“Those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.” One of the most important responsibilities of leadership is to position a team for success in tomorrow’s world. To do this requires change, which, ironically, is one of the most difficult challenges of leadership. Indeed, a McKinsey study concluded that most change efforts fall short of the mark or fail entirely.

Having transformed a 55,000 person organization, Gary is an expert on successfully driving change. Gary’s dramatic change efforts resulted in the company growing revenues by 500 percent in six years in a mature industry.

Change requires leadership, vision, the right culture and people, alignment of policies and processes, and focused execution. Gary can advise on the many necessary steps you need to take and how to take them to help ensure that unlike most change efforts, yours works and you achieve your goals.

There is no lack of articles and books on the subject of leadership. Yet, there are so many myths on leadership:

“Lead by example.’” Yet, true leadership involves many other traits and skills.

“Those that can do, can lead.” That is how many people get promoted, and yet some of the greatest leaders were never successful doers - take Bill Belichick who never played in the NFL.

“Leadership is about delegation.” It sounds so simple, but delegating for success is a multifaceted undertaking.

Leadership involves a host of different skills and responsibilities. Such things as creating and then “selling” a vision, building the right team, emotional intelligence, and character are essential parts of leadership.

Gary can help you and your team navigate the rough waters of leadership and learn the essential skills of truly successful leaders so you can achieve the results you seek.

The great consultant Peter Drucker said, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” He was right. Without a constructive culture it is unlikely that an effective strategy can be developed and more unlikely it can be effectively executed.

The data supports this. McKinsey concluded that companies with positive cultures outperform those with average cultures by roughly 60 percent, and those with destructive cultures by some 200 percent.

Yet changing an organization or team culture is one of the most difficult and important undertakings of any leader. It involves changing the habits and even the character traits of many individuals. This is exactly what Gary did as the CEO of Bridgestone Americas, a 55,000 person company with operations on five continents. It wasn’t easy. It didn’t happen overnight. But it worked and with it, profits grew to astounding record levels.

Gary can advise you on the lessons learned, the culture change lever, the alignment of policies and processes and the focused execution necessary to drive cultural change in your team or organization.