Leading the Way at Analysis Group

Martha Samuelson, SF ’86, believes in the power of hiring a great team. 

“So much of my job is to hire great people, encourage them to be entrepreneurial, and get out of the way,” says Samuelson.  

As CEO and chairman of the international economics consulting firm Analysis Group, Samuelson has hired more than her fair share of great people. The firm boasts more than 1,200 professionals across 14 offices in North America, Europe, and Asia, and employs professionals like Rebecca Kirk Fair, MBA ’02, a managing principal at the firm and a longtime mentee of Samuelson’s. 

Samuelson and Kirk Fair discussed their professional journeys and experiences in the economic consulting field at the September Innovative Leadership (iLead) Speaker Series event. Held by MIT Sloan in partnership with the MIT Leadership Center, iLead showcases inspirational leaders who have made an impact on their organizations and communities through innovative management. Co-hosted by MIT Sloan Women in Management (SWIM), this fireside chat was moderated by MIT Leadership Center Faculty Director Nelson Repenning, PhD ’96 (School of Management Distinguished Professor of System Dynamics and Organization Studies; Professor, System Dynamics). 

The path to Analysis Group 

Although Samuelson and Kirk Fair have been with Analysis Group for decades, they came to the firm at different stages of their professional journeys. Kirk Fair explained that she came to Analysis Group after completing her undergraduate studies. At the firm, she met many mentors who were MIT Sloan alums, including Samuelson. After completing her studies at MIT Sloan and exploring other potential career paths, Kirk Fair decided to return to Analysis Group. She cites the firm’s opportunity for internal growth as a key reason why she has spent her career there. 

“In many organizations, you have to leave to find the next challenge, or you have to leave to get the respect and responsibility and compensation that you deserve as you progress through your career,” says Kirk Fair. “At Analysis Group, we try to keep these opportunities available to people internally.” 

Samuelson’s career path was more non-linear. She majored in English as an undergraduate before going to law school. However, she discovered that practicing law was not the career for her.  

“I don’t think at the time I realized that I really preferred thinking in an empirical way,” explains Samuelson. “I liked it if you needed facts to support it, and you don’t [get that] quite in that same way with law.” 

Samuelson came to MIT Sloan, then began working at an economic consulting firm. She really enjoyed using data to come up with arguments for her clients. She then began interviewing for jobs again, receiving job offers from Analysis Group and a national accounting firm. At the time, Analysis Group was much smaller and less established, but Samuelson liked the founders. 

“Go with your gut,” advises Samuelson. “Sometimes something will look like the smartest thing to do, but your gut is telling you a lot of information about what will really work for you.” 

Trusting her gut has paid off for Samuelson. She became a partner at the firm in 1994, followed by becoming a co-CEO and then the president and CEO before assuming her current role of CEO and chairman. 

Structure and activities 

 Analysis Group is a unique firm in both the scope of what it does and how it is structured. Three-quarters of the firm’s activities involve supporting expert witnesses in large lawsuits in economics and finance. Analysis Group is very involved with many tech lawsuits that have recently been in the news, including the Epic Games v. Google case. The remaining work that Analysis Group does involves health economics and epidemiology, like developing a strong safety surveillance protocol for Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccinations. 

According to Kirk Fair, it is typically people with certain professional interests that succeed at Analysis Group and move into higher-level positions. 

“We want people that kind of straddle that world of really thinking that data and analytics help you answer questions better, whether that’s a focus on economics or finance or statistics,” says Kirk Fair.  

According to Samuelson, one of the main drivers of the firm’s success is the way that its talent works together. She has found there to be a lot of benefit in running it using a one-firm model rather than a more siloed managerial structure.  

One of the advantages of the one-firm model is that it helps to further employees’ professional development. Employees can work in different teams and practice areas and choose which areas of economic consulting to focus on. 

“There’s a lot of self-sorting,” says Kirk Fair. “Who do you like working with? What kinds of cases do you like working with? What are your strengths?” 

The one-firm model also necessitates the need for innovation. The firm has been continually experimenting with new ways to work together. Analysis Group emphasizes building a culture of collaboration and trust in addition to a sense that employees from different teams are being treated fairly. 

“We have to think a lot about how we can have a group of 85 people function in an effective way, and we’ve come up with some management innovations,” explains Samuelson. 

One of these management innovations is Analysis Group’s partner committees. Partners join different leadership committees in areas such as finance and human resources that interest them. These partner committees enable the firm to make quick decisions on matters such as hiring when they are needed.  

A culture of learning and mentorship  

Analysis Group has also been innovative in its focus on learning and mentorship. The firm operates under what it calls an “apprenticeship model,” where junior staff members work closely with senior staff members to learn how they make decisions and behave professionally in situations such as meetings. The firm also offers many formal training programs on how to be a manager.  

“You’re not really considered to be a successful partner until you’ve helped other people become partners,” notes Samuelson of the Analysis Group culture.  

Although Kirk Fair has found many mentors within her firm, she encourages MIT Sloan students and community members to approach mentorship with an open mind. People who share characteristics such as gender and academic degrees don’t necessarily make the best mentors and mentees for one another. 

“Be really open to who you mentor and who you seek to mentor you,” says Kirk Fair.