Have you ever wondered what it takes to pivot from a pure math whiz into a leading light in project management consulting? Laura Dribbin, CEO of Peridius Consulting, joins us to chart her own extraordinary journey, taking us from her roots in the burgeoning PC industry to her influential tenure at Microsoft, and finally to the foundation of her own innovative firm. With stories that encapsulate the essence of entrepreneurial grit, Laura embodies the spirit of innovation and the relentless pursuit of success. Her unique "outcome management" approach to projects not only challenges the status quo but also redefines the very metrics by which we measure success.
This episode is nothing short of a master class in tenacity for the business-minded listener. Laura doesn't just share her wisdom; she gives us a front-row seat to the trials and triumphs of taking the road less traveled in business, from integrating AI into project management to the critical importance of personal connections in an increasingly digital world. Her candid revelations about the "three-month rule," combating setbacks, and the unwavering dedication to one’s values provide a blueprint for resilience in the competitive landscape of project management consulting. Captivating and insightful, this conversation with Laura Dribbin will resonate with anyone who's ever aspired to turn their professional dreams into reality.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hey folks, welcome back to another episode of the
growing Lean podcast sponsoredby Lean Discovery Group.
This is your host, dylan Burke,also known as Deej.
I'm happy to be here today withLaura Dribbin, founder and CEO
of Peridius Consulting.
Welcome, laura.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Thanks, Dylan.
I appreciate you having me ontoday.
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
It's my pleasure.
It's my pleasure, so can youtell us a little bit about
yourself, your background andyour history, and how you ended
up doing what you do?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Absolutely, absolutely.
So.
Everything I'm going to say isprobably going to age me, but
we'll forget about that duringthis conversation.
But when I first started it wasearly in the PC startup.
You know PCs were new tobusiness.
(00:55):
I had been a math major incollege.
I didn't really know what Iwanted, but I fell into
consulting early on, loved it.
I worked for one of the theycalled it the Big Eight Now they
call them the Tier 1 consultingfirms there's not quite eight
anymore and just lovedconsulting.
(01:15):
But I then switched.
I thought I wanted to trycorporate America, realized
corporate America wasn't for meafter one year.
And then from there I went to.
I worked at Microsoft and thatwas early on in Microsoft's
tenure.
So great experience.
They hired eight people aroundthe country to go out and be
(01:37):
evangelists for OS2, landmanager and SQL server, as
anyone who knows anything aboutOS2 history.
Midway through they said stoptalking about OS2 and start
talking about Windows.
So that was a great experience.
But after I had been there fora couple of years I was pregnant
(02:00):
with my first daughter andrealized had to figure out what
my priorities were.
I had been a road warrior upuntil then, my entire career,
and knew I didn't want to dowork travel.
When I had children.
I missed consulting, so thatwas my other thing.
I wanted flexibility for mychildren.
(02:20):
I wanted to get back toconsulting.
But if I went back it wouldhave still been the same kind of
environment where I would be aroad warrior.
So I ended up starting my ownfirm.
At that point in time Really hadno background, but I decided I
was going to start my ownconsulting firm, focused on the
(02:42):
Chicago area, which is where Ilive.
My experience was mostly inFortune 1000 companies, so that
was where I was going to focusmy attention at the time.
So that's how I got started.
Shortly after starting thebusiness, I had a tech
background but I fell intomanaging a very large program
(03:06):
for one of the Fortune 1000companies and realized I love
this, I'm good at it, I'm goodat organizing people and plans
and realized that was my niche.
And back then I saw an opening.
Project management was not abuzzword in companies
(03:27):
Construction engineering theyused project managers for
decades and used that term.
But in the business community,project management was not a
term that people were using.
So when they said I needsomething done, please go ahead
and figure out how to do it,make it happen.
That's what I, you know, that'swhat we were doing at that time
(03:47):
.
So I used that opportunity todevelop my business plan around
going to be focusing on thedelivery of my client's strategy
.
You know, focus just ondelivery.
And back then most consultantsreally, and still today, love
doing strategy we figured wewould do the tough end of like
(04:09):
let's make sure that happens.
So that's how we ended up intoat the time what we called a
program and project managementconsulting firm.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Okay, amazing, that's , that's awesome.
And do you ever regret leavingMicrosoft, seeing how far
they've gone?
Speaker 2 (04:27):
No, I don't, Probably an issue that I shouldn't be
announcing on a podcast, but Istock, which we won't talk about
, that made some mistakes inthat end.
But yes, but no, I don't regretit because I've been doing.
I love what we're doing rightnow, I love what we've created
(04:51):
and I'm just consulting.
