Boswell Group

The Boswell Group Announces New Form of Management Consultation

Cites consultant Kerry J. Sulkowicz
04.11.2001

The Boswell Group, LLC, has launched a new form of management consulting focusing on psychological aspects of management and leadership. Founded by Kerry J. Sulkowicz, M.D., a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst in New York City, Boswell Group has begun applying an in-depth way of listening to, understanding and treating individuals to businesses and other organizations in what Sulkowicz describes as “psychoanalytic management consultations.”

Although many others in the mental health professions have tried their hands as organizational psychologists or consultants, Boswell Group’s approach does not rely on standardized tests or formulaic methods. Their services are engageable only by CEO’s or other business leaders, and Sulkowicz views each client organization as a unique system of people, greater in complexity than the sum of its parts.

As in the individual clinical situation, an immersion in the life of the business or its management team is an essential step for Boswell Group to understand its difficulties and begin a process leading to substantive and lasting change. Boswell Group consultations are not standardized, nor do they use gimmicky tests or formulas. Their only tool, says the doctor, who is a Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at NYU School of Medicine, is the consultant’s own mind.

CEO’s who need to streamline or enhance theworking relationships of their managment team, or who seek to acquire psychological advantages in merger negotiations, would benefit from a psychoanalytic organizational consultation. Internet start-ups seeking to manage the interpersonal tensions that arise in the pressured environment of “Internet time,” or that need help hiring qualified, compatible personnel quickly, benefit from Boswell Group’s perspective. So would venture capitalists trying to make their best-informed bet on new management teams under consideration for funding. Family businesses or partnerships have hired Dr. Sulkowicz to help fix tensions within the leadership group, or to facilitate implementing a succession plan.

Changing an outdated, counterproductive corporate culture is a fundamentally psychological task, given its deep roots in the collective minds of an organization. So is blending two distinctly different cultures, when companies merge or are acquired. Boswell Group’s approach takes the inherent complexity of these common business occurrences into account as they assist senior management in shepherding these crucial transitions to a stable new culture.

BG’s method involves applying psychoanalytic interviewing and interpretive skills, along with extensive experience in understanding human behavior and motivation, to the corporate setting. Using plain language and a thoughtful, low-key manner, BG’s highly trained consultants direct an exploration into the sources of the corporate problem while simultaneously recommending new courses of action whenever appropriate. They help in the implementation of these new actions or attitudes by addressing the inevitable resistances to change that are a part of any organization’s growth process.

The plan for each consultation is discussed in advance with the client and is always open to adjustment as the engagement proceeds. As most of BG’s project are optimally engaged by a solo consultant, the cost of a their services are often less than that of a traditional organizational consultation involving a team of consultants.

Boswell Group’s consultations are treated with the same ethical standards and a comparable concern for confidentiality as in their clinical work with individuals.

For further information on psychoanalytic management consultation, or to make a confidential inquiry about obtaining a consultation, Dr. Sulkowicz can be contacted directly by telephone at 212 737-1542 or by email at kjs@boswellgroup.com.