Interview with Stephen Roe, Managing Director
Why did you launch Curium Consulting?
"I founded Curium Consulting after working for 34 years in high technology industry and for two different, highly successful consulting companies: PRTM and KPMG Consulting. The time I have worked in industry is almost exactly the same as my time spent consulting: about 17 years in each. I feel it's a great mix of experience to have. The industry experience helps me to understand how managers and directors think and behave when faced with big challenges. I've learned by doing, in turning round company operations and driving successful strategies. My years in consulting have taught me how high to set my sights: it's absolutely unbelievable what can be achieved with a decent strategy and the confidence, energy and persistence to carry it through. What I am doing at Curium is placing these years of experience and very hard work at the disposal of clients who want to change the performance or direction of their business: quickly and sustainably."
What do you know about the realities of day to day business?
"People often ask me pointed questions such as "how does a Physicist come to know anything about running successful businesses?" Or other questions such as "what do you know about making complex optical equipment?" The first five or six years working on the shop floor of a steel foundry business taught me a great deal about how to work with all levels of people, about the respect they deserve and about the crazy things that management do. I was able to make a decisive change to that company when I was suddenly promoted to Plant Manager when external consultants were brought in to rescue the business. In the first few weeks in my new role I had to make one third of the workforce redundant, we had a workforce strike and a major fire alert. From those first experiences in senior management I learned leadership skills and had the opportunity to make a success of turning round plant operations.
Later in my career I joined Lamberton Robotics, a subsidiary of a very old family-owned, Scottish engineering company. Unfortunately, its balance sheet was very weak and we had to take it into receivership one year later. It was sold from receivership to a trade buyer.
More recently I worked for Optos as their Director of Technical Operations. This very fast growing medical device company also needed transformation. The business floated successfully on the main London exchange in February 2006. At Optos I established US and UK Distribution and Service Centres, reduced the cost of the very complex instrument by 24% and established a low cost supply chain in China."
Tell me about your consulting background?
"Initially I was headhunted to work at PRTM, a US-based consulting firm that focussed on getting results. Over four years with PRTM taught me a huge amount about analysing businesses and making change happen. I left only because the life style was too demanding for my young family. After returning to industry for several years I joined KPMG Consulting as a Principal Consultant and grew the operations side of the business successfully over many years.
In 2001 I became a partner in KPMG Consulting and led many successful projects while being responsible for their Operations Transformation team based in London. After the sale of KPMG Consulting to Atos Origin I left to join Optos as their Director of Technical Operations. In 2009 I decided to set up Curium Consulting to apply my experience and knowledge to a wider range of industries and organisations. The aim is to grow a team of consultants with a rich mix of consulting and industry experience."
What have you learned from working with companies?
"One of the most interesting things I've found about working in a wide variety of industries and companies is that they all have unique sets of values whether explicit or, more usually implied. In making change happen you can ignore the local culture and values and blast through to a result. You may be successful in getting the result but you will almost certainly leave a mess behind you. That mess is dysfunctional people who may struggle ever to regain their poise and self respect. High levels of consistent performance originates from people who are confident in what they're doing and have sufficient drive, skill and intelligence to get it done effectively. The big deal is in helping those people with sufficient competence to believe in the goal and focus on achieving it. As a business leader I have always found the need to build that level of confidence in how to achieve the goals amongst staff and provide my people with the leadership so many of them crave. Everyone benefits from clear, direct leadership."
Find out more about Stephen on LinkedIn.