News & Insights
Conscient Leaders: Interview with Michelle Hairston
In our latest “Conscient Leaders” interview, we talk with Michelle Hairston, CHRO of one of the largest home builders in the country, to get insight on how organizations can navigate the ups and downs of turbulent times.
6 Tips to Keep Key Employees from Jumping Ship After a Merger
While a merger is an exciting opportunity for growth of a new company, it can also be a difficult transition for employees. Here are six tips for how to improve employee retention during the post-merger integration.
Avoiding Misalignment and Maximizing ROI in Operator-Led Private Equity
Leadership misalignment is risky, yet all-too-common in operator-led acquisitions. When conducted at the outset of an investment, a culture and leadership assessment is a data-driven way to mitigate risk and drive maximum ROI.
Conscient Leaders: Interview with Emily Barson
In our latest “Conscient Leaders” interview, we talk with Emily Barson, Executive Director of United States of Care, about how her team responded and evolved in many ways in 2020, and her advice on how leaders in any sector can effectively navigate 2021—and beyond.
From Survival to Strategy: Why Culture is Key to the Future of Work
After a year of unprecedented workforce disruption, many leaders are finding that their standard approach to team management, communication, and decision making is no longer adequate. To manage disruption and move beyond survival, we recommend that leaders focus on culture as the core of their future of work (FOW) strategy.
The Dirty Little Secret of Change
Federal leaders often face certain challenges that are more pronounced than in the private sector. One of these challenges is trying to implement positive change in traditional “command and control” style bureaucracies.
Moral Leadership
As CEOs we have the opportunity to demonstrate what trustworthy leadership looks like and how to build respect in our organizations. We do this by acting as moral leaders with a focus on creating a workplace where everyone feels valued, heard and respected.
The Importance of Culture to Post-Deal Integration and ROI
Twenty years after the infamous America Online (AOL) – Time Warner Cable (TWC) merger, the failed transaction continues to highlight the importance of culture in successful M&A deals.
Leadership in Dark Times
It is undeniable that we are all in a shared space that none of us have ever visited before. As we all live in this new world of the prolonged liminal space between isolation and the hope of a vaccine, we leaders can make the difference between light and darkness.
The Future of Your Work
COVID-19 sent lasting shockwaves around the world, disrupting everyday life, pushing businesses to pivot for survival, and transforming the way we...
Conscient Leaders: Interview with Dana Pauley
In our latest “Conscient Leaders” interview, we talk with Dana Pauley, Interim Executive Director of Leadership Montgomery, about how she’s leading her organization through change—and making time for her family and herself.
Answering the Call
In the mid-1800s every American business owner knew that if you wanted to send an urgent message to someone you used Western Union. Their telegram service set the bar. Then Alexander Graham Bell called. On a telephone…
Conscient Leaders: Interview with Arun Mohan
In our latest “Conscient Leaders” interview, we talk with Arun Mohan, CEO of Radix Health, about pivoting a growing organization, evolving as a leader, and building resilience during a time when COVID-19 has changed everything.
Tales from the M&A Crypt: Why so many transactions go off script
From Amazon and Whole Foods to HP and Compaq and Marriott and Starwood — there is no shortage of bumpy integrations. Too often we hear, “We couldn’t have predicted this. We couldn’t have prevented this.” But is that true?
What is the “Essential” Contribution of Adaptive Leaders?
What has your journey been like over the past few months? Have you and your organization adapted to the current realities or are you still reeling and in shock? Collectively, we are facing an unprecedented adaptive challenge.
A Conversation with Leadership Coach Amelia Truett
We sat with Amelia Truett, one of our executive coaches, to hear more about what it’s like to coach and be coached. We spoke about the power of questions, her path to becoming a coach, and the value that coaching generates for clients.
How do you move your organization from conversation to action? It might look different than you think.
As the national conversation surrounding diversity and inclusion continues to gain momentum, a simple yet powerful truth resonates: depending on their identity, employees experience the workplace in vastly different ways. With an energized workforce and an intensified spotlight on leadership, the time is ripe for action. But how? How do you move your organization from conversation to action?
Conscient Leaders: Interview with Al Johnson and Broderick Young
In our first interview for the “Conscient Leaders” series, we spoke with Broderick Young and Al Johnson, wealth management experts and founders of Reveal Wealth, about what it takes to be a better business leader in today’s world. Three things to focus on: Environment, Empathy, and Equity.
Conscient Strategies welcomes Carole Zawatsky
We are pleased to welcome Carole R. Zawatsky to the team. Carole has worked in the arts, culture, and non-profit sector for over 25 years, and is...