At the time I actually had anopportunity at the time at
Microsoft to propose I rememberproposing to Steve Ballmer and
Bill Gates that they shouldcreate a consulting firm within
Microsoft and at the time theyweren't ready for it.
I know they have one now, anarm of it, but at the time they
weren't ready for that 100%, andcould you walk us through your
(05:16):
overall strategy, your businessstrategy?
Sure, sure.
So you know my strategy haschanged slightly throughout the
34 years we've been doing this.
Initially it was program andproject management.
You know I would take on anyproject and our model is very
(05:36):
different.
It's unique to most consultingfirms.
Nowadays, project managers areeverywhere and every consulting
firm will say here's yoursubject manager experts, and
we'll bring a project manager in.
We have just been focused onproject management.
So what we bring is 1.25resources to every project.
We bring a consultant, veryseasoned senior program manager
(06:00):
who can manage the effort, andthen we bring a partial quality
manager and that is our part ofour secret sauce Someone who
will oversee, make sure we havethe right fit from our side into
the client and work with them,because we do have a new process
that they participate in aswell, which I'll get to in a
(06:20):
second.
But it all we're doing isbringing in the lead to a team
that is typically a lot ofdisparate resources Tier one
consulting firms, systemintegrators, other third parties
.
We do acquisition integration,that's two companies trying to
come together, anything wherethere are a lot of different,
(06:41):
disparate resources.
That is our sweet spot andbecause our people, our team,
knows how it's sort of like theorchestra conductor.
They may not play everyinstrument, but they know how to
bring everyone together to makemusic.
So that's our strategy.
We have moved from a program andproject management company,
though, to what we call outcomemanagement, and that was
(07:01):
developed partly from thefrustration that we had on why
are we only talking about time,budget and scope?
And any project manager hasbeen trained in you've got to
get a project completed on time,on budget, within scope, and
that is what they learn theskills to do.
Well, that is important.
(07:23):
That's also important.
So get it done does not alwaystranslate it to get it done
right or get it done with thevalue that you initially
proposed.
So we have, at Purdue's, haveadded, created an outcome
management process, and that isto address value generation.
So we start, we take projectmanagement tenants, but we have
(07:45):
added on initially to what iswhat's a strategic objective.
We create a strategic alignmentprocess is what we start out
with.
We bring the executive team,and then we ask them what does
success look like when you'reall done, and then how you going
to measure?
So, for instance, they say well, we're going to do this project
and it will increase revenue.
(08:05):
We push to ask what does thatlook like?
A half a percent Is thatsuccess?
300% is that success?
So we narrow that down becausethat way we we are measuring
throughout and then we, whenwe're done and we are completed
with the project, we turn it.
You know, we're turning it overto our client who can continue
(08:27):
to measure that, those successmetrics, to see if they are
still staying on track.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Okay, 100%.
And your business has beenaround for what?
30 years or something 34 years34 years, so you've been through
quite a lot of economicalchanges, like dot com bubble,
recession in 2007, 2008, thepandemic.
(08:56):
So how have you handled thesechanges in the economic climate
and has that taught you to planfor unforeseen changes coming?
Speaker 2 (09:10):
That's a great question at the end.
But what we?
I have seen that and I've gonethrough three downturns in this
time, the three that youmentioned.
This has been a rough year forconsulting If you take a look
out there, we are not alone andconsulting has had a tougher
year and I've been there twicebefore this.
(09:33):
So I do know what it takes, andsome of it is patience because
it does turn around, and otheris a different way of focusing
on selling.
I'm reengaging with people Ihaven't spoken to for years.
That might have been priorclients that during COVID, sort
(09:54):
of, might have gotten lost alittle bit.
So you know, my sales efforthas changed.
But downturns, I think peoplepanic.
I look at it as a downturn, asan opportunity to reinvent.
I find that the companies thatdo take that time to think about
, you know, are we, you know,should we be doing anything
(10:17):
different?
Downturns are a good time forthat.
People who do focus on changeand what can we be doing better,
are often the ones who come outof a downturn way better than
others who are in reactive modeand just trying to keep their
head above water.
So you know, we're always, youknow, rethinking and re-planning
(10:39):
.
But ours is a very specificniche and I will tell you,
delivering something difficultisn't it is rocket science, but
it does take a lot of softskills and I think that's one of
the problems with our industrythat they are.
You know, the associationsfocus a lot on tactics around
(11:04):
what project management shouldbe doing.
Though projects rarely reallyfail in that space, it's because
, more of you know you have apassive, aggressive stakeholder
or you have people who reallydon't want this to happen, but
they are being told they have tocome along on the ride and
unless you figure out how toengage these people, projects
(11:27):
suffer and then and thoserealms- 100%, and when the
pandemic hit did that?
Speaker 1 (11:36):
were you already working remote or?
