The history driven consultant

MORE than 50 years after the passing of Andrew Thomas Kearney, founder of the fourth largest privately held management consultancy that bears his name, a 56-year-old Dutchman is striving to keep his legacy alive.

Johan Aurik is AT Kearney's chairman and eighth managing partner, and he is in town for the day to visit the firm's Singapore office, which is also its Asian hub.

By the office entrance sits a basket of small unassuming books, entitled Things We All Ought Always to Remember. They are copies of a staff memo penned by Mr Kearney in 1961, a year before he died, Mr Aurik tells BT. It contains core values that the late founder fervently hoped would live on in his firm, even beyond his tenure. Today, Mr Aurik ensures that every new AT Kearney employee gets a copy of it.