Businesses and brands are built on the value of solving a problem. To do this, they make a promise. Promises are like little time machines that fix the probability of a future state. The challenge many companies face today is that their internal operations don’t support what they say and do. There’s a gap between the promises they make and those they keep, including the impressions they make. Customers are on the receiving end of disconnects, misunderstandings, and appeals that seldom reflect their world.
When organizational habits create business practices and communications that don’t align with what customers want, that don’t deliver on market promises, customer experience takes a hit, and so does the brand with its products and services, all of which cost a lot of money to build and market.
I help organizations and brands that want to build better customer experiences tell a new story.
This involves an analysis of the business situation and an exploration of the desired future state to find the dissonance and fix it. Many organizations are able to build a better path from here. What’s different about me is that I give back learning with growth. In the words of a top executive consultant and colleague, “her unique ability to act by giving to others growth, development and success makes her unique and a valued advisor and friend.”
Which is why after the analysis of their business situation and exploration of the desired future state, high value brands invite me to be the outside voice and understanding that helps them identify the most promising business practices to test for effectiveness.
Intended and intentional outcomes of better customer experience are:
- improved differentiation
- sustainable go-to-market
- business longevity
Contact me for a confidential evaluation today.
Driving growth
During my corporate career, I have held senior business roles in global brands helping organizations in industries as diverse as technology, professional and financial services, risk management consulting, chemical manufacturing, and health care deliver on their promises — B2B or B2C, business involves people on the inside and people on the outside. Today it also involves technology.
In my work I focused on customer-first experiences, delivering growth to businesses on the spectrum from established brands in search of new opportunity and innovation to young startups working on the next level of growth. I executed strategies in global Fortune 500 companies that led to adding, subtracting or adjusting products, services, and even business units to exit strategies in startups, leading and directing marketing, communication, and operational teams.
My love for and early adoption of technology to build and manage communities and social networks has led to transferring those learned skills and lessons in human behavior and online experiences to my day job, working with established brands and high growth startups to identify their strengths and assets, explore potential futures based on their goals, and test and measure in market effectiveness.
I have worked with brands as diverse as professional services and Big Four firm KMPG, pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline, media company NBCU and some of its entertainment brands, the Project Management Institute (PMI), international beverage company Anheuser-Busch InBev, insurance organization Allstate, and GE Appliances, consumer shopping organization Target and technology infrastructure company SunGard.
I played a key role in restructuring global business development approaches and aligning marketing with business strategy, engaging in brand development work with many established brands in search of new growth. I had the opportunity to help negotiate an international joint venture to bring new products to market in America, and built equity in two prominent global businesses resulting in profitable acquisitions.
Building a platform
From early 2000 to 2008, I developed and chaired one of the first social networks with Fast Company magazine growing membership to over five hundred. In addition to moderating group discussions online I launched three content series to support more than 100 events focused on business trends for the next five to ten years and the challenges of delivering consistent customer experiences.
The key to the network’s success was the uniqueness of each experience, which drew participation from a very diverse representation of the region’s professional community, while maintaining continuity though the overarching signature impact of each event and conversation.
With a group of volunteers and through the generosity of sponsor organizations we hosted engaging conversations with authors and thought leaders from many fields.
A representative list includes Pernille Lopez, then President of IKEA North America; Glen Senk, then President of Anthropologie and now at Urban Outfitters; Mike Useem, Director of the Center for Leadership and Change Management at Wharton; Seth Godin, author of Purple Cow; Dan Pink, author of Free Agent Nation and A Whole New Mind; John Byrne, editor of Straight from the Gut and former Executive Editor at Business Week; Ben McConnell, co-author of Creating Customer Evangelists; Charles Fishman, author of The Walmart Effect; Bill Jensen, author Work 2.0 and What is Your Life’s Work?; Mike Abrashoff, author of It’s Your Ship: Leadership Lessons Learned from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy; Denis Haley, CEO of Academy Leadership; Stephen Shapiro, author of Goal Free Living; and Bill Taylor and Polly LaBarre, authors of Mavericks at Work.
In partnership with Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business, Villanova University, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and Fox School of Business at Temple University, we launched the main Speakers Series – an invitation-only thought leadership series to connect the students and the business community. This initiative led to being invited to the Advisory Board for the International MBA Enterprise Management Consulting, The Fox School of Business at Temple University.