Speaker 2 (11:40):
No, we had a small office because most of our
consultants go to our clients,so we didn't we don't really
need a lot of space because preCOVID they were going, they were
going to the client site towork.
But we really sort of werealready aware, because our
clients are Fortune 1000.
(12:01):
So almost all of our projectsfor years have been global.
Yes, you may have a team local,but there are.
You're dealing with teams allover the world.
So our team knew how to, how toreact quickly to COVID.
So it didn't really seem anydifferent, other than now a lot
of them are working at homebecause our clients are not
(12:21):
creating people back quite yet,or, if they are not full time,
more of a hybrid.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Okay yeah, standard Most industries not.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Yeah, so that worked out to our benefit, because I
think a lot of people were notquite aware of how to work in a
remote environment, and so ourglobal experience had sort of
helped us.
I'm still a lover of hybridenvironments on a personal basis
, because I think that personalinteraction helps in a multitude
(12:53):
of ways.
You know, putting a name and aface together the water cooler
effect and just being able tomeet face to face Occasionally,
I think it comes, is beneficial.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Yeah, 100% agree.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
And most recently over the last, let's say, year
and a half, two years, with theAI coming into the mainstream,
are you taking advantage of thetools that are available to you?
Speaker 2 (13:27):
I have read a lot not a lot personally, to be very
honest, but I am.
What I'm fine is, there's a lotof articles out and I think
actually the Project ManagementInstitute, which is a
certification group for projectmanagers, even has a
certification, I believe, onthat now and I think there's a
lot of talk about how that willaffect project management, and
(13:53):
it hasn't affected us yet.
I think it will.
I think, but in different ways.
I don't believe any time thatyou're dealing with disparate
groups of resources withdifferent agendas.
I don't believe that is goingto be replaced by AI, and what I
mean by that is the tacticsthat we talked about checking
(14:16):
off boxes to do.
To finish this, that is goingto be something that eventually
will definitely affect our, ourindustry of project management.
That can be done through AIeventually, I am confident.
But the personal interactions,which is where projects tend to
fail, though there's still goingto be that personal need that,
(14:42):
I think, will retain our field,just it'll look a little
different okay, a hundredpercent, yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
And what have to be in the biggest challenges since
you've launched the business?
I know it's been a while, butI'm sure there've been some
notable challenges that youfaced what?
What are those and how did youovercome them?
Speaker 2 (15:07):
absolutely, I think.
Well, the biggest risk is I hadno idea what I was doing.
So, plain and simple, that wasmy biggest risk.
I had come from a family ofteachers my mother, my sisters
and my father was an electricianso I fell into business and I
(15:30):
really, you know, when I cameout of school I didn't know what
I was going to do with mydegree, fell into business, and
so I didn't have any role modelsof people who started
businesses the area that Iraised my children.
At the time, there were not alot of women that were working,
(15:52):
and so I was an oddity in thatrespect as well.
So it was, it was, it was, itwas, it was a constant learning.
For me, every day was a newlearning.
How do I do this?
Can I do it?
I think the I had a three-monthrule at the time when I because
(16:14):
at the very beginning it wasjust me I would get the work and
then I would do the work, and Ihad a three-month rule that I
changed three months, which I'llget to, but the initial three
months is it by couldn't bind anew project to do within a three
month period and I would golook for a new job.
That was my out and the logicbeing I couldn't really look for
(16:37):
work while I was doing the work.
So I would give myself threemonths.
Because of who I am, I likechallenges and that's sort of
what motivates me.
I always I never reached thethree months.
I actually came very close onetime, but my my goal was I was
(16:59):
not going to let that happen, soI worked hard to continue to
find that.
So finally I got a rhythm, Igot more work and then I started
adding people.
So that was another challenge.
I started out of an, at the verybeginning, hiring people who
had the soft skills but didn'tknow anything about project
(17:19):
management, and that didn't workout very well because I ended
up training them more than I didlooking for new work.
And then I hired contractorsthat had were experienced and I
realized well, this works, butI'm trying to build a firm and a
philosophy, so I wanted to hirepeople, and so those are the
(17:41):
steps that I had had to gothrough, and it was all learning
and I happened to be a risktaker big risk taker, I would
say which plays to, I think, thestrength of most entrepreneurs.
Most entrepreneurs are risktakers and I used it in that I
never felt like anything was afailure along the way and I had
plenty of failures, mind you,but but I learned from all.
(18:04):
So my attitude is there's lotsof ways to skin a cat.
I'll try one way.
That doesn't work, I will pullback and try another way.
So there were a lot of ups anddowns along the way so I got to
a great model which we wouldhave today.
I'm sure others may have, youknow in hindsight, might have
(18:25):
gotten there quicker, but I Idon't mind trying things and
failing and learning from themand moving on.
