!m Willemstyn Week 3 – TIA.1

For my first TIA post, I think I wanted to compare the transformational leadership I’ve experienced at !m, compared to the transactional structure I’ve endured at previous internships. This week at !m, they had an interactive lunch and learn with the interim CEO, where he addressed the concerns with the new CEO search, and spent time getting everyone on board with the direction they were moving in as the candidates were narrowed down. It was an open discussion where !m-ers asked about the remaining candidates’ experience, if they understood the importance of our B-Corp model, and even whether or not they would continue the dog-friendly office policy. Scott used this time not to enforce the final candidates onto his subordinates, but to engage everyone in the dialogue of the search, such that the each individual !m-er would feel that they participated in the vetting of eventual selection. At past internships, I’ve rarely seen such a high level individual take the time to walk the rest of the company through a process, so everyone would internalize and support it as if it were their own belief. At other internships, I’ve seen the change in leadership structure come out of the blue, and tensions were resolved post-hoc with the promise that someone would help someone else with an unrelated matter if they would agree to “give the new guy a chance”.

I think the benefits of transformational leadership largely explain the success of !m, an idealistic model that really just should not have worked in the brutal reality of the consulting sphere. I would say that everyone (except maybe sales) takes the time to provide accessibility of their specific processes to anyone other !m-er. From an intern perspective, this has allowed me to access all types of information from a breadth of resources, and helped me realize that this is definitely a career path I would consider for myself, and a company I would love to join. Keeping everyone on board will surmount the eventual knowledge management issues that arise as the company grows and they can no longer depend on word-of-mouth for knowing who reports to who, and who has worked with which clients in the past.