We can’t solve problems at the level they were created
My passion is driving personal and organizational transformation – the fundamental kind of change that brings radical, off-the-charts professional and personal results. And I get to work with really smart, committed, leaders who want to make an impact in the world.
If you're at a junction where strategic personal or organizational change is an imperative, you're my people and I'm yours! Been there; done that. I'm always happy to share my thoughts freely and if I think I can help, I'll let you know how.
As a kid I wondered about a lot of strange things like, "How come snakes don't have legs?"
But the scariest moment was when I realized "Mom and Dad don't have all the answers." To which came the next question, "Who the hell does?"
That set me on a life long quest to understand, "What's going on?"
It seemed perfectly normal to me that I proactively took four years of honors-level math, chemistry, biology and physics in high school. Then studied physics, materials science, and engineering at Cornell. Later I got accepted into a top tier business school but decided instead to start up a company in Japan. That was certainly not the easy path to self enlightenment.
A near breakdown led me to a decade of spiritual investigation only to discover that no matter how hard I tried to find the answers "out there," I felt further and further from any real answers "in here."
And so began my own journey of discovering "What do I think?" that led me to the idea of the God Algorithm: if we could understand how the universe actually works, then could we use that to transcend our own terrestrial, limited mind? I wondered what nature could tell us about human nature, and vice versa. Could "we" be part of the same patterns that belie the universe at the subatomic and galactic scales? Could we bring these seemingly incompatible models into one coherent view?
And what would that one pattern be that connects it all? Well, it is found neither in traditional religion (or spirituality) nor science alone. But in BOTH. The God Algorithm exposes fundamental paradoxes, the resolving of which opens our mind to a new generation of thought.
Whether that new "mind" will save us from ourselves or actually help us to transcend to what's next, will be determined by how well I can get some of these concepts across. And THAT's not easy. But I will try.
Do this for me: help me get out of MY own way, by reflecting back that which I cannot see. This is not one man's journey but instead a collaboration in search of truth.
Rather than laying out some left-brained, intellectual treatise (which I tried and failed), I believe the best access to the invisible or unknown is through a holographic lens: the idea that everything is connected and therefore no one "facet" of a jewel has all the answers. But if we can look at enough facets, we can impute the structure of the underlying crystallography of the universe and therefore ourselves.
A small little Sunday project but let's not try to get too heady about it and have some fun. Shall we then?
As a kid I wondered about a lot of strange things like, "How come snakes don't have legs?"
But the scariest moment was when I realized "Mom and Dad don't have all the answers." To which came the next question, "Who the hell does?"
That set me on a life long quest to understand, "What's going on?"
It seemed perfectly normal to me that I proactively took four years of honors-level math, chemistry, biology and physics in high school. Then studied physics, materials science, and engineering at Cornell. Later I got accepted into a top tier business school but decided instead to start up a company in Japan. That was certainly not the easy path to self enlightenment.
A near breakdown led me to a decade of spiritual investigation only to discover that no matter how hard I tried to find the answers "out there," I felt further and further from any real answers "in here."
And so began my own journey of discovering "What do I think?" that led me to the idea of the God Algorithm: if we could understand how the universe actually works, then could we use that to transcend our own terrestrial, limited mind? I wondered what nature could tell us about human nature, and vice versa. Could "we" be part of the same patterns that belie the universe at the subatomic and galactic scales? Could we bring these seemingly incompatible models into one coherent view?
And what would that one pattern be that connects it all? Well, it is found neither in traditional religion (or spirituality) nor science alone. But in BOTH. The God Algorithm exposes fundamental paradoxes, the resolving of which opens our mind to a new generation of thought.
Whether that new "mind" will save us from ourselves or actually help us to transcend to what's next, will be determined by how well I can get some of these concepts across. And THAT's not easy. But I will try.
Do this for me: help me get out of MY own way, by reflecting back that which I cannot see. This is not one man's journey but instead a collaboration in search of truth.
Rather than laying out some left-brained, intellectual treatise (which I tried and failed), I believe the best access to the invisible or unknown is through a holographic lens: the idea that everything is connected and therefore no one "facet" of a jewel has all the answers. But if we can look at enough facets, we can impute the structure of the underlying crystallography of the universe and therefore ourselves.
A small little Sunday project but let's not try to get too heady about it and have some fun. Shall we then?
1. Assessment
"A problem well defined is a problem half solved."
"The road of a thousand miles begins with the first step"
In this important phase we meet individually with your key strategic leaders and even the "up and comers" in the organization.
The purpose is to form an accurate picture of the true "As Is" state of the organization (not what Management thinks it is).