So that was, that was, I think,my, my, my superpower, that I'm
not afraid to fail that later,that three months that I
mentioned, I have changed intoand this has to do with that I
have lived my values my entirecareer.
(18:48):
If I'm unhappy for three monthsstraight Everyone's unhappy in
their job, you know they have abad day, a bad week or a bad
month, but three months in a row, if I have three months in a
row, then I'm out.
I decided like there's, life'stoo short, I'll go do something
else, and haven't really reachedthat yet.
(19:11):
Came close one time as well,but not quite yet.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
I appreciate that and it makes a lot of sense.
I think a lot of people areafraid to do that and admit that
, but that's really cool.
And also I admire the fact thatyou're not afraid of failure
and you take it on head first.
I think that's super important,especially as an entrepreneur.
(19:37):
You need to have that.
You need to have that abilityto accept failure and learn from
it and move on.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Without a doubt, life's too short and I'm a big
believer of no regrets.
So how do you have no regrets?
Well, you try it, and if itdoesn't work out, then at least
you try it.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Exactly exactly me too, and I wanted to ask if you
could rate your business todayon a scale of one to 10, in
terms of your satisfaction withthe overall business.
What would that be?
Speaker 2 (20:19):
Oh, that's a great question.
I would say I'd like to answerthat in two parts.
I think the model that we havetoday focused on outcomes,
focused on the largetransformational efforts that we
have for our clients.
That is the model that I havebeen trying to achieve for 34
(20:39):
years.
We're there, we have a solidprocess, I have a phenomenal
team and we not only help ourclients but we actually always
save them money when they allowus to help oversee their whole
integrated team, because we'renot tied to a specific vendor.
(21:08):
We're not inclined to try andadd more resources to up our
buildings.
We only succeed when the clientgets what they're looking for.
So in that part, I would ratethat as a 10.
Maybe a nine because there'salways room for improvement.
But I would say, as for on theselling side, I'm probably a
(21:37):
seven or eight and that we'restill small.
Now we'll always be smallbecause our model is small and
because I'm living the values of.
I wanted flexibility when Ibuilt this company and I didn't
want to travel, and so all thesethings adds to I got exactly
(21:59):
what I had built.
But I think that there is aholdout.
When I started in the 80s,companies did not have an IIT
staff other than a mainframestaff, they didn't have the
knowledge base to be able tobuild the systems that they're
(22:20):
building.
That needed to be built at thattime, which is why consulting
companies grew so quickly.
The Accentures, the Deloites,the ENYs, the IBMs, the system
integrators all grew becausethey were able to bulk up
quickly and so you had used tohave entire encapsulated teams
going out to companies to do thework that needed.
(22:43):
In fact, literally, it was likego ahead and get it done and let
us know when you're done.
Type up environment.
Well, nowadays everybody hasthat kind of project expertise,
whether it's tech or even in thebusiness, is more involved
nowadays than they were backthen in making the decisions for
their own team.
But you still need, fortransformation, some of these
(23:06):
bigger companies.
So what I think is happeningthat needs to change is some of
these bigger companies areworking with other third parties
their clients internal team andthey're still bringing in the
program manager.
But the difference is now youhave different firms in there
(23:27):
working together with aninternal team.
You need someone independentwhether it's the client has
their own internal person great.
Or someone like us, where weare making sure that everyone is
aligned to the goals.
That's a harder message.
That's an uphill battle.
So that's why I would rate themessage a little bit lower of
(23:54):
where I'd like it to be.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Okay, 100%.
And if we were to sit downagain in 12 months time and
everything has gone right,everything that possibly can has
gone right for your business,what, firstly, what does it look
like and what has changed since, from today?
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Well, I think the economy right now needs a little
boost, and I will tell you thatin the that I am starting to
see signs of it.
So I'm hoping that those signspan through, but in 12 months,
for that, if everything goesright then then we are back to
where we were last year and thatwe are taking on our clients a
(24:39):
larger efforts, the ones thatare.
There's more of them becausepeople are not holding back and
our reputation precedes us.
That would be a nice nice tohave as well.
Being a small organization whenwe're competing with the tier
ones and the system integrators,sometimes it's a reeducation.
(25:02):
Every time, here's what we do.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Okay, amazing.
I love to hear it and I've justlooked at the time and we are
unfortunately a little bit overeven.
But if you were to give onepiece of advice to other
business owners looking tosucceed, what would that be?
Speaker 2 (25:19):
Don't be afraid of failure.
It's going to happen.
You will fail at one point oranother.
So engage with it.
Learn from it and don't listento all the naysayers.
I've had a lot of naysayersthroughout my career and they
are, and it could bedebilitating if you listen to
(25:42):
them.
