What’s Top of Mind for CEOs

Fortune Magazine and Deloitte have partnered to track the perspectives and actions of CEOs from the world’s largest and most influential companies. Every 4 months, the duo gathers key insights into CEOs’ priorities, challenges, and expectations across 15 industries, including finance, health care, and technology.

At the end of last month, Fortune/Deloitte shared the results of their latest survey that revealed that a growing number of chief executives expect pandemic disruptions to continue. Additionally, they remain bullish about growth while they are focused on talent, and taking action on climate change.

Our key takeaway from the latest survey?

Talent remains a top priority for CEOs.

Nearly three-quarters of CEOs say they expect labor and skills shortages to in influence or disrupt their strategy over the next 12 months. When asked about the biggest challenge they face, nearly 50% of CEOs name challenges related to talent – up from a 25% in the Fortune/Deloitte summer survey.

Asked separately about the top three challenges to their organization’s talent and workforce goals, the major of CEOs named attracting and recruiting talent (57%), designing a post-pandemic workplace (53%), and retaining talent (51%). Building a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workforce is also high on the list of challenges for 43% of CEOs.

Click here to read the full report.

McKinsey & Company: Women in the Workplace 2021 Survey

Women in the Workplace is the largest comprehensive study on the state of women in corporate America, with data from 423 companies employing 12M people. Following are a few key take-aways from the study by McKinsey & Company and LeanIn.org.

Women are now significantly more burned out than they were last year, and increasingly more so than men. Women are, however, rising to the challenge as stronger leaders and taking on the extra work to support the wellbeing of all employees while also advancing DE&I efforts. That being said, companies are not recognizing and rewarding their efforts, and they are at risk of losing the very leaders they need right now.

While companies are embracing flexibility and not anticipating going back to pre-pandemic norms, the one thing most are missing is clear boundaries so that employees don’t have to feel like they need to be “always on” 24/7. Only 1 in 5 employees stated that they received guidelines for responding to non-urgent requests after traditional work hours. Establishing or reinforcing boundaries will go a long way in addressing burnout.

Representation by women at all levels of leadership has increased modestly, but women of color remain underrepresented, face more challenges and get less support. Allyship is critical in the workplace, and when employees have strong allies, they are more likely to have positive work experiences and less likely to be burned out and consider leaving their company.

To learn more, read the full study: Women in the Workplace 2021

Consulting Industry Factoids

How is the consulting industry faring amidst the global pandemic?

Thanks to the hard work of our talented consultants, Croixstone Consulting celebrated a record revenue year in 2020 (and 2021 is proving to be even better)!  In light of our firm’s success, we decided to dive into Statista’s latest published consulting industry research over the weekend to see how the rest of the industry is faring.

Here are 5 fast facts about the management consulting industry.

  • Industry Size:  The global consulting market delivers $132B in annual revenues while the USA market produces $64.4B.  The USA is the world’s largest management consulting market.
  • COVID Impact:  After experiencing continuous growth between 2015 and 2019, the consulting industry saw a significant revenue loss (-12.5%) across all markets and segments in 2020.
  • Number of Businesses:  In 2020, the number of consulting businesses in the USA reached 831,621, a slight increase over 2019.  It is estimated that this number will increase by 30,000 units in 2021.
  • Number of Consultants:  Since 2012, the number of management consultants in the USA has increased every year, reaching 734,000 consultants in 2020.
  • Revenue Per Consultant:  The average annual revenue per consultant of management consultancies worldwide decreased overall between 2015 and 2020.  During a 2020 survey, respondents reported an average annual revenue per consultant of $208K.

Click here to read more highlights from Statista’s latest research on the consulting services industry.

Know Charlotte: 2021 Quarter 2 Growth Report

The Charlotte Regional Business Alliance has published its latest Growth Report for 2021 Quarter 2.  Although Croixstone Consulting serves clients across the United States, we remain exceptionally invested in the economic growth of the Charlotte Region where our firm is based.

Following are our 5 key takeaways from the latest Growth Report.

  • COVID Job Losses:  The Charlotte Region has 43,700 fewer jobs than pre-pandemic (-3.1%), outperforming the nation (-4.4%).
  • Job Gains:  June 2021 showed the most jobs gained since October 2020 (and more than 2x any previous month in 2021).
  • Economic Development Projects:  30 economic development projects were announced in Q2, the highest of any quarter since the CLT Alliance created the Growth Report in 2019.
  • Capital Investments:  These 30 projects represent $1.2B in capital investments (the 3rd highest amount in the history of the Growth Report).
  • Labor Market:  The Charlotte Region is experiencing the lowest ratio of job seekers to job openings since at least 2006.

Read the 2021 Quarter 2 Growth Report here.

Croixstone Consulting Turns “5”

We are celebrating!  Founded by Patti Weber and Mark Weber in 2016, Croixstone Consulting celebrates its fifth business anniversary this month.  Launched in a loft in Charlotte’s South End neighborhood with the aspiration to provide a highly-differentiated business model in management consulting, Croixstone has grown rapidly thanks to the deep expertise, talents and support of our consulting team, internal staff and partners/supporters.

As all entrepreneurs understand, the art of the start-up is filled with times of both great exhilaration and sleepless nights (hello global pandemic)!  We are fortunate in that our five-year ride at Croixstone has been one of tremendous positivity. 

Here are some of our favorite special moments over the past 5 years. 

