Client Testimonials
Neil will always put the interests of his client first which is not always true of other consultants when conflicts arise. When Neil was faced with a decision that could potentially lose him a significant amount of business, Neil held his ground and stayed committed to his word, despite tremendous pressure to do otherwise. Neil is a man of tremendous integrity and someone you can trust. His positive attitude is infectious and has taught me that looking at the glass half full is the only way to look at life! I would highly recommend Neil as a coach and someone you should know.
Richard Schell
Associate Director, Market Regulation Investigations | CME GROUP, Chicago Board of Trade, & NYMEX Company
"To say Neil has been an impactful coach for my leadership organizations over the past 6 years would be an understatement.
The value he creates is manifested through more transparent, supportive behaviors across the leadership that then permeate throughout the organization – giving rise to more informed and efficient decision-making, on-target communications and performance results measurably worth far more than his own costs. Neil interacts both with the team as a whole, as well one-on- one; sometimes as he sees fit, often as requested by members of the leadership team. However, his impact comes across in both modes of interaction. The fact that individuals will often seek Neil out for perspective reflects the respect he has from the leadership. While I have seen Neil make a profound difference in ‘one-off’ sessions, his deeper impact across my teams has come from a regular cadence of interaction with the leadership.This allows him to be aware not only of the activities and changes in the business, but also to be cognizant of the culture that is being created (intentionally or not). Subsequent conversations about the cultural implications of our ways of working, actions, communications, etc. are very enlightening, and often foundational for the subsequent actions chosen by the leadership in moving business performance forward. Perhaps most importantly, Neil is a caring person – for the leaders with whom he works, as well as for the people and organizations they must lead. Neil’s passion for “doing it right” is often expressed through very honest, frank feedback. However, that direct expression of his passion and perspective is probably surpassed only by the genuine commitment he has to helping people with whatever they need to be successful, to be better leaders and to become even more enlightened individuals."
The value he creates is manifested through more transparent, supportive behaviors across the leadership that then permeate throughout the organization – giving rise to more informed and efficient decision-making, on-target communications and performance results measurably worth far more than his own costs. Neil interacts both with the team as a whole, as well one-on- one; sometimes as he sees fit, often as requested by members of the leadership team. However, his impact comes across in both modes of interaction. The fact that individuals will often seek Neil out for perspective reflects the respect he has from the leadership. While I have seen Neil make a profound difference in ‘one-off’ sessions, his deeper impact across my teams has come from a regular cadence of interaction with the leadership.This allows him to be aware not only of the activities and changes in the business, but also to be cognizant of the culture that is being created (intentionally or not). Subsequent conversations about the cultural implications of our ways of working, actions, communications, etc. are very enlightening, and often foundational for the subsequent actions chosen by the leadership in moving business performance forward. Perhaps most importantly, Neil is a caring person – for the leaders with whom he works, as well as for the people and organizations they must lead. Neil’s passion for “doing it right” is often expressed through very honest, frank feedback. However, that direct expression of his passion and perspective is probably surpassed only by the genuine commitment he has to helping people with whatever they need to be successful, to be better leaders and to become even more enlightened individuals."
David Cook
CEO | Ineos Denos, Copenhagen, Denmark
Neil has an extraordinary ability to ask the right questions at the right time. He has brought this talent to his on-going one-to-one coaching with me as well as to his work with the entire Chamber staff during a recent retreat. I was reticent about using an Appreciative approach for the session but Neil designed and facilitated it wonderfully. I was impressed by how Neil was able to engage everyone, drawing people out of their comfort zones when needed (me included), and handle, in real time, whatever emerged from our conversations. Having been in the job for only two weeks, it was great to be able to fashion the future together with all of the staff. Because of the session, I know I have the team on-board as we work to accomplish our rather audacious goals.
Richard Greene
President & CEO | Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce, Naperville, USA
Transformational change can appear overwhelming when you haven’t got a roadmap to follow – but know you can’t get where you want to go without it. Neil’s business savvy coupled with his exceptional talent in organizational and leadership development has helped bring about transformational change easily and without volumes of process. As one of his HR business partners, we collaborated extensively on leadership development, with the added benefit of having him as my personal coach. Each of the leaders he has worked with in our Russia Offshore business (either 1:1 or as a team) have walked away with a renewed sense of self as a leader and with newly learned tools and skills. Through Neil’s guidance and coaching, we have all been able to transform as individuals, and as a leadership team, while delivering exceptional business results.
Mary Davenport
HR Director, Russia Offshore Business Unit | BP Russia
I want to thank you, personally, again for the contributions that you made in helping our team to create a successful and impactful meeting for our CVMU business unit, all 2500 of us. Your consultation helped us challenge ourselves which resulted in a “first of its kind” meeting for our team. Specifically, you reminded us the importance of empowering people with choice – choice to engage or not; you encouraged us to find ways to make sure that senior management was talking “with” not “at” our team; and, finally, you helped us bring our values to the forefront by facilitating a session that created personal connection to our company values and to what we do every day. Your insight and understanding of what we needed to accomplish and what we wanted to accomplish… it helped us to truly Believe. Deliver. Grow.
Kristen E. Kepler
Director, Sales Operations | GSK, USA
Once again, many thanks for your leadership and professionalism which had such a massive impact on the success of our meeting. You feedback is very encouraging. I agree , the meeting met all its objectives . It is also very heartening to get feedback on the senior team in terms of their engagement in the process throughout and what a big difference that made. We are on the start of an exciting journey. We are all committed seeing it through and making this a real breakthrough for the company.
Roger Scarlet-Smith
President| GSK Consumer Healthcare, North America
Neil’s work with our Executive Team and the top 60 Ship-board leaders (Captains, Chief Engineers, Executive Chefs, and Hotel Directors) has proven highly beneficial. His breadth of experience, adept facilitation, and ability to ask insightful questions at just the right time combined with his deep knowledge of Appreciative Inquiry helped align and focus the entire group on our possibilities for the future rather than staying mired in the problems of the past. This was a very new approach for us and has enabled our leadership to think and act in a different and much more productive way.
Jay Rombach
Associate VP, Human Resources | Celebrity Crusies & Azamara Cruises, USA
Neil was instrumental in us bringing together into one room all 750 of our Associates for four days. His passion and expertise in Appreciative Inquiry created a profound effect on our organization. A community was created rather than a meeting attended. The community discovered a huge amount about each other in the 1-1 interviews and sharing. Our collective reach went well beyond the connections that we typically have on a day-to-day basis. This allowed the emergence of common dreams and a substantially enriched understanding of how we each contributed to making a strong community and work environment. The projects that were designed from these dreams are being pursued vigorously and continue to undergo refinement as we move towards our destiny of a stronger more empowered culture.
Bill Slivka
VP Strategy, Consumer Healthcare | GSK
Neil has proven to be a powerfully effective facilitator. He plans well and follows those plans, but always stays in the moment and is able to adapt on the fly to ensure that the objectives for a session are delivered. Neil has a unique style that challenges and pulls deeply from a team without being overly aggressive or confrontational.
Tim Wilk
Vice President & Chief of Staff | BP Exploration Alaska, USA