What clients and others in the field, who know our work well, have said:

 

• Ed Kur, Ph.D., a researcher, wrote in an OD Practitioner article on OD consultants that Brian Yost was one of the consultants "... widely perceived to be among the world's top handful of people in the field."

 

• John Darling, Founder, Owner, Q2Learning: “Most OD consultants can only do one thing well. Brian can do it all -- he is the 'Swiss Army Knife’ of OD Consultants. His track record in enabling organizational learning, innovation and improved business results is among the best, to my knowledge. He is one of very few people that I believe could add value to virtually any business situation."

 

• Geoff Ainscow, an OD Director at HP, said: “Brian introduced HP to a new way of thinking, teaming and leading, made up of a wide array of profound and transformational concepts, processes and tools.  We applied them to a number of challenging issues and opportunities, from facility closures to business turnarounds, with great success. These are the most useful methods and materials I have found in my 20 years of training and organization development work. I use them virtually every day myself. I would strongly recommend them to anyone who wants to improve their own and their organization’s performance.”

 

• Doug Gardner, VP, Gulf and VP, PetroCanada: "Brian was really effective in an environment not particularly conducive or truly committed to change -- he did a great job for us, and made a significant contribution to the company. He is able to ask the probing questions that get at the heart of things. He finds the main impediments, then uses the applicable tools that get people thinking in new ways -- he challenges the thought process of everyone. He has great experience to draw upon, from many different assignments."                                                                                                                                                                          

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• Serena Yang, Director, E-Commerce, Nestle: "My leadership coaching process with Brian has been a mind-blowing and life-changing journey, in which I have come to discover a new and bigger self. I would say I have gone far beyond the goals of this program to learn many profound things, including foundational skills for learning, thinking, interacting, planning, leading, and self-management. I believe these capabilities can not only turbo-charge my work and career, but can ripple out in significant ways, like enabling all team members, to improve everything they do. I envision developing a more purposeful/thoughtful/empowering culture that can change everything the company does to run the business; and enable us all to feel better about ourselves, not only in work, but also in our personal lives.” (After 7 months of coaching, Serena was promoted to be the youngest Director in this 300,000 employee company, and was asked to lead an initiative on developing women leaders.)

 

• Scott Manley, HP Manufacturing Manager :  "What I like most is how Brian takes concepts and works them into application. He has great skills for making individuals, leaders, teams, change agents and organizations more effective." “I believe his methodology is extremely effective, and universally applicable.”

 

• Terry Horkoff, Gulf Oil VP: "Brian was very instrumental in helping us re-adjust our thinking so we could redesign our business and revitalize it. Unlike many consultants, he first listened, to develop an understanding of our business and our needs, then provided what was relevant – not a cookie-cutter approach at all. A rare strength is his ability to design change strategy for a large company in a macro way, and then implement it on a smaller scale, always linking back to the overarching strategy."

 

•  Bob Wilson, VP, HR, Exxon Canada, after hearing Terry Horkoff’s presentation on his work with Brian Yost, at the Gamma Learning Expedition, a seven-company learning series of events, said “What you have accomplished is beyond anything I know of in our industry, or perhaps any industry.”

 

• Bill Veltrop, Former Director, OD, Exxon; Founder, International Center for Organization Design: "Brian is excellent in translating complex theory into an orderly body of knowledge that is easily understood by the layman. He is a strong coach, and has great facilitation skills. He is most powerful in working with a team on real issues, and there is a lot at stake."

 

• Skip Woodbury, former CEO, HealthNet and CEO, QualMed, said: “Brian and I go back a long way. We collaborated on a transformational turnaround at Crown Zellerbach Corporation when he was Corporate Director, OE and I was a Group HR Director, and later, a VP of our Industrial BU. I thought Brian did a superb job of initiating, managing and acting as change agent in this massive initiative, which took us from the bottom to the top of our industry in about two years. I believe Brian’s approach to organization and business effectiveness is the best I have seen in my career, and he is one of the best at guiding its application to get results. I have no doubt that he could make a big difference for any company that aspires to be a leader."

 

• Russell Radford, Chief Academic Officer at Ellis University:    “Brian is an outstanding instructor and a very valuable asset for Ellis. He is a member of the Curriculum Committee, and has been instrumental in getting the proposal for redeveloping the MBA program to the point at which individual courses can be developed. This has involved a great deal of volunteer time and effort on Brian's part during these past two academic years, and is testament to Brian's high levels of professionalism and desire to serve the EU community.”

 

From the Foreword of colleague Carol Sanford's book, The Responsible Business, about the value of our type of services:

 

• Chad Holiday, CEO, Bank of America; previously CEO, DuPont:

“The way of thinking about running a business offered in The Responsible Business is a critical source of possibilities for a reimagined future. It describes a more complete, connected and systematic way to think and act on decisions and challenges. When I was at DuPont, I had first-hand experience with this way of thinking and working for over 20 years. I had many opportunities to apply it to hundreds of practical problems. In fact, rarely a day goes by that I do not call on this way looking at the world. Our company, and each leader in it was much better for it.

 

The question is, how do we focus our scientific might really important problems of the day? You will find the foundation of the systemic thinking required to take on these challenges more comprehensively portrayed in The Responsible Business than any other book I've ever read.”

 

• Rebecca Henderson, Harvard Business School Professor:

“It is becoming only too clear that relying on the conventional wisdom as a solution to the crises we face is problematic, and the risks of serious climate change and environmental degradation only continue to increase. At this moment of challenge, this book is critical. In the first place, it integrates the individual factors that have been associated with high performance into a coherent whole. It suggests that it is unlikely that the piecemeal adoption of single “new” organizational practice can have any great effect, and demonstrates how successful firms adopt a bundle of approaches that are mutually reinforcing. It also suggests that having a coach/advisor who “knows the way” can make a tremendous difference, as can the determined leadership of key individuals.

 

Can you change your own business and simultaneously change the world? The stakes are huge: for each of us individually and for our children – and given the news each day it is easy to become discouraged. But this book suggests that the answer to this question is emphatically “yes,” and that the business can indeed play a leading role in building a more sustainable society. Let's begin today.”