working with us

Our clients think hard before asking us to help them and we think hard before accepting an invitation. Of course, we will only work with clients where we believe we have the knowledge and experience to make a real difference. But it matters to us that we enjoy what we do and we will only work with clients with whom we believe we can establish a strong personal chemistry. For this reason, our first meeting is always free of charge. Thereafter we do not believe in surprising our clients with unexpected bills or costs. All of our work is costed in advance and we will never charge more than our estimates without agreeing the reasons with our client in advance.

Making a specialism of generalism

Our work is influenced by our backgrounds. We have academic backgrounds in the arts and the sciences and have professional qualifications in accountancy and human resources and we bring all four of these elements to our advisory work, as well as an understanding of commercial reality. We do not specialise in any industry or business discipline. Business problems are multi-disciplinary and so is our advice. We are London-based, but we do not specialise in any geographical region either – we have worked in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas and drawn insight from one region to help clients in another. What we do specialise in is the growth problems confronting the ambitious owner-managed business.

Personal approach

We prefer to work with our clients face-to-face and are prepared to travel internationally, but in recent years we have had to accept the reality of working with clients remotely and virtually as well. So, we are able to work with clients by Zoom or Teams or any other technology preferred by our clients. 

Honesty and integrity

We say what we think because this is the right thing to do and it is in our clients’ interests. Sometimes they might not like it at first, but we find that they usually come back for more!

Expertise and intellectual rigour

We are leading authorities in our field and want to stay that way. Intellectual rigour, backed up by our continual reading of the latest in relevant research from around the world, matters to us. Education is key for us and our clients.

Good humour and enjoyment

We enjoy what we do and want our clients to enjoy working with us. We believe that business is too serious for it not to be fun. Because we enjoy what we do we are able to work harder at it.

Personal and professional

We believe that business is something that is created where people interact with each other. Businesses are better when they remember that people matter. Professionalism is not an abstraction but something that real people, including ourselves, should aspire to.