Winning requires agile leadership teams that anticipate future trends, technology, customer needs and the core capabilities to stay ahead of the competition.
Performance Edge is an Executive Consulting Network founded by Brian Anderson to bring fresh, innovate consulting ideas to senior leaders and organizations experiencing increasingly complex business challenges. We deliver the right solutions at the right time to drive success. The Performance Edge Network includes talented consultants who have chosen to be part of this network to share leading edge ideas and collaborate on client projects. We deliver high quality results without the constraints of a large firm. Our deep experience working with C-level leaders and teams enables us to create solutions that drive business outcomes.
Our consultants bring a wealth of experience and accomplishments:
Successful in both consulting and corporate executive roles
Breadth of industry experience
Broad knowledge gained from experiences in large, global consulting firms
Deep understanding of both business and leadership effectiveness
Innovative approach
Professionalism combined with an authentic, enjoyable experience
Our Vision
To accelerate the growth and success of leaders and organizations.
Provide the insights and tools to build agile, resourceful and inspirational leaders.
Increase the velocity and momentum in organizations that need to scale up quickly.
Build organizational systems and cultures that are a distinct competitive advantage and impossible to replicate.
Consult with the highest standards of professionalism to build enduring client relationships.
Organizations are facing unprecedented challenges to survive and prosper in an environment of turbulent change, intense competition, shrinking resources and an increasingly complex workforce. Leaders are expected to produce results immediately and build a sustainable function. As leaders ascend to larger roles in the organization they must develop and expand their leadership skills and toolkit. Executive coaching by experienced consultants has been proven through research to be the best ROI for the continuous development of senior leaders. Performance Edge has a proven track record of producing demonstrated development and organization impact through executive coaching.
Executive Coaching – Key Principles
Focus on the leadership competencies and specific behaviors that impact business results.
Identify existing top talents that can be quickly amplified and leveraged against current challenges.
Prioritize near term development; immediate shift from unproductive time and behaviors.
The starting point of executive coaching includes:
Understanding the executives’ unique professional and personal background
Understanding the organizations strategy, business fundamentals, culture and power dynamics
Collaborate on goals, performance objectives and measurement of progress/change
Gather assessment data in creative ways to drive insights
Coaching approach
Coaching sessions can be enjoyable even while tackling complex issues
Balance the need for confidentiality with the requirement to include key people as needed to support the leader’s success
Search for innovative ideas that are customized for each executive
Utilize tools from our experience including charting and pictures to map concepts and create leadership strategies
Commit to a frequent meeting cadence to establish trust, understanding, momentum and accountability for demonstrated progress in our work
On Boarding
Research has shown that the majority of executives hired from outside the company will fail or underperform at their new job. In our experience working with senior level executives this can easily have a huge negative financial impact to the company. We work with the newly hired leader to protect your company’s investment and ensure a successful start up. We begin by assessing the business model, explicit and implicit rules for leadership success in the new organization. We also pinpoint the new executive's true impact role in the overall organization. The coaching sessions accelerate the learning curve so that the leader’s approach is quickly matched to the new role and culture. We work with the boss and selected executives to identify key stakeholders and create a specific plan to establish credibility. Our objective is to deliver quick wins to establish credibility while the new leader is acclimating to the new culture.
Senior Executive Role Shift
The moment a senior leader is promoted or takes on a new role in the organization there is pressure to show results. Leaders promoted to the VP Level or C- Level for the first time are expected to perform immediately while developing new skills that were not required at lower levels in the organization. In our experience, as leaders reach the top of an organization their boss typically has less time and is less willing to provide the type of support given to lower level leaders. We work with senior leaders in new roles to provide the level of support required in the first few months to ensure success. This includes assessing the portfolio of competencies and experiences to identify gaps for development. We also identify new skills and approaches that will serve them at this new level and work to extinguish old habits that diminish their effectiveness.
High Potential Leaders - Promotion Prep
Successful companies use succession management systems to identify high potential talent for future roles. In many cases these individuals struggle to develop fast enough to be fully prepared for the expanded role. We work proactively with the high potential leaders to equip them with the competencies required to transition to the next level. We partner with internal mentors at the C Level and leverage external executive development programs to accelerate readiness. We have worked with all levels including preparing for a smooth CEO transition.
Retaining Key Leaders
Executive coaching is recognized as a powerful and precise development process for leaders. We have experience in projects with an emphasis on retaining your top leadership talent who are typically the most ambitious and the most recruited. We initially identify all factors that might contribute to the leader deciding to leave the company and work with the organization to intervene. We provide an objective, expert viewpoint on alternatives and innovative ideas to shape the role and experience of the executive to minimize the chance that they will leave the company. We work with key leaders who are critical to the company but have attained their highest level in the organization. We help calibrate their expectations based on an honest, objective assessment of their abilities. We can also shape the experience to ensure that they stay fully engaged and rewarded.
