About Us.

Rory established Silver Stag Consulting to share his wealth of experience within the recruitment sector. He has a rare mix of achievement across international organic growth, M&A, extensive restructuring and turnarounds. His commitment now is to engage with ambitious, values-led recruitment leaders and investors within the Human Capital Sector. Silver Stag is a consultancy offering extending over 3 distinct channels - integrations, due diligence and advisory.

Prior to founding Silver Stag, Rory was an operational board member with the highly acquisitive MCG Group who were committed to an ambitious multi sector “buy & build” strategy. Rory led the Group’s £50m Tech sector, represented by a portfolio of 3 brands including his previous employer, RP International. He played a leading role in acquisitions, complex international integrations & numerous target assessments, incorporating extensive commercial due diligence, while aggressively growing operations.


Rory has also held leadership roles with a number of smaller, privately owned businesses with the single aim of helping them scale at pace, generating value for shareholders. This experience has given him exposure to multiple organisations, building leadership teams, while launching & scaling multiple ventures across the UK, Europe, North America, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific.


Rory’s first 12 years in the sector were spent with global Tech consultancy, Harvey Nash as they grew from a small, privately owned entity in London into a large, multinational PLC. Building and leading their most valuable business asset, he was instrumental in that journey.


Rory previously served in HM Forces on a short service commission with the Scots Guards.

Why us

30

Years in the sector

100

Coached over 100 leaders

40

Traded in over 40 countries 

More About Us

Rory has gained an enviable range of experience in Human Capital over the years and there are very few challenges he hasn’t seen and dealt with a number of times. Whilst he fully respects and uses structure and process Rory intuitively understands that it’s really all about people and their engagement. He also has that rare quality of being able to create a friendly and enjoyable working environment around him whilst driving hard for results.

Simon La Fosse | Founder | La Fosse Associates

In my time working with Rory, he always exhibited strong leadership skills, often taking initiative in challenging situations and collaborating seamlessly with multidisciplinary teams to achieve positive outcomes. 

Colm McGinley | Founder | The MCG Group

Rory has been an exceptional member of the team. His dedication, creativity, and positive energy in leading the Technology sector have left a lasting impact on our company

Ian Langley | Chairman | Airswift & the MCG Group

Rory is a rare individual who brings big-picture experience gained on an international basis with excellent attention to detail in all his workings. He has built many teams and businesses and attracts key talent with his open and honest approach. Working with Rory you know he has always 'got your back' and no matter how tough times get he can be relied on to deliver while maintaining his sense of humour and perspective.

Stuart Wilson | Co-founder | RP International

FAQs

  • Where does the brand, Silver Stag Consulting come from?

    The silver stag has been a powerful symbol in Celtic mythology that heralded great change. In today’s rapidly evolving world, change is constant. We want to help you navigate your business through the associated challenges of that change in order to achieve both your commercial and personal aspirations.

  • What should a successful integration look like?

    Depending on the strategic objectives of the merger, a successful integration will deliver an increased return for shareholders via the realisation of synergies and increased revenue generation.


    Good Integrations should also create a payroll of employees who are engaged, aligned and inspired by a new unified journey.


    A successful integration will serve as a springboard for future growth.


  • Where do integrations go wrong?

    This is a huge topic! Post merger integrations can be extremely complex. The bringing together of different brands, offerings, processes, people and values needs to have clear commercial value in order to be worthwhile. Some frequent challenging culprits are as follows:

    • Unrealistic expectations 
    • Poor strategic alignment
    • Cultural differences
    • A lack of leadership and engagement
    • Poor communication 
    • Poorly planned process

    Typically, the causes of failed integrations are orientated around people rather than processes. An integration process can be meticulously planned, but there is no template to guide individuals through an integration. You can significantly improve your chances of success by involving and guiding your key stakeholders through each phase of the project and communicating regularly throughout the integration cycle.


  • Why use external help with an integration?

    An external perspective can be invaluable in guiding your people through an integration. With no embedded loyalty to either individual brand, a third party can be objective, impartial and, as such, take a “business first” perspective in all interactions. 


    Every employee affected will go through a range of experiences and emotions as they navigate the various phases of this process and they will be more likely to share thoughts, or concerns openly and honestly with an objective external player than another employee.

  • What should we look for in an advisor?

    This depends on your goals for the coming years. As such, you may use different advisors for different stages of your journey. Relevant experience in the sector (service, or industry) is a key consideration, but perhaps more significant is proof of impact, whether driving change, or growth, or both! A track record of having trodden the route you’re planning, or perhaps they’ve successfully guided others on that path, should also give you some confidence.


    Diversity of experience across multiple journeys will mean they will have sat in multiple boardrooms and seen a greater variety of challenges rather than someone who has experienced just one journey, perhaps their own business which, while still of value, will obviously narrow their points of reference. 


    They should have a broad and relevant network so you can gain exposure to an extended level of wisdom and experience that will offer resilience for a broader range of challenges. Ultimately, look for someone with credibility, who you trust as this will be an important relationship which should develop over time. They don’t need all the answers, but should know the right questions to ask. 


    Finally, they must have the confidence and credibility to challenge you. A boardroom of constantly nodding heads will limit your ability to be the best version of yourself & a business is rarely grown on consensus alone.


  • As a start-up we can’t afford regular advice, but can you help?

    Absolutely! If your headcount is 5, or less you are welcome to book in a regular call at no cost. Times and days will be subject to availability, but the ability to just check in and talk seems to be proving popular with founders of new ventures. On a personal level, I also really enjoy that interaction at the coalface and it’s a good opportunity for me to constantly challenge and develop my creative input.