Why I Chose to Support the Arts as a Management Consultant
Exploring the Intersection of Business Strategy and Cultural Advocacy
This interview, originally published on LinkedIn in 2021 by Thomas Møller Jensen, Managing Director & Senior Partner; Nordic System Lead, offers insights into BCG’s collaboration with Market Art Fair. Malin Sundin-Alidoost, a Partner at BCG in Sweden, shares her perspective on the partnership, the importance of supporting art and culture, and the rewarding experience of applying consulting skills to a creative and impactful field.
“I’m a Principal here at BCG in Sweden and I’ve been with the company for almost 8 years. We started working with Market Art Fair a couple of years ago after being connected through a client. At the time, a colleague and I had been talking about the fact that BCG should play a larger role in supporting art and culture, given its importance in society as a whole, so we were thrilled when the opportunity to do something concrete arose.”
“The work with Market Art Fair revolves around acting as a sparring partner to the CEO and the Board, and to date, that has meant everything from supporting them in strategy workshops to discussing ideas for how to grow and develop the fair, to setting up business plans for the coming years. As a fair visitor, you see the art, the artists, and the galleries, but behind all that is an organization that needs to think about what will happen in 1-5 years, how to stay relevant to the audience, and how to continue to make an impact in a changing industry where digitalization and new forms of customer experiences are required.”
“Besides the actual work, an important part of it for us has been to spark a broader interest in the art world internally at BCG. At times, there is this aura around art that you “need to know something” about art and artists to join these types of events. My ambition has been to open it up a bit and make sure that everyone who is just curious about it feels welcomed. There is so much to discover if you let go of the feeling that you need to have deep knowledge about art to appreciate it – at least that has been my personal experience!”
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Courtesy of Market Art Fair and Jean Lapin
“BCG has a way of attracting brilliant minds, and to me, it makes sense to also make those brilliant minds play a role in trying to make the world grow into a better place. One way of doing that is through pro-bono work: supporting, engaging in, and trying to progress topics and projects that truly matter – not from a pure business point of view, but for society as a whole.”
“Personally, I’m very excited to be working with the people at Market Art Fair as they not only are great at what they do but also can share perspectives I usually don’t come across in my work. Also, it is interesting and rewarding to apply what we usually call “core consulting skills” to a topic we don’t typically work with – in this case, art and culture – and see that it can help and have an impact there as well.”
“For me, what makes consulting so exciting comes down to an inherent belief that everyone wishes to contribute, develop, and progress – whether in business or personally. I get genuinely excited when I feel that I can help clients or team members crack the problems that stand in the way of making that progress; that really makes me thrive.”
Read Thomas Møller Jensen’s original article on Linkedin!