So don't listen to them.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
Believe in yourself 100% believe in yourself.
Thank you, laura.
I really appreciate your timetoday, and what is the best way
for people to reach out to LauraDriven if you've got any offers
for them or they're looking tofollow your story?
Speaker 2 (25:58):
Sure, take a look at wwwperidioscom.
How to reach us is on there, aswell as a lot of the articles
that have been written throughthe years and recently, so take
a look there.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
Amazing.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
I really appreciate it today, your time and the
platform.
Thank you.
Hey folks, welcome back to another episode of the
growing Lean podcast sponsoredby Lean Discovery Group.
This is your host, dylan Burke,also known as Deej.
I'm happy to be here today withLaura Dribbin, founder and CEO
of Peridius Consulting.
Welcome, laura.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Thanks, Dylan.
I appreciate you having me ontoday.
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
It's my pleasure.
It's my pleasure, so can youtell us a little bit about
yourself, your background andyour history, and how you ended
up doing what you do?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Absolutely, absolutely.
So.
Everything I'm going to say isprobably going to age me, but
we'll forget about that duringthis conversation.
But when I first started it wasearly in the PC startup.
You know PCs were new tobusiness.
(00:55):
I had been a math major incollege.
I didn't really know what Iwanted, but I fell into
consulting early on, loved it.
I worked for one of the theycalled it the Big Eight Now they
call them the Tier 1 consultingfirms there's not quite eight
anymore and just lovedconsulting.
(01:15):
But I then switched.
I thought I wanted to trycorporate America, realized
corporate America wasn't for meafter one year.
And then from there I went to.
I worked at Microsoft and thatwas early on in Microsoft's
tenure.
So great experience.
They hired eight people aroundthe country to go out and be
(01:37):
evangelists for OS2, landmanager and SQL server, as
anyone who knows anything aboutOS2 history.
Midway through they said stoptalking about OS2 and start
talking about Windows.
So that was a great experience.
But after I had been there fora couple of years I was pregnant
(02:00):
with my first daughter andrealized had to figure out what
my priorities were.
I had been a road warrior upuntil then, my entire career,
and knew I didn't want to dowork travel.
When I had children.
I missed consulting, so thatwas my other thing.
I wanted flexibility for mychildren.
(02:20):
I wanted to get back toconsulting.
But if I went back it wouldhave still been the same kind of
environment where I would be aroad warrior.
So I ended up starting my ownfirm.
At that point in time Really hadno background, but I decided I
was going to start my ownconsulting firm, focused on the
(02:42):
Chicago area, which is where Ilive.
My experience was mostly inFortune 1000 companies, so that
was where I was going to focusmy attention at the time.
So that's how I got started.
Shortly after starting thebusiness, I had a tech
background but I fell intomanaging a very large program
(03:06):
for one of the Fortune 1000companies and realized I love
this, I'm good at it, I'm goodat organizing people and plans
and realized that was my niche.
And back then I saw an opening.
Project management was not abuzzword in companies
(03:27):
Construction engineering theyused project managers for
decades and used that term.
But in the business community,project management was not a
term that people were using.
So when they said I needsomething done, please go ahead
and figure out how to do it,make it happen.
That's what I, you know, that'swhat we were doing at that time
(03:47):
.
So I used that opportunity todevelop my business plan around
going to be focusing on thedelivery of my client's strategy
.
You know, focus just ondelivery.
And back then most consultantsreally, and still today, love
doing strategy we figured wewould do the tough end of like
(04:09):
let's make sure that happens.
So that's how we ended up intoat the time what we called a
program and project managementconsulting firm.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Okay, amazing, that's , that's awesome.
And do you ever regret leavingMicrosoft, seeing how far
they've gone?
Speaker 2 (04:27):
No, I don't, Probably an issue that I shouldn't be
announcing on a podcast, but Istock, which we won't talk about
, that made some mistakes inthat end.
But yes, but no, I don't regretit because I've been doing.
I love what we're doing rightnow, I love what we've created
(04:51):
and I'm just consulting.
At the time I actually had anopportunity at the time at
Microsoft to propose I rememberproposing to Steve Ballmer and
Bill Gates that they shouldcreate a consulting firm within
Microsoft and at the time theyweren't ready for it.
I know they have one now, anarm of it, but at the time they
weren't ready for that 100%, andcould you walk us through your
(05:16):
overall strategy, your businessstrategy?
Sure, sure.
So you know my strategy haschanged slightly throughout the
34 years we've been doing this.
Initially it was program andproject management.
You know I would take on anyproject and our model is very
(05:36):
different.
It's unique to most consultingfirms.
