Michael J Lopez Consulting

Author. Speaker. Consultant. Occasional Maverick.

Prophet

Partner

KPMG

In joining the Transformation Delivery practice at KPMG, I combined my experience in large-scale organizational transformation with my experience in human transformation. With this experience, I was asked to lead KPMG’s internal Front Office Transformation program – a Salesforce-led transformation of KPMG’s go-to-marketing consulting model. This experience elevated my perspective on the challenges with ‘change-and-scale’ and the importance of grass roots, coaching-led strategies to shift individual behavior. From creating pilot-communities of early adopters to creating and activating a broad coaching network, this experience solidified my belief that people change through repetition-based experiences with support from hands-on practitioners that help them maintain motivation and focused learning.

Managing Director

Building from my innovation and strategy experience at Smiths, I joined EY to help identify the next generation of human capital consulting services for the newly formed People Advisory Services. As a leader in the New Services Team, my role was to help PAS leadership identify the new services and opportunities that emerged from the shifting marketplace and our capabilities. 
This role also opened the opportunity to become a thought leader. As the architect of PAS’ Future Work Now service offering, I led a team of ten people to build a cutting-edge consulting program designed to help companies transform as new digital technologies and disruptions were being introduced. In 18-months the team went from concept to a full consulting program that needed over $10m in sales and created the go-to-market foundation for the practice.  
It was also during this time that I began to think more critically about the traditional tactics of change management. Having led several large client transformations, such ERP implementation and culture transformation, I found that many of the tried-and-true change methods were not creating the intended effects. It was also during this time that I began my research into the neuroscience of human behavior to understand how to think differently about creating successful change within organizations. 
The foundation of my team coaching and development capabilities were built at EY as well. I worked with executive teams across industries to create high-performing teams via hands on coaching and development.

Smiths Interconnect

After 13 years at Booz Allen, I ventured in-house to serve as the Director of Strategy and Innovation for Smiths Interconnect, a global, hi-tech, Diversified Industrial Products company. Before hybrid work was a thing, this role introduced me to the realities of the global, hybrid work model. As an individual contributor in this role, I had to develop the relationship-building and influence skills to collaborate across time zones and continents to execute a global product strategy. 
From a business strategy and operations perspective, this role began my experience with understanding how to close the gap between strategy and human performance. Working with the C-Suite leadership team, we developed a market-back product strategy that introduced new concepts for top end growth. This included identifying new products needed to capture needs-based market segments via rigorous customer evaluation. This required that we introduce new skills, capabilities, and behaviors, such as innovation, to execute that new strategy.

Director, Innovation & Strategy

Booz Allen Hamilton

If the foundation of my view on the power of teams came from my time at DIA, the foundation of my belief in the importance of organizational culture came from my time at Booz Allen. During my first foray into consulting, I learned the importance of strong corporate values and how well-designed collective incentives can shape behavior. I applaud Booz Allen’s approach to designing incentives that encourage leaders to work together and make choices in the service of collective results. 
During this time, I sharpened my personal leadership style and advanced my ability to grow future leaders. While at Booz Allen I learned another skill that I continue to practice today – the day you are promoted begin identifying your replacement. The growth of any organization is only possible if the current leaders in the organization develop the future leaders of the organization. I continue to be grateful to the leaders at Booz Allen that set this foundation for me and for the experience of honing my personal leadership style and effectiveness. 
My progress from Senior Consultant to Senior Associate came from my growth in serving as part of a broader Los Angeles Office leadership team and leading a capability team from 12 to over 40 team members. Learning to design a business capability required building the foundational business operating model and working collaboratively across my peers to deliver high impact consulting. Building a consulting team from the ground up formed my early view about how to close the gap between our business strategy and the ability of our teams to deliver it.

Senior Associate

Department of Defense

In my first professional job as an intelligence officer with the Defense Intelligence Agency, I learned the skill of leading with curiosity, the importance of deep, thoughtful analysis, and, most importantly, the power of high-performing teams. Regarding the skill of curiosity, I recall some of the best advice I’ve ever received (and still use to this day) – “always ask the next question.” In asking the next question we perpetually seek to learn and understand, not just about the topic we are addressing, but also about ourselves. 
As a military organization seeking to keep American servicemen and women safe, the analysis we performed as intelligence officers was essential. Communicating clearly and thoughtfully allowed decision-makers to make the best possible decision. High impact information and insight is critical whether you’re in the military or in business. 
There are few organizations more purpose-driven than the United States Military. In addition to my experience in athletics, the foundation of my views around team performance come from this experience. Great teams are composed of purpose-driven team members with complementary skills. Great teams are built, grown, and empowered by equally strong leaders who understand their role is not to “manage” the team, but to unleash their collective capabilities.

Analyst

Have you tried traditional change management techniques only to find that performance never improves? Are you experiencing the common symptoms of stalled change or transformation?  Do you still have a gap between your desired strategy and the results realized? 

Perhaps it's time to re-think your approach. And where you go for answers.

After years of watching traditional change management fall short firsthand, I embarked on a journey to understand why and how people truly change. The result are six proven principles that work with the neuroscience of human behavior to create real, lasting change.

As a student of “the human industry” I use my experience in, and passion for, the science and practice of behavior change to design innovative change strategies. With a diverse leadership style forged from a blend of business, civil service, military, and athletic experience, my purpose is to help individuals, teams, and organizations go farther, faster. This is accomplished by identifying the cultural, structural, operational, and behavioral shifts needed to increase performance. Then shortening the time it takes to implement them.

Disability isn’t a limitation—it’s part of the human experience.

In this episode, I’m joined by Tiffany A. Yu, MSc, founder of Diversability and author of The Anti-Ableist Manifesto, to explore what it really means to build a world that values difference. At just nine years old, Tiffany became disabled in a car accident that also took her father’s life. Years later, after a successful career at Goldman Sachs and Bloomberg, she turned her experience into a movement to challenge ableism, expand access, and redefine inclusion.

We’ll talk about why anti-ableism is everyone’s responsibility, how inclusive design benefits all of us, and what it takes to move from awareness to real action.

Because inclusion isn’t about accommodation—it’s about recognizing that every difference is a source of strength.

#topvoicetuesday

Michael Lopez

Transformation Consultant to the Fortune 500 | Ex Big Four Managing Director | Former US Intelligence Officer | Host of the Top Voice Tuesday Podcast | Author - CHANGE.

Rethinking Disability: The Power of Seeing Difference as Strength

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