Operating Philosophy

“We can be knowledgeable with other men’s knowledge, but we cannot be wise with other men’s wisdom.”     ~Michel de Montaigne

Everyone develops their own wisdom—about their business and their life. It’s simple, but it’s not always easy. Our mission is to assist you in the process of developing your own wisdom, however you define it. When you have wisdom about your life, you have guideposts—a point of view that influences everything you do.

We don’t believe in off-the-shelf approaches for complex issues. We do believe in customized assistance with difficult challenges.

Leadership. Becoming an effective leader means becoming a whole human being.  “Everyday leadership” is crucial.  Too often we make leadership bigger than us, beyond us…we make it about changing the world or being CEO of a multi-national corporation.  We give ourselves an excuse not to live up to our potential—and we give everyone else a pass, too.

We help with everyday leadership skills that can improve your daily life and the lives of  those around you. Everyday leadership also means taking into account the intuition and emotions we all have, and treating them with the respect they deserve. We work with you to become more engaged, productive, and satisfied in your work and personal life, and then take those results to craft a plan to continue the ever-evolving process.

We work with your people to encourage their risk of being influential and capable. We help you exercise everyday leadership by the things you do that influence others—the things you do that help yourself and others become more capable.  Little things make a big difference in the world—and in people’s everyday lives.

Business. Learning and development are a means to an end. The end is improved performance, influence, and satisfaction—in business and in life.  To that end, we provide education, coaching, consulting, and training in a variety of formats—one-on-one, online/virtual (live or recorded), in the classroom, or in combination.

Life. Learning the wisdom of true, everyday leadership has a profound impact on our day-to-day lives—and of those around us.

Spirit. Carl Jung, a psychiatrist and contemporary of Sigmund Freud, said that  life’s most fundamental questions are essentially questions about our spirituality.  Learning our own wisdom helps us “live” those questions  daily—and into the amazing wisdom that presents itself.

We Ask Lots of Questions. We listen for the disconnects between what is and what should be. We listen for information, ideas, opinions, pain points, unspoken concerns and assumptions and, yes, for your business or organizational needs.

We also listen for employee needs. Because no matter how urgent or glaring your business need, if employees don’t understand it, don’t get behind it, or actively resist it, nothing much changes. We listen carefully so we “get it.”

We then take the process one step farther: we want to really “understand.” We want more than head knowledge. We want to feel what’s really going on.  In order to do that, we establish a dialogue about your goals, your culture, and your climate. Dialogue is about more than just two people or two parties talking openly. It’s a formal process that can produce some amazing results, but it can be uncomfortable and take  time. We help ease you through that transition.

Create Learning That Increases Performance. Whether you operate a for-profit enterprise or a not-for profit, we focus on helping you identify solutions that meet your business needs.  And, whether  your employees need to develop new skills, or get better at what they already know how to do, we design learning and training specifically for them.  We create everything from simple checklists, to a classroom  course, a multi-course curriculum, computer-based learning, or blended  learning that combines multiple ways of learning–so employees’ skills  are always fresh.

We have deep background in both instructor-led and self-paced, web-based learning development.  We provide train-the-trainer services for your instructors to enable them to become expert facilitators. And, we can train your in-house course developers in state-of-the-art instructional design so that they can continue to provide just what you need, when you need it.

Document. A great deal of what your organization does literally walks out the door each day. Huge amounts of your company’s intellectual capital resides in your people’s heads, undocumented.

We document what you and your people already do, and we look for ways you might do it better. We look into your existing materials and  procedures, interview and observe your staff experts (and even some of  your under-performing staff), and then organize and consolidate our findings into a body of knowledge. We can also help you establish a set of organizational competencies that you can use to objectively measure your progress and measure ROI. By increasing the usability of your processes and procedures, the value of your intellectual capital increases and it stays where it belongs—in your company.

Consult, Coach, Mentor. We go beyond the usual consulting engagement. We can mentor you and your staff, join your project team as a member, or even lead the team for a time. We tailor an  intervention that fits the specifics of your needs.

Asking for help in the form of a coach or mentor isn’t a sign of  weakness. It’s a sign of mature leadership, and a first step in the  process of learning to create your own wisdom.