Consultant Phil Kowalski is currently on a swap in Melbourne, Australia. From his roots in supply chain to building expertise in the Organization & Performance (O&P) practice, Phil shares his journey, what a typical day looks like, and how he’s growing both personally and professionally.
Tell us about your journey to L.E.K.
I graduated from North Carolina State University with a degree in supply chain, which naturally led me into that field for my early career. I started in a leadership development program at a tool manufacturing company, rotating through different supply chain roles every six months. I loved the project-based work and the tangible impact I could make. After two years, I was offered a full-time role but realized I preferred project-driven work—much like consulting. So, I joined a boutique consulting firm focused on manufacturing performance improvement, spending two years on supply chain and manufacturing projects. Then L.E.K. reached out about expanding their O&P practice and bringing in more supply chain expertise. The opportunity to help build something new was exciting, so I came on board as an associate consultant about two and a half years ago and hit the ground running.
What can you tell us about the O&P practice—what types of projects do you work on?
In O&P, we have five different capabilities—Performance Improvement, Organizational Strategy, Post-Merger Integration, Commercial Excellence, and Value Activation. Most of the projects I work on fall in the performance improvement space, and that can take on a lot of different flavors. It might be four-wall manufacturing productivity improvement, where you’re looking at a single facility and figuring out how to lower costs or boost throughput. Or it could be analyzing a network of manufacturing or distribution facilities—understanding what the current network design looks like and what it should look like in the future to meet the company’s strategic goals.
There’s a lot of variety within performance improvement, and a lot of it ties back to supply chain, which has given me the freedom to branch out from just manufacturing and explore different types of projects. Since I’ve been here, O&P has grown a ton too. When I started a couple of years ago, we had about 25 people, and now we’re around 45 or so. We’ve almost doubled in size, both in headcount and revenue, in just two years. That’s been great because it used to be that you had to be a generalist in O&P, but now we’re big enough that people can start to specialize in certain types of projects if they want, which is pretty cool.
What does a typical day look like for you as a Consultant in O&P?
In the morning, I will have some sort of beginning-of-day meeting with the team. Normally, it’s just me and the associates I’m working with, going over the day’s priorities, recapping how the previous day went, and figuring out what’s ahead. In O&P, we work closely and collaboratively with the clients themselves, so throughout the day, we’ll normally have a few client meetings or workshops and maybe a couple of expert interviews.
Then in the afternoon, that’s when a lot of the slide development and analytics happen. Toward the end of the day, we might have a CTM with the whole team, including the partners, to review where we’re at in the case. Then we wrap up with a quick team meeting—me, the associates, and the manager—to debrief on how the day went and what we’re aiming for the rest of the week.
How have you found mentorship and support at L.E.K.?
Definitely plenty of great mentorship. When I first started as an associate consultant, I found support at all levels—from my peers, but especially from managers and partners. Now that I’ve moved up to the consultant role, I get a lot of mentorship from the O&P partners. I get a lot of face-to-face time with partners to talk about not only the project we’re working on but also about my career trajectory—what kinds of projects I’d like to tackle next and how I want to build my professional portfolio moving forward.
Especially when I’m traveling for a case, that’s when a lot of the informal mentorship takes place over dinner or drinks once we’ve finished up work for the day. One of the reasons I enjoy working at L.E.K. is how much I’m able to learn from all the people around me.
You’re currently on swap in Melbourne! For those who may not know, our swap program provides L.E.K.ers the opportunity to switch positions with a peer in another country for six months. What made you decide to swap to Australia?
I chose Melbourne because I was looking for an English-speaking office where I could jump in and contribute to projects right away. I considered a lot of different offices, but Melbourne stood out. From talking to colleagues who’d done the swap program before, I heard it’s a lot like Chicago in the U.S.—tons of neighborhoods with different vibes and cultures. The office culture here is great too.
Plus, O&P’s a global practice—we do that work here as well. That was a big factor in picking Melbourne specifically. And of course, being here opens up all kinds of experiences—like weekend trips and exploring new places—which was really appealing to me.
How does the Melbourne office compare to your home office in Chicago?
I love the culture at both, but the differences have been fun to experience. The Melbourne office is a lot smaller than Chicago, which opens up different traditions. In Chicago, we’ve got our beer cart, where everyone unwinds with an alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverage every Thursday after work; here, it’s the beer trolley, and it happens every Friday.
With a bigger office, people still mingle, but in Melbourne, it’s small enough that the beer trolley feels like hanging out with friends in a living room. It’s a great way to wind down the week, decompress, chat about the cases everyone’s working on, and just socialize before the weekend kicks off. The in-office culture here is awesome too. There’s no requirement to come in at this office, but with such a tight-knit group, everyone wants to be there working together in person. It’s been really easy to build friendships with my co-workers here, and I’ll definitely miss them when I leave.
Are you seeing personal or professional growth from your swap experience?
I’d say so. The industries we work on here in Melbourne are pretty different from the U.S., which gives me a broader global perspective on the types of businesses and markets out there. It’s also been eye-opening to see how different cultures run their operations and the ways of working for clients from different backgrounds. That’s given me a lot of valuable insight to carry forward.
Even back in the U.S., we work with international clients or people from all over, so having that perspective is huge. Personally, I never thought I would have an opportunity like this, so being able to be traveling and working across the world from where I grew up has been incredible. It’s more than just a work trip or a vacation—I’m actually living here, experiencing the culture, making friends, and learning a lot along the way.