Nowadays, project managers areeverywhere and every consulting
firm will say here's yoursubject manager experts, and
we'll bring a project manager in.
We have just been focused onproject management.
So what we bring is 1.25resources to every project.
We bring a consultant, veryseasoned senior program manager
(06:00):
who can manage the effort, andthen we bring a partial quality
manager and that is our part ofour secret sauce Someone who
will oversee, make sure we havethe right fit from our side into
the client and work with them,because we do have a new process
that they participate in aswell, which I'll get to in a
(06:20):
second.
But it all we're doing isbringing in the lead to a team
that is typically a lot ofdisparate resources Tier one
consulting firms, systemintegrators, other third parties
.
We do acquisition integration,that's two companies trying to
come together, anything wherethere are a lot of different,
(06:41):
disparate resources.
That is our sweet spot andbecause our people, our team,
knows how it's sort of like theorchestra conductor.
They may not play everyinstrument, but they know how to
bring everyone together to makemusic.
So that's our strategy.
We have moved from a program andproject management company,
though, to what we call outcomemanagement, and that was
(07:01):
developed partly from thefrustration that we had on why
are we only talking about time,budget and scope?
And any project manager hasbeen trained in you've got to
get a project completed on time,on budget, within scope, and
that is what they learn theskills to do.
Well, that is important.
(07:23):
That's also important.
So get it done does not alwaystranslate it to get it done
right or get it done with thevalue that you initially
proposed.
So we have, at Purdue's, haveadded, created an outcome
management process, and that isto address value generation.
So we start, we take projectmanagement tenants, but we have
(07:45):
added on initially to what iswhat's a strategic objective.
We create a strategic alignmentprocess is what we start out
with.
We bring the executive team,and then we ask them what does
success look like when you'reall done, and then how you going
to measure?
So, for instance, they say well, we're going to do this project
and it will increase revenue.
(08:05):
We push to ask what does thatlook like?
A half a percent Is thatsuccess?
300% is that success?
So we narrow that down becausethat way we we are measuring
throughout and then we, whenwe're done and we are completed
with the project, we turn it.
You know, we're turning it overto our client who can continue
(08:27):
to measure that, those successmetrics, to see if they are
still staying on track.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Okay, 100%.
And your business has beenaround for what?
30 years or something 34 years34 years, so you've been through
quite a lot of economicalchanges, like dot com bubble,
recession in 2007, 2008, thepandemic.
(08:56):
So how have you handled thesechanges in the economic climate
and has that taught you to planfor unforeseen changes coming?
Speaker 2 (09:10):
That's a great question at the end.
But what we?
I have seen that and I've gonethrough three downturns in this
time, the three that youmentioned.
This has been a rough year forconsulting If you take a look
out there, we are not alone andconsulting has had a tougher
year and I've been there twicebefore this.
(09:33):
So I do know what it takes, andsome of it is patience because
it does turn around, and otheris a different way of focusing
on selling.
I'm reengaging with people Ihaven't spoken to for years.
That might have been priorclients that during COVID, sort
(09:54):
of, might have gotten lost alittle bit.
So you know, my sales efforthas changed.
But downturns, I think peoplepanic.
I look at it as a downturn, asan opportunity to reinvent.
I find that the companies thatdo take that time to think about
, you know, are we, you know,should we be doing anything
(10:17):
different?
Downturns are a good time forthat.
People who do focus on changeand what can we be doing better,
are often the ones who come outof a downturn way better than
others who are in reactive modeand just trying to keep their
head above water.
So you know, we're always, youknow, rethinking and re-planning
(10:39):
.
But ours is a very specificniche and I will tell you,
delivering something difficultisn't it is rocket science, but
it does take a lot of softskills and I think that's one of
the problems with our industrythat they are.
You know, the associationsfocus a lot on tactics around
(11:04):
what project management shouldbe doing.
Though projects rarely reallyfail in that space, it's because
, more of you know you have apassive, aggressive stakeholder
or you have people who reallydon't want this to happen, but
they are being told they have tocome along on the ride and
unless you figure out how toengage these people, projects
(11:27):
suffer and then and thoserealms- 100%, and when the
pandemic hit did that?
Speaker 1 (11:36):
were you already working remote or?
Speaker 2 (11:40):
No, we had a small office because most of our
consultants go to our clients,so we didn't we don't really
need a lot of space because preCOVID they were going, they were
going to the client site towork.
But we really sort of werealready aware, because our
clients are Fortune 1000.
(12:01):
So almost all of our projectsfor years have been global.
Yes, you may have a team local,but there are.
You're dealing with teams allover the world.
So our team knew how to, how toreact quickly to COVID.
