"Enterprise Doctor"


What’s the common thread in your career? Little did I think that my answer to that question would come from the other side of the globe!

My life has been a wonderful journey through a variety of experiences. I have had the opportunity to work as an educator, entrepreneur, manager, executive and consultant. This variety has afforded me to work with large publicly traded corporations, family businesses, central banking, law firms, medical and dental practices, educational institutions, foundations, nonprofits, etc.

It was not until 1990 that the winding road began to develop a definition. That year the University at Buffalo had an article in the Buffalo News for their Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership program. It was only two short paragraphs long. The article said they were recruiting for the incoming class and interested “…Entrepreneurs, Intrapreneurs and Change Agents should apply”. I had previously started a few small businesses as a teen and a young adult but at the time I was the Director of Operations for a closely held company. So I knew, at the time, that I was not an entrepreneur1. At the time, I wasn’t sure what an intrapreneur2 was but “Change Agent” seemed to fit my career to date and applied and was accepted into the program.

When I started my consulting practice in 1991, I found that many businesses and professional practices did not know what a Change Agent was so for several years I simply did not put a title on my card. By the mid 90’s the Turnaround Management Association (TMA) had started to gain national and then international momentum. This professional association is comprised of bankers, investors, lawyers, CPA’s, consultants, liquidators, etc.

By the late 90’s I became very active in TMA and picked up the “handle” of Turnaround Performance Specialist. During a chapter board meeting one of the directors observed that the association was made up of “doctors – consultants who fix companies and undertakers – consultants who liquidate companies”. The latter was never of any interest to me.

Prior to my first trip to China in the spring of 2002, I had bilingual business cards printed. The cards still carried the title of “Turnaround Performance Specialist” under my name. The courtesy of bilingual cards brought positive comments from the Chinese executives but also raised a very basic question.

What is a Turnaround Performance Specialist?

When I described the nature of my management consulting being focused on improving the performance of a wide variety of businesses and professions the Chinese executives referred to me as the “Enterprise doctor”.

It was not until then that I realized that the concept of a doctor is universal across most countries and cultures. Webster defines doctor as “…to heal or mend” and an enterprise as “…a task, especially a big, bold or difficult one”. Healing or mending a big, bold or difficult task clearly described my life’s work. The Chinese executives were clearly on target with the title, “Enterprise doctor”.

Everyone owns caring for their own body. Every executive and board of directors owns caring for their own enterprise. Once and a while we get so sick we have to see a doctor. The wiser person sees their doctor routinely as a preventative measure.

The bottom line to enterprise health is preventative medicine, if you want to be fit for the present and future, have more fun and make more money. The success and effectiveness of preventive and/or prescriptive medicine for a human being or enterprise is the individual’s willingness to change and create a new work style or culture. The goal of individuals and/or enterprises is to live longer with an improved quality of life.


Gerry Murak
The Enterprise doctor


1 entrepreneur – one who organizes a business or task, assuming the risk for the sake of profit.

2 intrapreneur – one who organizes a business or task, assuming the risk for the sake of profit within an existing organization.

For example, 3M’s “Post-its” is a business within a business.