Follow Kirk on TwitterJim Susman, Principal, Susman Tisdale Gayle
“A born skeptic, particularly of ‘management consultants,’ I have had to set my skepticism aside with respect to Kirk Dando and Dando Advisors.
As an architectural firm in the throes of expanding from 50 to 75 people during 1999, one of my partners and I attended one of Kirk’s professional seminars essentially to earn some required continuing education credits. Kirk captured our interest. Figuring that we had little to lose, we began by buying a few hours of his time. That decision has subsequently become one of the smartest that we have made.
Completely unlike most consultants, it is Kirk that you get, and it is his ear and his insightfulness that you want. Without pretense or textbook processes, he very simply studies his clients inside and out and inevitably makes the distinction between how they say they do business and how they are really doing business. He has the very unique ability to see the difference between a firm’s stated organization and its real organization. It almost always comes down to understanding the sometimes-complex personal chemistries that interact within each firm.
For any company seeking to continue developing over time, that is precisely the skill required in a management consultant. In the end it’s not nearly as much rocket science as it is psychology. Kirk is the only one I’ve seen pulls it off. He continues to be an advisor we rely on.”
Jim Susman
Principal, Susman Tisdale Gayle