The burn out rate among business consultants is tremendous. Although huge firms pay big starting salaries to young MBA’s, accountants, and engineers, the excessive travel demands that come with the paycheck are enough to make these young professionals rethink their chosen profession.
That’s precisely why
Vynamic, an 80+ person healthcare consultancy based in Philadelphia, stands out among its competitors. Ranked the #1 most prestigious boutique consulting firm in the U.S. by IvyExec.com in early 2015 and the #5 overall best small firm to work for in the U.S. by Consulting Magazine, Vynamic has gone beyond paying competitive salaries—founder and CEO Dan Calista reverse-engineered the organization to take the excessive travel whammy out of the consultants’ job description.
“We’re able to hire the top talent in the industry precisely because we are committed to enabling consultants to be in control of where they work and what they do,” Dan told me.
That kind of flexibility may seem unbelievable to those road warriors who log more time on airplanes than they do in their own homes every year, but it pays huge dividends for Vynamic. It also enables them to attract the best consultants in the industry.
Calista has created a culture where people don’t feel trapped in their jobs having to grind their way to places they don’t want to go to do things they don’t want to do. Giving each individual a clear voice that allows them to design their own career has created a legion of
On Fire young professionals at Vynamic with a turnover rate of less than 10 percent over the last five years. That’s remarkably low churn for any employer, and it’s almost unheard of in this industry.
But that’s just one of many cultural differences that sets them apart.
Embedded in the Vynamic logo are the words “I Am.” The
“I Am Vynamic” message symbolizes Vynamic’s values, encourages employees to thrive, and reinforces the freedom they have to apply their unique strengths. The first question Vynamic new hires are asked when they accept a job is this: “What will your Vynamic color be?” As with a fingerprint or a snowflake, each Vynamic employee has a unique Vynamic “I Am” color. [The color is managed by Vynamic’s creative team to ensure RGB (red, green, blue) uniqueness.] This color is then used in the logo on each employee’s business cards and becomes part of each individual’s identity. Vynamic even paints employee’s office walls with the employee’s distinctive color, which reinforces the employee’s unique identity.
By ceding control and empowering their millennial employees to make important decisions, Vynamic displays a high level of trust in the team. And people who feel listened to and trusted are much more likely to be
On Fire for their company. It’s also why Dan told me,
“Everybody wants to hire our people.”
You see, having the top consultants in their industry attracts more clients than the company can accommodate. The company is then able to charge top rates for its services and generate ample business without marketing. This, in turn, grants Vynamic the luxury of turning away those consulting contracts that would force travel upon its consultants.
Success has enabled Vynamic to decide which jobs to take based on the needs and concerns of his staff.
“What I know is that I want to grow for people, not at the expense of people,” he said.
And when you build a culture around that kind of thinking, everybody ultimately wins.
(Check out why employees think that Vynamic is Vynamite in
this video.)
*This is an excerpt from Eric Chester's new book On Fire at Work: How Great Companies Ignite Passion in their People Without Burning Them Out - releasing October, 2015. 
