Mark Fuller
Entrepreneurial Consulting
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| Fuller Photo courtesy Monitor Group |
While many HBS grads hanker for a plum job with a major consulting firm, Mark B. Fuller started his own. He made the leap from HBS assistant professor to cofounder and CEO of the Monitor Group in 1982. Since then, the firm has grown from a Cambridge-based start-up with five employees to a global powerhouse with sixteen hundred employees in 23 countries.
From day one, Fuller and his colleagues knew they wanted to build a firm with global reach — a cutting-edge notion at the time. In the early ’80s, “lots of companies and organizations were wrestling with globalization; they wanted help and advice,” says Fuller. Seeing an opportunity, Monitor opened offices abroad and hired local staffs.
As Monitor grew, it developed its own unique culture. The firm is divided into a dozen units, each operating like an entrepreneurial business. Unlike professional service firms with rigid up-or-out promotion policies, Monitor “favors a more flexible approach to assessing an individual’s overall contribution,” says Fuller. The firm also had significantly diversified into principal investing, asset management, and venture capital.
Distinctive as it is, Monitor still was not immune to the effects of recent worldwide economic sluggishness. “We had some sobering moments in 2001 and 2002,” admits Fuller. But grappling with slower growth “made everyone a lot smarter.”
After twenty years at the helm, Fuller says he’s never grown tired of the job. When he does, returning to the classroom has powerful appeal. Says Fuller: “I learned more in four years as an [HBS] assistant professor than any other period of my life.”
— RT
