’s workforce by 2027.

So why are portfolio careers growing?

For starters, more and more professionals are realizing that they have the right and power to veer from the traditional career script. Many of the most skilled and intelligent workers crave both variety and challenge in their careers, and they find it fulfilling to meet their needs outside the traditional career path.

For these professionals, there is often a greater sense of purpose, clarity, and flexibility that accompanies the building of a portfolio career.

Respected thought leaders including Harvard Business Review and Forbes are publishing a growing body of articles and videos that are providing legitimacy to those attracted to the concept of a portfolio career. Additionally, a growing number of employers, including Croixstone Consulting, are intentionally building and diversifying their workforces by designing and implementing talent strategies focused on portfolio professionals.

Visit Croixstone Consulting’s Linktree to find a variety of links to learn more about the benefits and rewards of building a portfolio career.

Croixstone Consulting Turns “6”

The Croixstone Consulting team is celebrating its sixth business anniversary this month! Patti Weber and Mark Weber launched Croixstone as a boutique management consultancy in 2016. Their vision was to offer the world a highly differentiated business model in management consulting that would transform careers and businesses. The two entrepreneurs powered their vision by using their superpowers in strategic networking and relationship-building to connect the brightest minds.

In honor of the firm’s sixth business anniversary, here are six fun facts about Croixstone Consulting.

#1) Our name. Rivers are a hugely important part of life that connect humans in so many ways. The inspiration for Croixstone’s name is the St. Croix River (French: Holy Cross), a tributary of the Mississippi River that forms a border between the states of Wisconsin (the home state of Patti and Mark) and Minnesota (where the firm’s founders each began their careers).

#2) One more thing about our name. The correct way to pronounce the company’s name is “kroy-stone.”

#3) Our garage was a loft. Many of the world’s best known start-up companies were launched in garages. Croixstone launched its business in 2016 in Loft 309 of the former Lance Crackers building on South Boulevard in Charlotte’s booming South End Neighborhood. Not a garage, but a very cool loft to build a very unusual company.

#4) We LOVE constructive nonconformists. Business mavericks. Rebel talent. Call them what you will. One of our core beliefs is that these are the people who drive innovation in companies.

#5) We also LOVE portfolio professionals. We believe portfolio careers are the future of work. And so do many other thought leaders and futurists.

#6) Curiosity. One of our core values. We practice intelligent exploration and intellectual humility. We apply the best of our professional life experience, but always stay focused on what’s left to learn. From space exploration companies to solar farm developers to fintech unicorns, our curiosity has fueled Croixstone’s ability to build a truly unique client portfolio over the past 6 years.

3 Essential Focus Areas for Your Board

As a boutique management consulting firm, the catalyst behind many of Croixstone’s engagements is tied to priorities established by private company boards.

The National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) is a professional association with a mission to empower directors and transform boards to be future ready. For more than 40 years, NACD has been on the leading edge of corporate governance by setting standards of excellence that have elevated board performance.

The Croixstone team read with interest a recent publication by NACD spotlighting the fact that private company boards are facing increased pressure to both capitalize on and protect against disruption. Whether coming from the environment, rapid advances in technology, the political landscape, and/or regulatory realms, the ongoing threat of disruption demands that directors be flexible, agile, and ready to address these fast-evolving challenges.

NACD recommends that boards prioritize their discussions on the following three areas:

  • Human Capital: Especially on matters of hiring, retention, and succession planning.
  • Cyber Threats: In 2021, ransomware events increased by 700%. It is essential that directors understand their company’s vulnerabilities and the board’s role in addressing these challenges.
  • ESG: The rise in ESG (environmental, social and governance) mandates that boards provide strong leadership in guiding the management of their companies to allocate the appropriate resources and attention.

Learn more here.

Understanding America’s Labor Shortage

Here’s an eye-opening fact that truly captures that enormous hiring challenge facing USA employers of all sizes.

If every unemployed person in the country found a job, we would still have 5.3 million open jobs.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce published research in early February of 2022 that featured this fact along with other data that the Croixstone team found fascinating. The following data points truly help to shape the story of today’s labor market.

  • We have 11.3 million job openings in the USA – but only 6 million unemployed workers.
  • As of October 2021, the pandemic drove 3 million adults into early retirement.
  • The childcare industry lost 370,600 jobs between February and April 2020 – and is still recovering.
  • Women participating in the workforce is at its lowest rate since the 1970s.
  • Last year, more than 47 million workers quit their jobs.
  • A Gallup survey found that 91% of workers in the USA hope they can continue to work some of their hours from home.
  • 3 in 10 workers surveyed by Gallup signaled they would seek now employment if they were recalled to the office.

Learn more about the U.S. Chamber research here.

The seismic disruption in the USA’s workforce mandates that organizations of all sizes reimagine their people strategies. Croixstone’s team of highly-experienced human capital professionals are here to ideate and bring new thinking to your HR organization. Reach out to us today and let’s kick-start a conversation.

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