One on One with M Squared's John Kunzweiler

The days of a career in consulting requiring a lengthy commitment under an executive pecking order are over. Nowadays, seasoned veterans of the profession looking to take the steering wheel on their career path are opting to strike out on their own, eschewing the convenient infrastructure put in place for them at larger firms in favor of a self-driven model. M Squared is one of the companies at the forefront of this contingent workforce trend. John Kunzweiler joined the firm in 2010 as CEO after 26 years at Accenture, and shared his insights about the direction of the free-roaming indy consultant, as well as some of the challenges and opportunities that they face.

Consulting: How does M Squared utilize the contingent workforce?

Kunzweiler: Our business model utilizes the high-end of the independent consultant population. Essentially, we staff them on individual or team-based projects. The main focus areas of our business are project management, business analysis, change management, and executive communications. Very focused model, we have 4 verticals: healthcare, financial services, technology and energy. It's kind of hard to describe, when people say what do you guys do, are you technology guys? We say we're more agnostic to what exactly we're doing but focus on those 4 areas and we find it to be a good market.