The additional purpose is to establish rapport with each of the key leaders so they feel comfortable sharing the very information they hold back from their bosses or peers (for the usual reasons) so we can get at the root issues holding the organization back.
The assessment is designed to begin momentum toward a transformation process that begins in the next phase.
Phase 2. Strategy
"Context eats content for breakfast every time"
This phase begins witha Strategy workshop designed to establish growth objectives and then elicit and align the best ideas to move the organization toward them.
Ideally, the session is held over an entire day but it can be broken up into two half days depending on the operating needs of the business.
What comes out of the session is a high level roadmap for growth. More importantly what comes out is an excited and aligned team that knows exactly what they're going to do and why. But equally important, they know what is NOT going to part of the roadmap which eliminates the distractions from charismatic teams members with pet projects that aren't aligned with the value drivers for success.
Phase 3. Execution
"In theory there's no difference between theory and practice. In practice there always is."
This is where the rubber meets the road. Individuals have electred themselves (or been assigned) specific initiatives. The excitement of the workshop has worn off and there are customers yelling for support.
Immediately after the Strategy session we meet with each of the team leaders to talk through their own project objectives, help them to break them into manageable tasks or sub-projects to research. We identify what support they'll need, including freed up badnwidth to make the important changes that will generate more business going forward.
This is also where we step in between management and the workers to fight for the key leaders to get the time to focus and develop their plans.
We meet once per week for the next several weeks to cement the momentum and help remove blockages that inevitably come up.
Phase 4. Optimization
"From new vistas, appear entirely new horizons."
We're on our way. Big changes are happening. We're feeling good.
But from this new plateaus of performance, "stuff" we hadn't planned on enevitably appears. But so do unexpected opportunities.
In this last phase, we optimize the work we had planned and extend all the value possible
Testimonials
Ted and his team led a project to restructure Toyota’s marketing strategy development process. Their resulting framework synthesizes information from across the company to guide the formulation of our communications strategy, and is now used across the product portfolio. Ted’s efforts helped us create a more rigorous process that has led to significantly increased campaign performance. Ted is a thoughtful change agent and a pleasure to work with.
Ted was instrumental in transforming a core owner communication program that had become embedded in our dealer network for 30 years. Through extensive data analysis, fusion of information, negotiation with business partners, and alignment with our enterprise initiatives, Ted and his team helped us roll out a complete solution nationally within 6 months that resulted in an unprecedented double industry average response rates. It was a huge win for all our stakeholders.
Ted and his team helped us align our strategic priorities to support sales growth. He also helped align us on a strategic marketing communication processes to deliver increased impact to our customers. Ted was also extremely dependable and trustworthy, delivering content on time and on target.
Strategic Market Alignment
Background: A large manufacturer has multiple product lines.
Product teams are producing incompatible strategic documents.
Stakeholders are frustrated by inconsistent data.
Standardization is needed but product lines differ widely.
Challenge: How to provide standardization yet allow flexibility?
How to satisfy all stakeholders without overwhelming them with information?
Results: Full adoption of new template by all teams.
Stakeholders applaud transformation.
Strategic alignment opens up collaboration between product teams and even between departments.
Overhaul Customer Communications Program
Background: For 30 years, an automotive OEM has supported an owner-communications 50/50 co-op marketing program with 1,200+ dealers. But dealer marketing practices are out of date and marketing vendors are taking advantage of them (and the OEM).
Challenge: Design a new program to be paid 100% by the OEM, roll it out with three national vendors, and convince the dealers to make the transition.
Results: 96% of Dealers convert to new program within 3 months. Owner response rates are well above industry averages. Administrative costs to run the program are slashed.
Project boasts a whopping 20X ROI within the first year.
Transform Diversity Marketing
Background: Multinational manufacturer has four separate advertising agencies, each targeting a specific audience (Caucasian, African American, Asian, and Hispanic). Agencies are competing for ad spend, creating redundancies and waste.
Challenge: Determine appropriate budget allocation (for multiple product lines) across agencies and how to effectively coordinate them across all marketing channels (broadcast, online, social, engagement, etc.). In addition, optimize synergies across agencies while ensuring optimal performance within each diversity audience.
Results: Market share of all diversity populations increase. Manufacturer is back on track to be #1 share across all diversity populations in product categories targeted.
Streamline Training Production
Background: Automotive OEM has to generate and disseminate training to its national network of dealers. Dealers are complaining the information arrives too late, and is full of inconsistencies and redundancies. OEM is experiencing high direct and indirect costs of production.
Challenge: Streamline the entire process, improve quality, improve impact, reduce production times and costs.
Results: Within 9 months delivery times and direct costs of production are reduced 50%. New multimedia formats are introduced. Inconsistencies have been eliminated. Customer satisfaction metrics double.