This week we spotlight Christian Lane, our firm’s Founding Partner. The eight QA’s below enlighten readers by revealing who Christian Lane is and how Praecipio Consulting got started. Enjoy:
Brian: What’s your role at Praecipio Consulting?
Christian: “As Founding Partner, I set the strategic direction and pace of the business.”
Brian: Personally, what do you like about your position?
Christian: “The challenges. I tend to get bored easily; the diverse set of challenges we help our clients through (and work through ourselves) keeps me motivated. I’m in a position to help organizations reduce and eliminate inefficiencies and waste, improving their bottom line. That’s exciting to me.”
Brian: What spawned your idea to start Praecipio Consulting?
Christian: “I’ve spent a lot of time and energy in my career helping companies solve business problems and improve profit margins…I felt a consulting business model was one that I could grow. I hail from a long line of entrepreneurs and business owners – and since process and technology are my core capabilities, the consulting business seemed like a fit.”
Brian: What personal traits help you with your job?
Christian: “I’ve been told I excel in leadership – that’s where I’ve had a lot of success and recognition.”
Brian: You’ve said some things about efficiency at this point. What usually causes inefficiency in organizations?
Christian: “A lack of repeatable, well-defined processes within a good technology framework that facilitates good process. Also, politics and protecting of turf tend to keep businesses in silos of under-performance.”
Brian: What motivates you when you’re working client-side?
Christian: “To put this simply, I love solving problems and helping others. We can use our strengths to save companies money and improve their profit margins, enabling them to do what they do better. I love that, we love that…and over time, our clients love it too.”
Brian: You have a day off. What do you do?
Christian: “I enjoy tending to my vegetable garden – I get a lot of peace getting my hands dirty and participating in the lifecycle of plants and food. Part of my fascination with growing food and plants is experimentation with nature’s processes, transactions, and cycles. Ultimately, everything in life is subject to the same constraints and basic elements, and has a life cycle. Energy can neither be created nor destroyed; gardening gives me a real sense and reminder of that.
Aside from gardening, I like to keep active. I enjoy wake boarding, fly fishing, whitewater kayaking, running, mountain biking – anything outdoors – as well as spending time with my lovely wife and two dogs.”
Brian: What is the airspeed velocity of an African swallow?
Christian: “That’s funny, are you searching for the Holy Grail? This question reminds me of a skit/presentation we did while I was at Tactica Technology Group eight or so years ago in Dallas. The skit was a spoof on Monty Python and the Search for the Holy Grail. We took the plot from the movie and applied it to a huge EDI project we completed for a major utility in Dallas in preparation for the deregulation of the Texas Electric Market – it was cheesy, but fun.
As for the actual answer, I’d have to look that one up; I don’t know a thing about African swallows. I don’t think I’ll register this one to memory either…as Einstein put it, ‘Never memorize what you can look up in books."
