Senior manager of global communications Kathleen Ford was away from the firm for several years before rejoining in late 2019. “My former manager reached out to me about an opening, as we had stayed in touch and I always left the door open to a potential return,” she recalls. “It was a fortuitous series of events that brought me back to the firm, and a reminder to keep in touch with your network because you never know what twists and turns your career journey will take.”

Other boomerangs, like principal Will Shalosky Hardee, let their former colleagues know they wanted to return to Kearney. “I reached out to my mentor and told her I missed the firm, that the perspective I gained in my year away showed me that Kearney is where I wanted to continue my career. She helped me navigate the process of returning,” he says.

Will isn’t the only boomerang who found his perspective changed during their time away from the firm. Specialist director Danielle DiPietra notes that she “got to be the client lead for a consulting engagement and gained a new appreciation for that role.” Manager Angie Kurdys’s time in industry helped her better understand life on the client side: “I gained a lot of empathy for our clients after seeing first-hand how many competing demands they have in leadership roles. The business doesn’t stop to run a special project, and juggling both the day-to-day work and special projects is arguably more stressful than many days in consulting because ultimately the buck stops with you to achieve results. It was eye-opening to be on the other side.”

Some returnees note that they viewed their moves from consulting to industry as temporary ones. “When I left Kearney in 2018, it was the right moment in my life to take a break from consulting,” says principal Moritz Breuninger, who returned to Kearney early this year. “While I was away we had two kids, my wife transitioned careers, we lived through a pandemic, and we moved to the suburbs. I believe that having a more predictable job was helpful during that journey.” Fellow principal Jeff Greer expressed similar sentiments: “I left Kearney when my wife and I started having kids, but I thought consulting was always something I could come back to later in life. It has been wonderful coming back. I was away from Kearney for 16 years, but it feels like I never left.”

Partner Steve Berger spent 14 years away from the firm before returning in 2019, pleased to find that Kearney’s culture had returned to that of the firm he had originally joined back in 1997. “I left the firm during challenging times in 2005 because I felt that it had lost the focus on essential rightness. But when I began discussing a return, it was clear we had found it again,” he notes. “Essential rightness means that we always bring the best of our approach to clients. And it means recognizing that everyone here has some magic that benefits both the firm and our clients.”

Part of partner Ken Quaglio’s motivation for returning to Kearney last year was about paying the firm back for all that it has given him. “The way I see it, I’m now bookending my career. I started with Kearney after serving in the Army, and I plan to end my career here,” he says. “Kearney gave me the tools to succeed in business. I want to make sure the next generation of Kearney consultants has the same opportunities that I did so that the firm’s second century in operation creates as much value for our clients and our people as the first century did.”

While everyone who separates from Kearney has their own unique reasons for doing so, all of our boomerangs know that the firm is a unique and special place that will always feel like home.