March 8, 2010 – Hartford Business – USA
John Birch says he can sit down with an employee for just a few minutes and know whether they’re cut out for a job in a cubicle or on the open road. He says he can spot a narcissist or a sociopath from a mile away.
Birch is what one might call a small business doctor. About 30 companies throughout the state — ranging from nonprofits to manufacturing firms — have hired him to repair the inner workings of their operations. Since 1997, he has operated The Birch Group in New Britain. He employs 10 part-time staffers to assist in efforts to restructure businesses with 5 to 500 employees. And he says he will soon be looking for a partner so he can eventually “retire to working a 40 hour week.”
Even with the sinking economy, he says businesses want his services and his revenues have grown by at least 10-15 percent each year since he started out.
What makes Birch different from many others consultants, he says, is his ability to deeply read the people he works with using not only behavioral and personality mapping tools, but his instincts. Though he holds degrees in finance and economics, he is also a certified professional business coach who understands, first hand, what it feels like to work in the wrong job.
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