Angus Ridgway, a McKinsey veteran and peak performance expert, shares insights on success attributes in consulting careers, positive living habits, and celebrating small changes for big goals. The podcast delves into distinguishing success from failure in consulting, transitioning from challenges to acceleration, and standing out with unique qualities in the industry.
Developing new positive habits is crucial for peak performance.
Understanding dominance in competitive environments is key for consulting success.
Focusing on strengths, health, and purpose leads to success in unstructured workplaces.
Deep dives
Digital Marketing for Consulting Firms
Digital marketing continues to elude many traditional consulting firms. While some grasp its power for rapid business growth, many struggle to leverage its potential. CreateEngage, a digital marketing agency, exemplifies successful consulting firm growth through digital strategies. The agency's case study showcases a 400% increase over three years, emphasizing the untapped potential for consultancies.
PotentialLife CEO Angus Ridgway's Insights
Angus Ridgway, CEO of PotentialLife and former McKinsey leader, delves into peak performance and leadership on Climbing Consulting. With a background in strategy, Angus shares key attributes for success in consulting careers. His advice centers on dominance or submission dynamics in competitive environments, urging individuals to seize power over being overpowered.
The SHARP Framework for Thriving in Unstructured Environments
PotentialLife's SHARP framework addresses flourishing in unstructured workplaces. The framework emphasizes strengths, health, absorption, leadership, and purpose as critical elements for success. By focusing on strengths, managing health stress responses, enhancing focus to combat distractions, and mastering empathetic leadership aligned with authenticity, individuals can thrive in ever-evolving work landscapes.
Transitioning Toward Meaningful Living
PotentialLife's insights extend to fostering positive life habits for personal growth. Embracing small changes, cutting self-slack, and celebrating incremental victories pave the way for meaningful living. Transitioning from guilt-driven cycles to responsible self-care empowers individuals to continually reinvent themselves for sustained personal and professional growth.
Embracing Luck and Building Networks for Success
Setting oneself up for success involves more than luck, as highlighted in the discussion. By actively creating opportunities and building a strong network, individuals can increase their chances of success and appear 'lucky' to others. The importance of seeing connections where others may not, thus tilting the odds in one's favor, was emphasized.
Financial Awareness and Status Anxiety
The significance of establishing a clear perspective on finances was underlined, encouraging a focus on income growth rather than saving in the early stages. Embracing simplicity in lifestyle to prioritize freedom over material possessions was advised. Additionally, the discussion shifted to the topic of status anxiety, urging individuals to pursue activities that bring personal fulfillment irrespective of societal expectations.
In today’s episode of Climb In Consulting I speak with Angus Ridgway, CEO of Potentialife, 20 year McKinsey Veteran and former leader of McKinsey’s EMEA strategy practice.
Potentialife was born out of Angus’s passion for understanding what separates the best from the rest. Watching this play out day in day out at McKinsey, Angus wanted to harness everything he’d learnt and following a chance encounter with his co-founder, Dr Tal Ben-Shahar decided to launch Potentialife. A business that uses technology-enabled processes to allow people to function at the peak of their performance every day, by helping them to develop new positive habits into an improved personal operating model.
With such a successful consulting career and a decade spent dissecting peak leadership performance with Potentialife, we had so much to talk about and it was fantastic to sit down with Angus and hear his advice for anyone climbing in the consulting industry.
Angus was recommended to me by former guest, Simon Williams of DMW group who, having been interviewed for the show, instantly said that I should speak to Angus. He couldn’t have been more right and I’m so pleased we were able to have this conversation.
We covered a whole host of topics and there’s simply too much to list in this intro, but to give you a glimpse into this episode, a few of the insights Angus shares include:
- The number one attribute that separates success and failure when starting your consulting career and what you should focus on to give yourself the best possible chance of success.
- The secret to climbing in McKinsey, or any consulting firm for that matter, and how Angus used this to help him get to the top of the firm.
- And the critical question you need to ask yourself if you’re trying to decide whether it’s time to leave consulting.
Whether you want to learn what it takes to get to the top in a firm like McKinsey, or you’re already at the top in consulting and thinking about what’s next for you, I know you’re going to really enjoy this.
Get in touch with Angus at - https://www.linkedin.com/in/angusridgway/
Visit Potentialife at - https://potentialife.com/
Specific things discussed in the show
The Joy Of Leadership by Tal Ben-Shahar and Angus Ridgway - https://amzn.to/3eYZ0sF
The Pyramid Principle by Barbara Minto - https://amzn.to/3b2px7g
Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari - https://amzn.to/3b0OxM0
Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari - https://amzn.to/2SpVccd
21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari - https://amzn.to/3b0fpMi
Moneyland by Oliver Bullough - https://amzn.to/3ti7bFs
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