Today’s guest is Mike Newlove, Managing Partner and UK Practice Leader at Wavestone, the leading global consultancy with over 3,500 people working across 8 countries to help their clients deliver their most critical transformation programmes.

Mike’s story is a hugely interesting one and challenges many of the commonly held assumptions about what it takes to have a successful career in consulting.

Although a self-proclaimed introvert, Mike started his career in sales with BT before being headhunted to join Deloitte. It was while at Deloitte that Mike met Harry, his future business partner. Following a particularly tough negotiation for a US based client Mike and Harry decide the time was right to strike out on their own and launch Hudson & Yorke, a specialist consultancy focused on helping their clients navigate the world of network services.

Following a roller-coaster journey with Hudson & Yorke, something we discuss at length in today’s show, the business was acquired by Solucom, now Wavestone, in 2015. Mike continues to lead Wavestone in the UK and sits on the global executive committee helping to shape the business for the future.

Mike is as open as he is honest and in this interview he gives his candid take on a whole host of topics including:

• The key differences between working in industry and working in consultancy, how he found the transition and the advice he gives to candidates thinking of making the jump.

• How he decided that the time was right to strike out with his business partner and launch Hudson & Yorke and the key role that his now wife played in supporting him through this time.

• And becoming part of Wavestone, what led Mike to stay on and lead the UK business and why he’s excited by what the future holds for them.

I really enjoyed this interview with Mike, as his story shows, you don’t have to follow the typical career path or have many of the assumed typical personality traits to be successful in consulting.

If the current pandemic has led you to think about setting up on your own or maybe you’re considering a career move and trying to decide what type of consultancy to join, I know you’ll find this interview invaluable.

If you want to get in touch with Mike after listening to this epsiode you can drop him an email – mike.newlove@wavestone.com