So when it comes right down to it, Marion McGovern is a proud member of the Gig Economy. The short story is I have had a tremendous career in the human capital space, where I was able to grow a company, rebuild it after the tech wreck, sell it and return in an interim role. When I left the operating role, I taught business school, facilitated peer education with the CEO Alliance and developed residential real estate. I have had the tremendous opportunity to sit on several boards, both corporate and philanthropic. I often say that my career right now is like dim sum – there are a lot of plates on the table, and those plates are my gigs. So it is understandable that I am now writing my second book, Thriving in the Gig Economy.
I am proud to be the founder of M Squared Consulting, an innovative human capital company I founded with a partner, Paula Reynolds, in 1988. Ironic that we created a gig economy company, before the term had ever been coined. We created a network of independent consultants and matched them to project and interim assignments. We did this, I might add, before the internet – and I know I am dating myself.
The idea came to me while I was at Booz Allen and Hamilton, a prominent consulting firm. It occurred to me that a team of smart MBAs who might not know a lot about a client’s business may not be the only way to achieve results; a senior individual who had actual experience in the industry or situation could offer an interesting option for companies in need of real time assistance. M Squared was ahead of its time, and when Tom Peters included us in his book, ,Liberation Management, I remembered he said to us, “It’s just as bad to be 5 years too early as 5 years too late.” We may have been early, but we were lucky to be based in San Francisco, since businesses here were a bit more open to a totally new work model.
The company thrived. We were on the Inc. 500 list of the fastest growing companies in America three times. We expanded to Los Angeles, sent consultants abroad on projects, and started a second company, Collabrus Inc., to employ consultants while they were on projects and thereby mitigate the employment risk of independent contractors. In 1999, we sold the firm to a South African public company, The Kelly Group, not to be confused with Kelly Services, but that’s another story.
In 2000, I wrote, “A New Brand of Expertise: How Independent Consultant and Free Agents are Changing the World of Work”. With the help of our South African parent, we opened a Boston office and then had to retrench after the tech wreck of 2001. I brought the business back to profitability before retiring in 2005. I remained Chair of the Board for two years, and then a regular board member after that. In 2009, I stepped in as the interim CEO, when the then incumbent CEO departed somewhat unexpectedly. My 2 month gig as a part-time interim CEO turned into a year. In 2010, I retired again, but remained a board member until 2013, when the South Africans sold the business to Solomon Edwards.