Cohort Coaching
When organizations are in the midst of transformation they typically restructure to align to the new strategic direction. This can create a situation where an entire team of leaders at the VP or Director Level are expected to perform at a higher level. We utilize an approach where the leadership team works together as cohorts in the coaching process. We identify the new organizational tools and processes like strategic planning, decision making, customer relationship management, and weave these new approaches into the skill development in group sessions. We can build a common language that can also improve the effectiveness of the leadership team. In many projects there is a strong need to include a comprehensive change management system. These projects combine team learning sessions enhanced by peer coaching and 1:1 coaching sessions with an external coach.
Organization Effectiveness
Competition and turbulence in the business environment forces companies to evolve their organization structure, processes, and talent to drive new strategies. High performing organizations are leaner, more flexible, faster in adapting to change and resilient. Talent at all levels must respond quickly to customer needs to drive innovation and growth. Smart executives view this tough business climate as an opportunity to seize advantage over competitors. During a period of severe cost restraints, leaders must extract maximum value from their core businesses while quickly shifting focus to emerging opportunities. All of these challenges require a fresh perspective to build an organization that creates a Performance Edge.
Accelerating Growth and Scalability
Executives must understand how to transform their organizations to prepare for growth and adapt to changing conditions in the market. Scalability is supported through a smart combination of emerging technologies/strategic ideas, organizational processes and people. We believe a comprehensive assessment of these three areas and specific action plan to address gaps is necessary to improve performance. Organizations can become more complex with size and it is critical to keep all of the components aligned to support efficiency, speed and adaptability.
Organization Effectiveness
The pace of change is requiring executives to examine the effectiveness of their organization to support the strategies and day to day operations. We help you evaluate the overall health by looking for both strengths and gaps in the organization. Teams need to operate with a high performance approach to structure, competencies, systems, communication and decision-making. Engagement and empowerment are enhanced when responsibility is distributed to the lowest level. When structural changes are required we work with you to ensure a successful redesign and deployment plan.
Change Management
The critical components of successful change include active and sustained executive sponsorship, a compelling business case, dedicated teams/resources, and ongoing support. In many cases the potential for change is not realized because organizations do not invest sufficient resources in managing the change. We partner with you to build a comprehensive plan to drive change throughout the organization. Our belief is that we must build change management competence in leaders and all employees due to the turbulent nature of business.
Culture Shift
Organizational culture is becoming an increasingly important driver of business success. The economic pressures that are forcing companies to jettison business units, layoffs employees and restructure the organization are impacting the culture. We work with executives to understand the explicit and implicit aspects of their culture. We preserve and enhance the aspects of the culture that drive success and identify the cultural aspects that must change. We work with you to design and lead a culture shift where appropriate. In our work with start-up companies we create the original cultural blueprint that serves as a foundation for the growth of the company. Every organization has a unique culture and requires a customized approach but there is evidence that flexible, resilient and innovative cultures are best equipped for the future.
Strategic Edge
There is constant pressure for organizations to find a strategic edge in the ultra competitive marketplace. The speed of change in technology, industry trends, customer expectations and the core competence of your organization demand strategic agility. Even success can be dangerous if you are not able to view your business strategies and organization through a fresh lens. Our consultants bring experience from a breadth of industries to stimulate new ideas and build strategic agility throughout the organization.
Vision, Core Competencies, Values, Culture
More than ever, customers, partners and employees demand a vision that provides clarity and direction. Alignment of your vision with the core competence, values and culture drives engagement and provides a consistent message from the boardroom to front line employees. We work with CEOs, senior executive teams and functional divisions to build a platform that can optimize business performance. We can craft a new culture or transform a culture to drive winning behaviors.
Strategy Execution
One of the biggest challenges for senior executives is to implement and drive fast execution of the strategic and tactical plan. We help design communication strategies to ensure understanding and alignment. We also assess the strengths, performance gaps, competency gaps and barriers to execution. In our experience middle level leaders can slow down or accelerate strategy execution. We can assess the ability and the receptivity of all leaders to contribute to strategic ideas and successfully execute the plan.
C-Level Leadership Team Effectiveness
Senior leadership teams are unique in that they are a composite of the strongest and most driven people in the organization. In many cases the team needs better alignment around key strategies and direction. We help teams improve decision making processes for the enterprise through objective and balanced input. We examine meeting effectiveness to ensure that sufficient processes are in place to address important issues in the organization. We work on improving the trust and cooperation to create a high performance team. We design and facilitate strategic offsite meetings to ensure breakthrough thinking and growth for both the senior leader and the team.
Brian Anderson
Northern California
Brian is an expert on building the winning edge for leaders and organizations. He has worked with many of the worlds most admired and innovative companies to accelerate organizational transformation and leadership development. He specializes in working with fast growth companies to navigate transitions in business strategies and organizational design. Brian’s work is inspired by leaders whose imagination and disruptive technologies are changing the world.
