Episode 117: From Contractor to Consulting CEO with James O'Sullivan

In the latest episode of Climb into Consulting, Nick is joined by James O’Sullivan, CEO of Project One. James' career demonstrates that you don't have to follow a traditional career path to succeed in our industry. After sending letters to all of the FTSE 100 and being rejected by 99 of them, James began his project management career at Tate and Lyle. After this, he developed his passion for change management and continued on to lead major change programmes for Lloyds Banking Group and NAB for the next 25 years. But, there is more to James' story than just contracting success. Since joining Project One in 2014, James has risen through the ranks to become CEO. With such a wealth of experience and a passion for doing things differently, Nick and James discuss a wide range of topics, including: - James' early career and how his time in ‘in house roles’ set him up for success leading Project One. - Project One’s unique approach and why they ignore many of the industry norms when it comes to running their business. - And, James’ transition to becoming CEO and his advice if you’re about to undertake a leadership change in your own firm. It doesn't matter whether you're on the path to becoming CEO or already there, James has some insider advice you'll benefit from. We hope you enjoy the show! Find out more about James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-o-sullivan-3a2596/ Learn more about Project One: https://projectone.com/ Books and podcasts mentioned by James: Our Iceberg is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions by John Kotter https://www.amazon.co.uk/Our-Iceberg-Melting-Succeeding-Conditions/dp/0230014208 The High Performing Podcast: https://www.thehighperformancepodcast.com/

Om Podcasten

As a management consultant myself I’ve always been lucky to have mentors who have guided me through my career. When I was in house I regularly had quality time with Senior Partners that helped me rapidly accelerate my career and has continued to help since I’ve gone out on my own. While I had this great resource and knowledge bank to draw on I know many friends in Consulting aren’t as lucky with some only speaking with senior partners on a monthly or quarterly basis. That’s why I created this podcast. I wanted to help people like you who want to accelerate their careers in consulting by interviewing leaders in the field to share the advice, tips and strategies that they used to get to the top so that you can to so that you can too. In each Episode I’ll be interviewing a senior figure in the industry so that you can learn from them. We’ll be going deep in to their background, how they succeeded and what their advice would be for you. This podcast is brought to you by Create Engage the Digital Marketing agency for the disruptive Management Consultancy. Digital Marketing has moved forward, but most consulting firms haven’t. Many Consulting firms still see their corporate blog as their sole Digital Marketing channel and find themselves frustrated when these blogs yield little if any results. To help those of you who want to harness the power of Digital Marketing to grow your Consulting Business but don’t have the knowledge, capacity or in-house capability to do so I launched Create Engage, the first Digital Marketing agency for the Management Consulting Industry. If you’d like to find out more about how Create Engage can help you use Digital Marketing to take your business to the next level then drop me an email at [email protected] or go to our website www.createengage.co.uk where you can download our free case study that breaks down down the Digital Marketing strategies used by one successful Consulting firm to help them grow over 400% in just 3 years and gives you the secrets they used, so that you can apply them in your own firm.