So it didn't really seem anydifferent, other than now a lot
of them are working at homebecause our clients are not
(12:21):
creating people back quite yet,or, if they are not full time,
more of a hybrid.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Okay yeah, standard Most industries not.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Yeah, so that worked out to our benefit, because I
think a lot of people were notquite aware of how to work in a
remote environment, and so ourglobal experience had sort of
helped us.
I'm still a lover of hybridenvironments on a personal basis
, because I think that personalinteraction helps in a multitude
(12:53):
of ways.
You know, putting a name and aface together the water cooler
effect and just being able tomeet face to face Occasionally,
I think it comes, is beneficial.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Yeah, 100% agree.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
And most recently over the last, let's say, year
and a half, two years, with theAI coming into the mainstream,
are you taking advantage of thetools that are available to you?
Speaker 2 (13:27):
I have read a lot not a lot personally, to be very
honest, but I am.
What I'm fine is, there's a lotof articles out and I think
actually the Project ManagementInstitute, which is a
certification group for projectmanagers, even has a
certification, I believe, onthat now and I think there's a
lot of talk about how that willaffect project management, and
(13:53):
it hasn't affected us yet.
I think it will.
I think, but in different ways.
I don't believe any time thatyou're dealing with disparate
groups of resources withdifferent agendas.
I don't believe that is goingto be replaced by AI, and what I
mean by that is the tacticsthat we talked about checking
(14:16):
off boxes to do.
To finish this, that is goingto be something that eventually
will definitely affect our, ourindustry of project management.
That can be done through AIeventually, I am confident.
But the personal interactions,which is where projects tend to
fail, though there's still goingto be that personal need that,
(14:42):
I think, will retain our field,just it'll look a little
different okay, a hundredpercent, yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
And what have to be in the biggest challenges since
you've launched the business?
I know it's been a while, butI'm sure there've been some
notable challenges that youfaced what?
What are those and how did youovercome them?
Speaker 2 (15:07):
absolutely, I think.
Well, the biggest risk is I hadno idea what I was doing.
So, plain and simple, that wasmy biggest risk.
I had come from a family ofteachers my mother, my sisters
and my father was an electricianso I fell into business and I
(15:30):
really, you know, when I cameout of school I didn't know what
I was going to do with mydegree, fell into business, and
so I didn't have any role modelsof people who started
businesses the area that Iraised my children.
At the time, there were not alot of women that were working,
(15:52):
and so I was an oddity in thatrespect as well.
So it was, it was, it was, itwas, it was a constant learning.
For me, every day was a newlearning.
How do I do this?
Can I do it?
I think the I had a three-monthrule at the time when I because
(16:14):
at the very beginning it wasjust me I would get the work and
then I would do the work, and Ihad a three-month rule that I
changed three months, which I'llget to, but the initial three
months is it by couldn't bind anew project to do within a three
month period and I would golook for a new job.
That was my out and the logicbeing I couldn't really look for
(16:37):
work while I was doing the work.
So I would give myself threemonths.
Because of who I am, I likechallenges and that's sort of
what motivates me.
I always I never reached thethree months.
I actually came very close onetime, but my my goal was I was
(16:59):
not going to let that happen, soI worked hard to continue to
find that.
So finally I got a rhythm, Igot more work and then I started
adding people.
So that was another challenge.
I started out of an, at the verybeginning, hiring people who
had the soft skills but didn'tknow anything about project
(17:19):
management, and that didn't workout very well because I ended
up training them more than I didlooking for new work.
And then I hired contractorsthat had were experienced and I
realized well, this works, butI'm trying to build a firm and a
philosophy, so I wanted to hirepeople, and so those are the
(17:41):
steps that I had had to gothrough, and it was all learning
and I happened to be a risktaker big risk taker, I would
say which plays to, I think, thestrength of most entrepreneurs.
Most entrepreneurs are risktakers and I used it in that I
never felt like anything was afailure along the way and I had
plenty of failures, mind you,but but I learned from all.
(18:04):
So my attitude is there's lotsof ways to skin a cat.
I'll try one way.
That doesn't work, I will pullback and try another way.
So there were a lot of ups anddowns along the way so I got to
a great model which we wouldhave today.
I'm sure others may have, youknow in hindsight, might have
(18:25):
gotten there quicker, but I Idon't mind trying things and
failing and learning from themand moving on.
So that was, that was, I think,my, my, my superpower, that I'm
not afraid to fail that later,that three months that I
mentioned, I have changed intoand this has to do with that I
have lived my values my entirecareer.
(18:48):
If I'm unhappy for three monthsstraight Everyone's unhappy in
their job, you know they have abad day, a bad week or a bad
month, but three months in a row, if I have three months in a
row, then I'm out.
I decided like there's, life'stoo short, I'll go do something
else, and haven't really reachedthat yet.
