Who We Are: Dublin
Andrea Cusack
I spent the first 12 years or so of my career in management roles at ICI and Dell, working in marketing, operations, logistics, procurement and change management. I held roles that were global, European and UK/Irish in focus, and I was exposed to a wide range of cultures and ways of working. I was happy to be a generalist, and learned a great deal about how organisations work across functional, national and cultural boundaries.
I began reflecting on my career when I took time out after the birth of my son, and realised that my skills, experience and interests all pointed to organisational consulting, so I took a bold step and invested two years (and quite a bit of midnight oil!) in an MSc degree in Organisational Behaviour. I started as an independent consultant and interim manager, then spent two very happy years with Genesis, a Dublin-based consulting firm whose special expertise is in bringing the voice of the customer into enterprise strategy. My role was as the organisation development specialist in the team, and I worked with clients to plan and implement changes to their customer experience, brand and organisational culture.
Since joining Sheppard Moscow in early 2007, my work has spanned financial services, pharmaceutical, utilities and the public, voluntary and health sectors. A key focus for me has been on leadership development work, which has included delivering programmes for a major global pharmaceutical company and a national regulatory body. My work also encompasses one-to-one executive coaching, primarily as a component of leadership development but also on a stand-alone basis. I particularly enjoy helping teams and individuals at various levels develop their vision and values, as well as facilitating strategy development and implementation, as it is here that the hard edge of business intersects with the soft underbelly of organisational culture, team dynamics, leadership – the people angle, if you like.
As a consultant, I am guided by a firm belief in unlimited human potential and by a commitment to helping shape organisations so that they operate as effective human systems. I try to help create space for people to think more deeply about what they do, how they lead, how they relate and how their own values inform their working lives. In this respect, I am fascinated by how leadership development programmes have such a profound effect on organisational culture and therefore on the organisation’s ability to implement its strategy and fulfil its potential. Similarly, helping to break down barriers to enable management teams to work better together is equally absorbing and rewarding.
My deepest personal motivation guiding my work is a love of learning, and in my work with Sheppard Moscow I learn every day, from colleagues, from clients and from the work itself.
I live in Dublin with my husband and our two lovely children. We do all the usual things families do and we appreciate every minute of it. I love cooking for friends, music, walking and reading, and fit in going to the gym and doing Pilates and yoga as much as I can, which is not very often. Balancing my passionate interest in my work with my personal interests and my family life can be a challenge, but I find that my various roles in life can be very mutually enriching.