Generations of Change
Youth Speaks With Authority At Corporate Executive Board
Monday, March 12, 2007; Page D01
When the Corporate Executive Board throws its annual black-tie bash, staffers call it "the prom." At last month's company-wide yearly review meeting, bosses decked out in goofy get-ups did YouTube parodies. A recent staff meeting ended with an office bowling party, open bar included.
Is this any way to run a company worth $2.9 billion?
  Corporate Executive Board employees Kathi Peckman, left, Kerry Soffar and Marc Buckley went bowling after a company meeting this month. The company hires much of its staff right out of college. (By Linda Davidson -- The Washington Post) |
They think so at the CEB, one of the fastest-growing consulting firms in the country and No. 51 on Forbes's 2006 list of America's 200 best small companies.
Scattered across the company's five offices in downtown Washington, about 2,000 20-somethings -- many hired straight out of college -- are advisers to business executives twice their age. Serving a clientele that includes Fortune 500 companies, they research a variety of business issues, both complex (How do I engage middle managers during periods of downsizing?) and simple (I'm doing a dress-code manual. What exactly is a flip-flop?). And they do it in a lively, sociable office culture that's in marked contrast to most of the companies they work for.
Ten years old, the Corporate Executive Board is a relatively new entrant in the consulting world, and the service it offers is different from the industry norm. Rather than hire business veterans to impart wisdom learned on the job, the CEB trains its young employees to dissect the problems managers face in a variety of industries. Corporations pay the CEB a fee to become members and then have access to best-practices research, seminars and personalized studies. Employees interview top executives about their everyday problems, then compile reports for members and lead industry-wide discussions.
"People ask, 'How do we get a thousand 24-year-olds to understand jobs they've never had and empathize with CEOs?' " said Melody Jones, 44, chief human resources officer. "At a traditional consulting firm, they might never have exposure to chief officers. But at CEB, at their age, we're putting them in a conference room and on the phone with the C-suite." (That's C as in chief executive.)
It's a quick ramp-up for the fledgling professionals. Nearly half of the 500 employees hired last year came right from college campuses. Twenty-eight percent of the staff is under 25, and about half are 25 to 35; the mean age is just over 29.
"They can tell by our voices that we're young. I can't tell you how many times I've been asked, 'How old are you again?' or 'What's your experience?' " said Seth Belford, 29, who joined the firm seven years ago. He is now responsible for getting companies to renew their memberships. "I think a lot of people are curious about how we're able to be a successful company with so many newbies."
The CEB formed in 1997 as a spinoff of the Advisory Board, a consulting firm focused on the health-care and financial-services industries started in 1979 by David G. Bradley, now a publisher who runs the Atlantic and several other magazines. The companies went public with the help of Jeffrey D. Zients, then the chairman, who is now a private investor.
After going public, in 1999, the CEB quickly surpassed its sister company in size and income. It plans to hire nearly 600 people this year and is scheduled to move into Waterview, a new 24-story building in Arlington, in early 2008.
Revenue has grown by an average of 20 percent a year since 2001.
CEB stock, however, has not done quite so well in the past year, peaking at $112.97 last spring but falling for the rest of 2006.
