In an interview with Insights Success, Scott Gillis, Lee Mergy, Joe Shalleck, Co-founders at Galt & Company, share valuable insights from the experiences they gained advising some of the world’s largest and most successful corporations. Below are the highlights of the interview conducted between them and Insights Success:
How do your services benefit your clients?
Galt & Company works with Fortune 500 companies to develop the strategies and organizational capabilities that achieve and sustain superior shareholder returns over time. We bring the disciplines of the capital market inside a corporation, impacting how strategic, resource allocation and performance management decisions are made.
Each of our relationships begins with an in-depth understanding of where and why our client business is creating and consuming shareholder value, what strategies are currently being pursued, where resources are being allocated, how performance is being measured and managed and what management capabilities are in place. From there, we focus on the highest value-at-stake strategic issues and opportunities facing the company while also putting in place the organizational capabilities and disciplines that will be needed to execute against those opportunities and to sustain superior performance going forward.
Describe the experiences, achievements or lessons that have shaped the journey of Galt & Company.
Galt was founded on the belief that there is an explicit connection between performance in customer markets and capital markets; that shareholder value can be managed and that the ultimate measure of performance for any publicly traded company is the shareholder returns that company delivers over time relative to its industry peers.
We have learned that the biggest influence on a corporation’s relative shareholder returns are the management standards and decision process that are used to run the company. Companies that consistently deliver superior shareholder returns exhibit similar traits in these areas, namely they have
- A clear and consistent definition of winning and ultimate measure of performance – constantly seeking to outperform competitors and investor expectations
- A keen understanding of where and how they generate customer value and how to monetize that differentiation in terms of cash flow and economic profit, which in turn drive their ability to reinvest and the shareholder value they create
- Manage to an evergreen value-improvement agenda – focusing management time an attention on those things that will materially impact economic profit growth and shareholder value
- Strategies and resources that are focused on growing share in profitable markets in which the company has, or can establish, a competitive advantage, while fixing or withdrawing resources from other markets or market segments
- Aligned decision standards, processes and capabilities to effectively drive relentless management of profitable growth deep down into each business unit
What according to you are the evident challenges in the industry?
The market for business strategy advice is a particularly opaque where advisory firm size and brand recognition are not well correlated with the actual results their clients realize. This places high value on the purchasers of advisory service to do their own, in-depth due diligence before trusting the advice they come to rely upon and the fees they will be charged. In addition, clients should require clear definition of what measurable results they should expect from their advisory relationship and the consequences of under or over-performance relative to that measure. Furthermore, clients should expect advisors to help strengthen client capabilities, not replace fundamental responsibilities of the management team.
What according to you are the evident challenges in the industry?
The market for business strategy advice is a particularly opaque, where advisory firm size and brand recognition are not well correlated with the actual results clients realize. This makes it important for purchasers of advisory service to do their own due diligence before trusting the advice they come to rely upon. Clients should clearly define what measurable results they expect from their advisory relationship and the consequences of under or over-performance relative to that measure. Furthermore, clients should expect their advisors to help strengthen, not supplant, the capabilities of their organizations.
What are the current trends that are driving the industry?
Changes in market structure and the drivers of competitive position have become quicker and more consequential than at any time over the last 30 years that we have been advising large corporations. Where once technologic advancements improved the efficiency of traditional business models, digitization is in many cases redefining a company’s offer and leading to complete restructuring of the supply chain.
These changes are occurring with such speed that established competitors can become obsolete and enormous shareholder value can disappear in only a few years. This places a premium on:
- Understanding how technology is changing customer needs and buying behavior, product/service offers and supply chains in a company’s industry
- Considering fundamental changes in where to participate and how to compete, not just incremental changes to current strategies
- Insuring that digital innovations and technology investments have clear paths to commercialization and returns
Where does Galt & Company envision itself in the long run and/or what are its future goals?
Galt has and will continue to pursue a consistent goal: to help the management of the world’s leading corporations achieve and sustain superior performance in the customer and capital markets. Over the last 30 years, our partners have helped over 35 corporations pursue that shared objective, including companies like Caterpillar, Abbott Laboratories, Coca-Cola, Clorox, McCormick, Gillette, BB&T and others. We serve clients across the globe from offices in New, York, Chicago, London and Singapore.
Considering the rising number of competitors, how does Galt & Company stand out from its competitors?
Galt is the only advisory firm exclusively dedicated to helping large, multi-national corporations develop and implement the strategic and organizational changes required to achieve and sustain superior shareholder returns. We have an unmatched track record of client results. On average, our clients have sustained total shareholder returns greater than 150% of their industry peers, often for 10 years or more after our engagements have ended. There is no other advisory firm with that track record or reputation among Fortune 500 chief executives.
About the Leaders
Scott Gillis, Lee Mergy and Joe Shalleck are Co-Founders and Senior Managing Directors at Galt. For thirty years, they have been advising chief executives and board level management on the strategic, operating and organizational changes needed to deliver superior shareholder returns.
About the Company
Galt & Company works with Fortune 500 chief executives and their management teams to develop the strategies and organizational capabilities that achieve and sustain superior shareholder returns. Galt brings the disciplines of the capital markets inside a corporation, impacting business strategies, resource allocation and performance management. The firm’s clients sustain shareholder returns in the top quartile of their industry peers.
