Welcome to the corkeCo Website

Why am I creating this website? I'm looking for people and for companies that I can work with and to whom I can give genuine assistance.

So, why would you want to work with me? Well, you can take a look at my bio and see what I've done over the past 20-odd years. In particular, I'm interested in the specialist topics you see on this website - Online Marketing, Information Architecture and Statistics - but I'd also be happy to help you with general problem-solving, with project or programme management, with strategic planning, or with any financial services challenges.

Consultants are often criticised for being too theoretical, too impractical. There's certainly a role for theory in the early stages of thinking about a problem, but implementation must be approached as an exercise in practicality and pragmatism. When you're revelling in the theory and cruising at 30,000ft, some part of you has to be thinking about the 'landing' - about how you're going to implement something and get some value from all this thinking.

Recently, when I heard that a senior staff member from a client company had labelled me "the best consultant that Company X had ever had" I was, briefly and I think understandably, ecstatic. Pondering though I realised that this was probably a bit like being proclaimed the "best used-car salesman" that someone had ever dealt with or "my favourite ex-husband" - better than expected given the circumstances, but still someone to be avoided if at all possible.

I'm not qualified to go into the deep psychological reasons for the reactions that consultants get, but I have sat on both sides of the briefing table so I thought I'd set down what I think contributes to the successful use of consultants.