Brian has worked with over 20 Global 500 companies and several start-up companies to build long term success. He has extensive experience coaching executives up through the CEO level. Brian was an executive at two global consulting firms (Towers Watson and PDI/Korn Ferry) before founding Performance Edge. He completed his M.S. degree at The University of Arizona and San Jose State University. The press frequently quotes Brian and he is a contributing author to the book, Best Practices in Leadership Development, Jossey-Bass.
Nick Horney, Ph.D.
East Coast
Nick is a consulting partner with Performance Edge and the Founder and Principal of Agility Consulting and Training (ACT). Since 2001, Nick has consulted with leaders to help transform their vision to action by anticipating change and building more adaptive capabilities to become focused, fast and flexible. Dr. Horney has been recognized as an expert in strategic agility by publications such as CIO Magazine and organizations such as the American Management Association, Canadian Management Centre, Human Resource Planning Society and AMA Japan. He was selected by the American Management Association to author the two-day Strategic Agility and Resilience Seminar.
Dr. Horney's consulting experience (leadership/team/organizational agility and change management) spans over 20 years. Nick coauthored a book in 2000 entitled Project Change Management, published by McGraw-Hill. He received his Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from the University of South Florida.
Tom O'Shea
East Coast
Tom is a Consulting Partner with Performance Edge and a Principal in Agility Consulting – a consulting practice dedicated to the goal of helping client organizations and leaders become more competitive in our increasing turbulent and time-pressed world by becoming more AGILE. Tom specializes in strategic business development, leadership and organizational improvement practices. He has more than twenty years industry experience working in consumer products, retailing and the apparel trade. Tom's diverse background includes senior executive roles in Human Resources, Strategic Planning and General Management.
Tom has a master's degree in Organizational Psychology and extensive practical experience helping organizations re-focus business strategy to improve organization performance and alignment. Tom is a Certified Management Consultant and a former President of the Carolinas Chapter for the Institute of Management Consultants – the premier professional association for management consulting.
Richard Greenberg
Southern California
Richard is proud to be a part of Performance Edge. He has over 20 years of experience in strategy consulting, executive coaching, leadership development, employee engagement, and HR transformation. His innovative approaches have led to positive change and improvement at dozens of Fortune 1000 companies. As a frequent speaker and writer on leadership challenges, and former educator at USC's Marshall School of Business, he has advised executives, managers and community leaders in the United States and abroad.
Beth Weinstein
Northern California
Beth brings over 20 years of corporate experience across a range of industries to her consulting practice. She has strong business orientation and links business strategy and operating objectives to the organizational capabilities needed to deliver. Beth is a strategic consultant with deep expertise in leading organizations through large scale change. Her career background includes experience in marketing, communications, organizational effectiveness and talent development for a global, multibillion-dollar biotechnology company.
Her areas of expertise include: coaching and developing executives; developing high performing teams; assessment and solutions for organizational capabilities and gaps; M&A integration; change management; and building employee commitment. Beth has a B.S. from Cornell University and an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.
Stephen Ost
Southwest
Stephen advises and mentors many startup entrepreneurs with their ventures by validating their concepts before introducing product development. His knowledge of the Lean Startup Methodology allows him to turn ideas into products, measure how customers respond, and then learn whether to pivot or persevere. Stephen also specializes in software development and front end user experience through website and mobile application design. A key component in his success at raising capital is his ability to strategically communicate a company's products and vision through pitch presentations.
Stephen is honored to be introduced by Performance Edge. He graduated from The University of Arizona with a BS in Computer Science and brings an exciting, vibrant, and innovative perspective to the table. While in college, Stephen created an app called Ufree that has earned him the recognition as one of the Top 5 College Entrepreneurs of 2013 by Entrepreneur Magazine. He has held positions as a Software Engineer at IBM and UnitedWeb, and is a leader in the Arizona startup community.
Marc Sokol, Ph.D.
Northwest
Organizational psychologist, consultant, executive coach, writer and speaker on workplace dynamics for the past 30 years, Marc Sokol has worked with leaders and companies across North America, Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa. Marc has coached a wide range of executives, and has worked with virtually every C-level leadership role reporting to the CEO. He has consulted to and partnered with Boards, CEOs, Presidents, Chairs and Vice-Chairs, helping them extend impact across the firms they lead. As a practice leader in a talent management-consulting firm, he led curriculum and consulting services development for a global team, expanding that firm’s capacity to provide leadership development services and coaching to clients. In this role, he also co-authored two books.
Seasoned in a wide range of talent management services: executive coaching, assessment, 360-degree feedback, team development, succession, action learning, leadership development and organizational change, Marc has also managed client engagements across a wide geography. Having been the leader of several business units himself, Marc has had the opportunity to practice what he believes and discover what really makes a difference, both in the US and as an expatriate business leader. The combination of these experiences enables Marc to provide deep insight into individual effectiveness and how leaders at every level can increase organizational impact.