  • Launch:  Croixstone began operations in June 2016 in Loft 309 in the former Lance Crackers building on South Boulevard in Charlotte’s booming South End neighborhood.
  • Hello Uptown:  Croixstone relocated from the start-up loft to the new Industrious Charlotte Uptown co-working community in the Bank of America Plaza tower at Trade & Tryon in December 2017.
  • TABL:  Croixstone introduced TABL, the firm’s unique culinary team building experience, with a playful social media launch in January 2018.
  • New Practice Area:  Croixstone announced the launch of its new human capital solutions practice and a new executive search offering in June 2019.
  • FORTUNE Magazine:  Croixstone announced in May 2020 that Patti Weber (CEO) had been accepted as part of a competitive application process into FORTUNE magazine’s Rebuild Program that was inspired in response to the global pandemic.
  • Hello NoDa:  Croixstone relocated into larger offices in the newly-opened Industrious Charlotte NoDa co-working community in June 2020.
  • Supplier Diversity Certification:  Croixstone received national certification in July 2020 as a Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE) by the Greater Women’s Business Council, a regional certifying partner of the Women’s Enterprise National Council (WBENC).
  • Accelerated Growth:  Croixstone announced in January 2021 that Patti Weber (CEO) was one of 25 women across the USA accepted in the NAWBO (National Association of Women Business Owners) Accelerated Growth Program sponsored by Wells Fargo.
  • Forty Over 40:  Croixstone’s CEO Patti Weber was named as a “Forty Over 40” award recipient by The Charlotte Ledger in May 2021.

Consulting Industry Insights: Restructurings & Turnarounds

The global pandemic has fueled an increase in consulting engagements focused on restructurings and turnarounds over the past 15 months.  In its May 2021 newsletter, BDO Consulting Group published the below informative chart highlighting U.S. corporate bankruptcies with debt greater than $10MM by industry.  Interestingly, approximately 40% of the 302 bankruptcies filings were in two industries:  1)  Oil & Gas and 2) Retail & Consumer Products.

Source:  BDO Consulting Group, LLC, Debtwire Restructuring Database
* Includes companies with at least $10 million in funded debt

So what are the common restructuring and turnaround services that consulting firms like Croixstone offer?  As published in a recent article by Consultancy.eu, these services include: 

  • Diagnosing the problem:  Identifying drivers for the crisis, stage & severity of crisis
  • Stabilizing operations:  Managing short-term liquidity & working capital concerns
  • Cost efficiency & austerity strategies:  Evaluating business needs for cost-cutting measures; designing & implementing austerity plans
  • Procurement cost reduction:  Analyzing contracted spend & redesigning & renegotiating contracts
  • Business model innovation:  Rethinking operating & core business models, value creation & enhancement
  • Divestiture strategies:  Offloading non-performing business units, distressed segments, portfolios, etc.
  • Organizational effectiveness:  Streamlining resources; revamping processes & business segments; interim C-level deployment
  • Change management:  Developing change implementation plans to ensure minimal people disruption

We’re Serving Up Consulting BUZZ!

Our leaders at Croixstone spend time each week speaking at length with clients, prospects and consultants across the greater Charlotte region and beyond. We’re often asked the following questions by those in our professional networks.

What’s the buzz out there?
What is top of mind for companies in 2021?
What are you hearing from consultants?

Here’s a bulleted list, in no particular order, of the things we are hearing and seeing from clients, prospects and consultants.

  • Hiring is difficult.  The economy is rebounding, hiring is up, and it is increasingly difficult to fill roles with top-tier talent.  The latest Workforce Report from LinkedIn provides insights into the hiring boom.
  • SPACs are hot, hot, hot.  Special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) IPOs were more active in Q1 2021 than through all of 2020.
  • ERP implementation activity is robust.  Many of our clients are planning ERP implementations to go live in 2022.  The global ERP software market size stood at USD 38.15 billion in 2018 and is projected to reach USD 71.63 billion by 2026, exhibiting a CAGR of 8.55.
  • COVID-19 trauma is an ongoing issue.  Employers are dealing with employee pandemic stress that is inevitably spilling over into at-work life.

Management Consulting Factoids + Trends

The team at ReportLinker (a tech-driven market research firm) has published a new report entitled “Management Consulting Services Global Market 2021:  COVID-19 Impact and Recovery to 2030.”  Highlights of the report include:

  • The global management consulting services market is expected to grow from $819.79 billion in 2020 to $895.46 billion in 2021.
  • This represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.2%.
  • The market is expected to reach $1201.06 billion in 2025 at a CAGR of 8%.
  • While COVID-19 constrained growth in the industry in 2020, it is expected that management consulting will recover from the shock.

Learn more here.

COVID’s Other Headache – FRAUD!

Occupational fraud not only destroys the reputations of professionals and organizations, it can also destroy the financial footing of an organization.

Croixstone Consulting has once again joined forces with The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners to create awareness for fraud as an Official Supporter of International Fraud Awareness Week.

Joining organizations across the globe including Deloitte, Deutsch Bank, EY, FTI Consulting, Grant Thornton, Jeld-Wen, JP Morgan Chase, KPMG, Nestle SA, and PwC, Croixstone is working this week to share best practices on fraud prevention and encourage our clients and partners to proactively remedy weak spots in their current controls. 

2020 is an especially important year to create awareness of fraud.  Occupational fraud proliferates during recessions and times of economic instability as companies and employees feel increased pressure to meet the challenges of a down economy. 

Learn more about International Fraud Awareness Week here.

WHO WE ARE

Croixstone is an Inc. 5000 boutique consulting firm known for connecting the brightest minds in business and community. We drive business outcomes by accelerating and sustaining transformations.

Croixstone is nationally-certified by the Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) as a Women's Business Enterprise (WBE) and a Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB).

CONTACT

101 South Tryon Street, Suite 2700
Charlotte, NC  28280

Phone:  704.478.6040

info@croixstone.consulting

       
 

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