5 questions with business consultant Jessica Lackey -

A lot of the time people don’t choose to do business with a brand because of what they do, but why they do it. It’s often about more than just the product, it’s about the ethos of the company. And this often happens subconsciously, because whether you know it or not, your ethos shines through in what you create, be it a coworking space or a t-shirt or consulting work.

Essentially, it’s helpful to know your own soul – the core driving you in what you do – as a business owner, nonprofit director or startup founder. And that’s where Jessica Lackey comes in.

Jessica has a long history of working with major corporations (Nike, McKinsey and Company Consulting and Harvard Business School to name a few). At each company or school she held positions in operations consulting, supply chain planning, or strategic planning.

“And I saw these institutions really driving ‘big business’ – including extraordinarily inaccessible fees, increased consumer consumption, and very difficult working hours for their employees,” Jessica says. “I wanted to work with smaller companies that think differently about business mission and success in 2021.”

This led her to launch Jessica Lackey Consulting full time in March this year, though she’s been coaching since 2018. She focuses on soul and strategy consulting, which means helping smaller businesses or brands determine and define their core values so they can achieve their business goals.

If this sounds like something you could benefit from, Jessica just announced her first-ever accelerator designed to help business owners one-on-one. It’s happening this mont, and you can check it out here.

Six months after going after her consulting business full time, we asked Jessica a few questions to learn more about her, what she does and what advice she’d give others. Keep reading for some good tidbits.

What types of things do you specialize in?

My work is called Soul and Strategy Consulting. I work with business owners and teams to unlock more wealth, health, worth and equity in their business. We start with reflecting on their Soul: their self and business core values, their gifts, their purpose, the injustice in the world that they are fighting with their work. And then translate that into Strategy: how to operationalize and execute plans to activate that soul purpose, while enabling each team member to maximize their potential.

I teach management strategies, delegation/communication frameworks, prioritization, emotional resiliency – the best of corporate/consulting with the best of soul-centered life coaching.

What’s the biggest thing you’ve learned from running your own business?

I’m early in the process of going full-time! But what’s made it work so far is making conversations – agenda-less, relationship-building conversations – a cornerstone of my strategy.

What advice do you have for other business owners?

You can’t dream big about your business and get focused alone. You carry your own history and stories about what’s happened and what’s possible. Engaging an outside facilitator can help you and your team see more clearly, get aligned, and bring to light the stories and practices in your company that might be holding you back.

We don’t want to share all your secrets, but how can someone start to find their soul?

The first secret is to get quiet. Sit still and let the inner rumblings come to the forefront. And then you’ll start to hear your inner critic, your inner mentor… and your inner knowing.