Hector De La Rosa, director of IT Workplace and an L.E.K. boomerang, tells us about his career journey, his favorite part of working in IT and why he decided to return.
Tell us a bit about your background and what brought you to L.E.K. Consulting?
After college, I briefly started a career in recruiting until I got a call about an opening at L.E.K. for a service desk manager. This was about 15 years ago. I started working here and I immediately loved it. It was fantastic helping people in the office. At that time, there were only 50 people in the Chicago office. My career here grew, and I got promoted and moved to the Boston office, where I worked for about 4.5 years. Eventually, my wife and I decided it was time to start a family and we moved back to my hometown of Chicago. Unfortunately, I had to leave L.E.K. at that time because my role was based in Boston.
Why did you decide to return?
Thankfully, I stayed in contact with my colleagues and fellow alumni, and I didn’t hesitate to come back when I heard of an opportunity to rejoin the IT department and remain based in Chicago. Putting people first is something that is important to me, and the culture at L.E.K. is very focused on team happiness. L.E.K. aims to make all L.E.K.ers feel valued, happy and empowered. It’s important that they know the “why” behind the work they’re doing. There is transparency in the leadership here and I missed it.
What’s your favorite part about your job?
I like to try things. I like to investigate options on how to do things better and I like to fiddle. That is why I’m in IT. Continual improvement is important to me and it’s great that L.E.K. is a safe space to do this. I am also excited about the opportunity to drive projects that mean a lot to me. For example, I’m currently spearheading a project that will substantially reduce our printing waste in support of our collective effort to reduce L.E.K.’s environmental footprint.
What professional and personal value does a long-term career at L.E.K. bring?
On a personal level, the people bring the value. The people at L.E.K. really are different, as they’re not only smart but also have emotional intelligence and want to help, and they care about each other. There are no departmental walls here. I’ve met and befriended people all across L.E.K. and was best man at a consultant’s wedding. Professionally, there is a lot of opportunity for growth even if you’re not part of the consulting staff. L.E.K. invests in professional development and there have been numerous success stories here. I have seen people who started here as associates promoted to partners. It’s also great to see all the effort going into DEI. There have been a lot of improvements on that level since I started 16 years ago, which has been amazing to see.