(19:11):
Came close one time as well,but not quite yet.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
I appreciate that and it makes a lot of sense.
I think a lot of people areafraid to do that and admit that
, but that's really cool.
And also I admire the fact thatyou're not afraid of failure
and you take it on head first.
I think that's super important,especially as an entrepreneur.
(19:37):
You need to have that.
You need to have that abilityto accept failure and learn from
it and move on.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Without a doubt, life's too short and I'm a big
believer of no regrets.
So how do you have no regrets?
Well, you try it, and if itdoesn't work out, then at least
you try it.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Exactly exactly me too, and I wanted to ask if you
could rate your business todayon a scale of one to 10, in
terms of your satisfaction withthe overall business.
What would that be?
Speaker 2 (20:19):
Oh, that's a great question.
I would say I'd like to answerthat in two parts.
I think the model that we havetoday focused on outcomes,
focused on the largetransformational efforts that we
have for our clients.
That is the model that I havebeen trying to achieve for 34
(20:39):
years.
We're there, we have a solidprocess, I have a phenomenal
team and we not only help ourclients but we actually always
save them money when they allowus to help oversee their whole
integrated team, because we'renot tied to a specific vendor.
(21:08):
We're not inclined to try andadd more resources to up our
buildings.
We only succeed when the clientgets what they're looking for.
So in that part, I would ratethat as a 10.
Maybe a nine because there'salways room for improvement.
But I would say, as for on theselling side, I'm probably a
(21:37):
seven or eight and that we'restill small.
Now we'll always be smallbecause our model is small and
because I'm living the values of.
I wanted flexibility when Ibuilt this company and I didn't
want to travel, and so all thesethings adds to I got exactly
(21:59):
what I had built.
But I think that there is aholdout.
When I started in the 80s,companies did not have an IIT
staff other than a mainframestaff, they didn't have the
knowledge base to be able tobuild the systems that they're
(22:20):
building.
That needed to be built at thattime, which is why consulting
companies grew so quickly.
The Accentures, the Deloites,the ENYs, the IBMs, the system
integrators all grew becausethey were able to bulk up
quickly and so you had used tohave entire encapsulated teams
going out to companies to do thework that needed.
(22:43):
In fact, literally, it was likego ahead and get it done and let
us know when you're done.
Type up environment.
Well, nowadays everybody hasthat kind of project expertise,
whether it's tech or even in thebusiness, is more involved
nowadays than they were backthen in making the decisions for
their own team.
But you still need, fortransformation, some of these
(23:06):
bigger companies.
So what I think is happeningthat needs to change is some of
these bigger companies areworking with other third parties
their clients internal team andthey're still bringing in the
program manager.
But the difference is now youhave different firms in there
(23:27):
working together with aninternal team.
You need someone independentwhether it's the client has
their own internal person great.
Or someone like us, where weare making sure that everyone is
aligned to the goals.
That's a harder message.
That's an uphill battle.
So that's why I would rate themessage a little bit lower of
(23:54):
where I'd like it to be.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Okay, 100%.
And if we were to sit downagain in 12 months time and
everything has gone right,everything that possibly can has
gone right for your business,what, firstly, what does it look
like and what has changed since, from today?
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Well, I think the economy right now needs a little
boost, and I will tell you thatin the that I am starting to
see signs of it.
So I'm hoping that those signspan through, but in 12 months,
for that, if everything goesright then then we are back to
where we were last year and thatwe are taking on our clients a
(24:39):
larger efforts, the ones thatare.
There's more of them becausepeople are not holding back and
our reputation precedes us.
That would be a nice nice tohave as well.
Being a small organization whenwe're competing with the tier
ones and the system integrators,sometimes it's a reeducation.
(25:02):
Every time, here's what we do.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Okay, amazing.
I love to hear it and I've justlooked at the time and we are
unfortunately a little bit overeven.
But if you were to give onepiece of advice to other
business owners looking tosucceed, what would that be?
Speaker 2 (25:19):
Don't be afraid of failure.
It's going to happen.
You will fail at one point oranother.
So engage with it.
Learn from it and don't listento all the naysayers.
I've had a lot of naysayersthroughout my career and they
are, and it could bedebilitating if you listen to
(25:42):
them.
So don't listen to them.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
Believe in yourself 100% believe in yourself.
Thank you, laura.
I really appreciate your timetoday, and what is the best way
for people to reach out to LauraDriven if you've got any offers
for them or they're looking tofollow your story?
Speaker 2 (25:58):
Sure, take a look at wwwperidioscom.
How to reach us is on there, aswell as a lot of the articles
that have been written throughthe years and recently, so take
a look there.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
Amazing.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
I really appreciate it today, your time and the
platform.
Thank you.
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