Alexander Proudfoot ( - 25 October 1968) was the founder of Proudfoot consulting.

Born in Chicago to William and Andrea Proudfoot, (of Irish ancestry) Alexander attended The University of Chicago from fall 1919 to winter 1923 where he gained his Ph.D./Bachelors in Philosophy. While at University he also had a very successful football career.

Mr Proudfoot developed a very broad-based knowledge of business and its problems, first by spending time in the banking industry, evaluating troubled companies, and then in the general consulting business, where he worked on solving problems for hundreds of companies in all types of industries.

During this period, Mr Proudfoot developed quite a reputation as a business genius. He had a unique ability to come into an unfamiliar company and within a few days, have its entire operation analysed, problems identified, and solutions proposed. As usual, Mr Proudfoot’s explanation was simple. “It isn’t that I’m so smart”, he would say, “It’s just that I know what to look for.”

The point he was making became part of the Proudfoot Company’s Philosophy, namely, operating on “the Principle of Exception”. Proudfoot didn’t waste time on the things he found being done correctly. He concentrated on ferreting out the problems in a business, many of which were often hidden. Mr Proudfoot developed an art for distinguishing between symptoms and the root causes of problems. People often fail to correct problems because they treat the symptoms, which appear on the surface to be problems, but they never understand the root cause of the problem.

Mr Proudfoot’s philosophy was simple, it consists of principles and values, all blended to form a tradition of integrity and performance. Mr Proudfoot objected to the fact that many consultants had no “product”. The assumption was because of their experience or educational background, they knew more than their client’s people, and could therefore tell the client how to solve his problems. Obviously, this was not always the case.

In 1946, Mr Proudfoot decided to go into business for himself and create a new form of consulting service, which, at the time was very revolutionary. He had two main criteria. First, he would sell a unique, proprietary product with a universal application, which would produce a dramatic, tangible result with benefits far exceeding the cost. Secondly, he would never take on an assignment unless the client allowed him to assume responsibility for installing the program. His reasoning was the client didn’t know how to install, and if Proudfoot didn’t do it, it wouldn’t get done.

In pursuit of a “product”, Mr Proudfoot was looking for something that would have universal application. He searched for a “need” – something that would be meaningful and important to any company.

Through his study of hundreds of companies in dozens of industries over several years, Mr Proudfoot discovered they all shared the same, major deficiency; they had low utilisation of their resources, such as plant capacity, equipment, manpower and material utilisation. This resulted in excess costs, bad customer service, poor quality and lost sales. He invented what we call the “Proudfoot Concept of Lost Time”, namely, any organisation that does not control its resources effectively (which includes almost every organisation) has at least 50% lost time and waste in its operation. He determined that this lost time and waste is caused by an endless array of recurring and lingering problems which companies have difficulty identifying and correcting. These problems have their origins in inadequate systems, methods and procedures, a lack of discipline, poor planning, a failure to execute, ineffective management and supervision, a lack of skill, inept training, and negative attitudes.

Mr Proudfoot knew there could be no single solution to this myriad of problems, which fluctuate and vary with each client. On the other hand, he reasoned if the problems were so universal, he ought to be able to invent techniques and methods which would provide solutions with a universal application, if they were properly applied on a tailor-made basis. He proceeded to create what became known as the “Proudfoot System”, a unique method of identifying the underlying problems causing lost time and waste in an organisation, and a series of principles, methods, procedures, technologies, and philosophies designed to correct these problems and prevent them from reoccurring.

Proudfoot knew no solution would work unless it was properly installed and made to work. He determined this to be more of an art than a science. Since no such process existed, he created a unique installation procedure that would enable his programs to become effective and produce long lasting results.

Since the most important ingredient in both the solution and its installation is people, Proudfoot’s programs place a major emphasis on training, educating, and motivating people at all levels – from workers to supervisors to management – in order to improve their skill and desire to become more effective. The Proudfoot installation procedures contain a vast amount of philosophical, psychological, tactical, and motivational techniques and methods designed to encourage people’s interest, desire and willingness to participate. This total product became known as “Proudfoot Systems Installations”.

To get a Proudfoot program installed successfully requires getting people to do what they are supposed to do, after you have figured out what that is. For this reason, Mr Proudfoot’s teaching stressed the art of dealing with people. He read avidly, often reading several serious books in a single day (or night). He was a student of all the great philosophers, favouring Plato, Aristotle, and his favourite, Socrates. One of his few boasts was he was probably the only person in the world with two busts of Socrates in his office.

Mr Proudfoot was a strong proponent of the Socratic method of influencing people, questioning them artfully, rather than trying to force them to think the way you wished. He would explain how to get someone’s agreement by asking the right questions, and guiding them through a logical thought process, in order for them to draw the appropriate conclusions themselves, rather than trying to fore agreement, which usually produced resistance. He would spend hours each week reviewing the works of these philosophers to his people, explaining how their teachings, along with Balthasar Gracian, Saint Thomas Aquinas, Adler, and others applied to the Proudfoot business, especially in terms of how to deal with people and life successfully.