Suggestions
Karen Thomas-Bland
Chair - Non Executive Director - Fractional Executive - Specialising in business growth, transformation, turnaround, and M&A. Writer, presenter, panellist and podcaster for Raconteur, FT, CEO Today and Management Today.
Karen Thomas-Bland is an experienced Interim Executive Committee member, Consultant, and NED with a strong background in leading complex enterprise-wide transformations and M&A integrations.
With 25 years of expertise, Karen has successfully managed major change programs for top companies like Accenture, Microsoft, EY, Invesco, and National Grid, as well as private equity funds, driving value creation and successful exits.
Before her interim career, Karen held executive positions at IBM Global Business Services, overseeing global transformations, integrating software businesses, managing a $4.5 billion P&L, and scaling a consulting and data analytics business to £500 million turnover across various international locations.
Karen specializes in strategy and transformation, focusing on creating disruptive operating models, leveraging data and technology to drive business growth, fostering dynamic cultures, and enhancing customer experiences through digital channels.
She has extensive experience in M&A, having led over 50 deals ranging from due diligence to post-merger integration, and she excels in corporate strategy development, achieving significant growth for FTSE companies.
Karen's skill set includes technology proficiency in digital, big data analytics, and AI, along with a track record of scaling new business ventures from MVP to full launch and expansion.
Apart from her professional roles, Karen is a Chartered Organisational Psychologist, an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society, and a member of INSEAD's global director network.
She is also actively engaged in sharing her insights on Transformation and M&A issues through contributions to various reputable publications like the Times, FT, Association of MBAs, and Management Today.
Highlights
The big three consultancies are ‘rarely worth hiring’, say executives.
Senior executives who hired the big three strategic consulting firms McKinsey, BCG, and Bain often say they are of no help, according to a study commissioned by a rival firm, according to The Times yesterday.
A survey of 702 executive staff and project managers found that of those who worked with the three biggest consultancies on corporate transformation projects, 84 per cent felt they “were no help at all.”
Not long ago, the consulting industry looked untouchable. Fees rocketed due to digital transformation, supply chain diversification, ESG initiatives and a flurry of M&A deals. The big firms ' revenues were up 20%, slowing to 5% in 2023 (Kennedy). When demand looked limitless, consultancies hired hard and fast.
The consulting industry has weathered its fair share of storms, including the dot.com crash and global financial crisis. Recovery, though, could prove more challenging this time due to preference for ‘local’ firms, waning enthusiasm for ESG, reputational issues impacting trust, and data crunching often being done by AI. No doubt, it's a tough time in consulting, particularly for big players.
But there are consultancies, often boutiques, that bring their A game and outperform the market. So, what trends set them apart?
✂ Specialists – carved out a niche for themselves
📚 Well-defined propositions that resonate with the new value creation-focused C-suite buyers
⌛ Focused on multiyear client relationships and engagements, trust has been established
💻 Tech-enabled - have a few close vendor relationships that pull work through for them and vice versa
💡 Codified new sustainable IP so there is value beyond people and prioritised reoccurring revenue
👯 Stayed close to the customer during difficult times, so top of mind
👩🔧 Attracted and retained good ‘been there done that’ talent
🚀 Used their entrepreneurial nature as an advantage -Nimble at responding to opportunities -Flexibility on commercial arrangements -Agile as clients’ conditions changed
🏳️🌈 Focussed on strong performing geographies like the Middle East
📈 Quantified value in proposals and outcomes across all their channels, emphasising the quantifiable impact on a client’s business
💲 Focused on maintaining strong profitability that reflects the offerings and delivery model
💪 Flexed on the mode of support – consultant, coach, mentor, partner, implementer
🗾 Made the complex simple, remained execution-focused in the context they are operating in
🛍 Built and maintained a strong brand that stood for something with customers and employees
💰 Got reward right for those who generate demand and supply. Money often goes to people who can generate demand more than the people who satisfy the supply
📈 Focus on capabilities, growth and scale
📊 Reduced account concentration risk
🐝 Developed sticky offerings that de-risks against client attrition
#managementconsulting #valuecreation
Interesting yesterday to listen to Stephen Bartlett talk about lessons learned in business and life. Here are a few of the lessons which I wholeheartedly agree with:
🤥 The small promises you make to yourself don't break them. Small wins give compound gains.
📚 Learn adjacent skills that are rare and complementary, your competitors won't have them, and the edge/value is in the combination of skills that others don't have.
5️⃣ Pay attention to the big 5. Build your knowledge and skills first then network, resources and reputation. At some point the final 3 take a hit but the first two mean you can build back.
🖌 Always paint the back of the fence - the small details matter in the message you send to others and yourself. Have a passion for perfection, sweat the small stuff.
🤺 "Who, not how" is the real question when you have a problem; the temptation is the reverse to focus on what you will do.
👯 Building a team is the most important thing. We are all in the recruitment business. You get 20x or 30x value from an A player, so make sure you work harder to find exceptional people and cut those who aren't.
💡 Experiment, fail and learn. When you stop experimenting you risk decline.
⏰ Never waste time on indecision! Even the wrong decision you can learn from.
🏢 Huge tasks can be broken down - building the biggest wall is just laying hundreds of bricks.
❤️ Use the RICE framework for influence: Reward - Ideology - Coercion - Ego. The order of strength is I-E-R-C. Coercion is always the weakest.
🎲 How do you allocate your time? Think of it as chips in a casino. Does your "gambling" reflect what you are playing for in the game of life?
😲 Stand for something and be happy to be disliked, every brand has a voice and personality. Make people feel something either way - if the reaction is indifference you need to change what you are doing.
🚫 Lean in when something sounds strange. Cognitive dissonance means we can reject new too quickly.
#lessonslearned #leadership #valuecreation
People also viewed
Related People
Mesh is a relationship management platform that serves as a personal CRM, helping you organize and deepen both personal and professional relationships. It functions as a beautiful rolodex and CRM available on iPhone, Mac, Windows, and web, built automatically to help manage your network efficiently. Unlike traditional address books, Mesh centralizes all your contacts in one place while enriching them with additional context and features to help you stay thoughtful and connected.
Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
- Network Strength: Visualizes the strength of your relationships relative to others in your network
- Timeline: Shows your relationship history with each contact
- Smart Search: Allows you to search using natural language like "People I know at the NYT" or "Designers I've met in London"
- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
- Home Feed: Displays updates about your network including job changes, news mentions, and birthdays
- Groups: Organizes contacts into meaningful categories
- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Mesh is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Mesh as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Mesh offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Mesh takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Mesh encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Mesh work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Mesh is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Mesh is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Mesh is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
Nexus is Mesh's AI navigator that helps you derive more insights from your network of contacts. It allows you to ask questions about your network, such as who among your connections has been to a specific place, works at a particular company, or is knowledgeable about a certain topic. Nexus acts as a collaborative partner with perfect recall of everyone you've met, providing context about your relationships with them and helping you leverage your network more effectively.
Mesh makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Mesh's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Mesh isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Mesh instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Mesh is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Mesh can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Mesh's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Mesh has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Mesh a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Mesh's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Mesh's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Mesh has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Mesh's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Mesh as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Mesh eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.