Law Firm Culture and Strategy
Whitepaper Last year, we launched a benchmark study of regional and mid-sized U.S. law firms to understand what role firm culture played in...
Agile Strategy During Crisis
During times of crisis, leaders need to focus on the countless urgent needs of the business. You need to make quick, and sometimes painful,...
Agile Strategy in Times of Change
Whitepaper During times of crisis, leaders need to focus on the countless urgent needs of the business. You need to make quick, and sometimes...
Culture in the Time of Imposed Telework
How are leaders maintaining organizational culture while everyone is unexpectedly working remotely? Recommendations focused on the tactical implementation of teleworking are exploding. How, though, does an organization continue to nurture the culture that is at the core of the business?
Worried about Retaining Your MVPs?
Employee churn is expensive. American businesses lose a combined $11 billion in profit due to employee turnover every year. In the nonprofit world,...
The Change Offensive: Part II
In our last post we discussed why employees (and most people) resist change even though change is critical to the ongoing success of organizations....
The Change Offensive: Part I
Whether proactively or reactively, organizations change. Without attention to these changing forces within and around them, organizations fail.
Preventing your Growth from Killing Your Business
A perfectly round and bouncy balloon explodes if it gets too big. Small, perfectly formed pastries lose their shape and structural integrity when...
Your Dream of Becoming an Innovative Company will Fail if You Don’t Do These 5 Things
How do you think about innovation? For many, innovation has become synonymous with new technology. But innovation is not just the development of new...
Where are Your Employees Going?
Do your employee performance reviews actually improve employee performance? Or employee engagement? Do you and your employees look forward to...
Happy Enough to be Successful?
Are you happy? Should you care about the happiness of your team? Should your organization care about your level of happiness? After all, if...
Take a look in the mirror. The problem is not the millennials.
It’s important for 20-somethings to take some time to find themselves. At least that’s what baby boomers thought back in the 70s. What the Gen-Xers...
One Way to be among the 30% Whose Change Initiatives Succeed: Vision
Ignore operational changes and throw out cost savings and efficiency efforts for the moment. And focus on changes that keep your organization...
Ensure the Success of Your Merger with a Little Laughter
Insightful strategies, rock-solid analytics, streamlined processes and integrated technology don’t guarantee that a merger will yield the intended...
Laugh…and Fix the Dysfunction of Your Team
No matter how unimpeachable your forecasts are, or how much buzz or interest there is in your product or service, or how focused and directed - on...
Hard driving and toxic are not the same.
Mindfulness is not just a buzzword. It’s the way in which you act toward others that drives success. Mindful leadership? It drives productivity and...
A hard driving culture might be what you need
What the Amazon story tells us about creating a corporate culture Your organization has its own, personal culture. Some organizations set the...
The Single Dilemma
You are single and have no children. Do you like your job more or less than your married colleagues with children? Are you able to manage your...
How much profit are you leaving on the table?
This morning as I was waiting for a personal care appointment to start, I reflected on the atmosphere of this fairly large spa chain. It is a...
Embracing the power of change in the face of uncertainty in Emerging Markets: Angola
Our friends at Pyxera Globalasked Hannah to do a guest piece on what she learned about leadership in Angola. Take a look here
How to demonstrate leadership on vacation
What a great way to enjoy life – spend some time at the beach, explore the many mountains and national parks or visit a far off place. There are far...
Work-Life Balance? Try Work-Life Integration
A colleague who has fully integrated her work and life shared a story from before the time of mobile phones. Her team was imagining the features a...
Personality Tests – Don’t Waste Your Money
If you’ve ever worked in an organization, chances are you went through a personality assessment to ensure you were on the right team and knew how to...
Mindfully Working the Beach Vacation
You’re off to the beach with the family for the holiday weekend - or maybe the week. You’re all set; your laptop tucked discretely into the pocket...
Think Outside the Octagon…and 5 other keys to managing strategic change
Thanks for all your great responses to the last blog post. We’ve seen strategy processes be incredibly successful, and we’ve seen them have little...
Strategy Should Be Scary. Implementation Should Be Hard. Because They Are.
Developing or revising a strategy should be scary. Because strategies address how to deal with what you can’t directly control. It takes a leap of...
Strawberry fields forever?
What do you see? A field of strawberries? Look again. Closely, right up at your nose. Relax your eyes and focus. Move the picture away slowly. Now...
Flash Mobs! Corporate Culture Change?
Big brands are behind many flash mob events. They are good for image; they create a personality for the brand; they drive engagement. ...
The Reluctant Leader – Corporate Culture & Leadership are Inextricably Bound Together
"Culture" has grown in importance as a corporate buzz word. Tony Hsieh famously made it the key to the success of Zappos. Nordstrom...
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