A proven Human Capital Management advisor, Phil Curran, delivers strategic alignment, operational effectiveness, thought leadership, and measurable results. He is the founder and CEO of Newgrange Advisors, and has consulted with hundreds of businesses on human capital management and health & welfare benefit strategy, program design, and implementation. As a result of his years of successful consulting firm leadership, he is also a sought-after speaker, trainer, and consultant to professional service businesses, advising them on professional service firm strategy, business development, consulting skills, and firm optimization.
Below are highlights of the interview:
Tell us about yourself and your story before joining Newgrange Advisors, LLC.
My career has been about 90% consulting and 10% as chief human resource officers for large employers. My consulting career has largely been with big human resource consultancies like Mercer and Hewitt Associates, but also in the human capital practices of management consultancies like PricewaterhouseCoopers. After years in practice and firm leadership roles – local, regional, national, and global – I founded Newgrange Advisors.
Tell us more about Newgrange Advisors, LLC.
Newgrange Advisors was founded based on two simple principals: (1) the client’s interests always come first; and (2) always deliver the client a significant return on their investment. We have two practices – Human Capital and Professional Services. In each practice, we focus on three major types of engagements: strategy, solutions, and support. Strategy projects equip the client with the right long-term plan to achieve success. Solutions projects diagnose specific problems (identifying root causes) and provide recommended remedies. We give the client exactly the right solution; never more than what they need, but never less than what’s possible. Support projects generally provide the client with critical executive leadership for some interim period – either fulltime or on a fractional basis.
Why did you choose to become an HR and operational expert?
I was initially a group insurance underwriter and then an employee benefits consultant. I love the US medical benefit space, in particular, but I found that many clients had no clear guiding strategy for their benefits. Expanding into strategy work took me into broader Human Capital Management issues.
Businesses only have three forms of capital with which to operate: physical, financial, and human. Most businesses spend more on people than anything else. Yet only a small minority of companies have articulated long-term human capital management strategies that are aligned with, and support, broader business needs and objectives. I found that I have a talent for transforming companies’ human resource functions from administrative/compliance organizations into senior contributors to strategic business success. In many cases, HR can become a catalyst for success. I found this to be the most rewarding and challenging work I have ever done.
What are your responsibilities as the founder and CEO of the company?
In addition to being the chief executive, I am still a practicing consultant. I try to minimize being mired in administrative duties. I believe a CEO must lead—not manage. Consequently, I focus on providing vision, strategy, coaching and mentoring for my team. And, of course, I work with clients.
What have you failed at and how do you overcome challenges?
We all fail. I’ve failed at client engagements. I’ve failed to play corporate politics with sufficient dexterity. I’ve failed at personal relationships. Bluntly, as a young man, I was talented and achieved a great deal before my peers. It made me cocky – some of my colleagues and friends may have said it made me intolerable. Life has its ways of humbling us, and through that, I realized I was not the person I wanted to be, so I began making changes in myself. Of course, change is a continual process, but I am in a good place now.
We all encounter challenges. I’ve learned to block my tendency to make snap judgments. Now I assess the situation, seek and listen to input from others, and then decide how to proceed. In business, I take emotion out of the equation. Emotion can overrule good judgement. And I have learned not to suffer from tunnel vision. When dealing with a problem, you must keep in mind the larger needs and goals.
Kindly describe how you will specifically know what success looks like for you. And what has been the best recognition that you received as a professional?
Success, for me, is freedom. I have achieved the professional and financial freedom to allow me to make choices. I choose to do the high-impact work I do because I enjoy it. I choose to behave in an ethical way that allows me to feel good about myself, and I choose to surround myself with people who behave similarly. Life is full of choices; to me, success means not being forced to make choices you’d rather not.
What advice would you give to the next generation of leaders?
First, there is a difference between leading and managing. Be a leader. When you’re a leader, it isn’t about being in charge. It’s about taking care of the people in your charge. Embrace a servant leadership approach; it will generate better financial results, you will have a better team, and you will be a better person.
Second, nobody ever achieved anything by planning. Sure, a good plan helps, but achieving any worthwhile goal requires action. Massive, sustained action.
Finally, remember that life is not all about work. Live life. Love fully. Work as hard at building relationships with family and friends as you do building your career. Embrace pursuits outside of work. I spend most of my free time with my family, but I do things for myself too. I write fiction (I have published two novels) and I played rugby into my forties. Do things that make you happy.
What are your future plans to sustain the company’s and your success?
I am too young – and having too much fun – to think about retiring. But our long-term success depends on creating future leaders for our firm. Newgrange Advisors’ revenue and employee headcount almost doubled during the pandemic. We have no desire to sustain that rate of growth but moderating our annual growth to low double-digits should be quite sustainable. We will also work hard to create choices for ourselves – as a firm and as individuals.
Website: www.newgrangeadvisors.net
