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Lecture

Facilitated Dialogues

Growth, growth, growth. Every organization grows or dies, whether treading water to avoid drowning or reaching at arms' lengths with hands palmed to swim forward toward new, better, more competitive and healthier shores on the other side.
In our own sojourn through human, leader, and organization growth, we examine six seasons and 14 sub-seasons common to virtually every sizeable entity that's survived five or more years. To see with new eyes where your organization's been, where it likely is now, and how one might orchestrate change going forward in order to grow well into the future, please join us and contribute to this popular solution.

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Ashley Acker, PhD, is an&nbsp;Executive Consultant,&nbsp;and both a&nbsp;Faculty Member&nbsp;and&nbsp;Program Advisor&nbsp;for&nbsp;Leath Group, LLC&mdash;a dynamic curriculum development and intellectual property greenhouse that grows leaders and shapes cultures.
With expertise in instructional design, individual and organizational assessment, and leadership development, Ashley has spent the last several years partnering with companies both large and small, across a wide variety of industries, to develop solutions in the following areas:
<ul>
<li>People Operations</li>
<li>Change Management</li>
<li>Flexible Work Practices</li>
<li>Management Training</li>
<li>New Hire Onboarding</li>
<li>Customer Service</li>
<li>Leadership Coaching</li>
<li>Customer Service</li>
<li>Marketing Strategy</li>
</ul>
Ashley is passionate about changing the way we work and helps organizations increase the flexibility of how, when, and where they work in order to boost productivity and profitability. She frequently speaks and consults on the topics of results-only work environments, managing virtual teams, online collaboration, and the changing nature of work and leadership.
She has served as an instructional designer, curricula developer, trainer, presenter, project manager, coach and director of operations. Her entrepreneurial nature, creativity, and attention to detail make her an indispensable asset in both large and small engagements.
Ashley earned her BS in&nbsp;Psychology&nbsp;from Texas Christian University in Ft. Worth, TX, her MS in&nbsp;Industrial Organizational Psychology,&nbsp;and her PhD in&nbsp;Experimental Psychology from The University of Texas at Arlington. She is a graduate of Coach U, the leading global provider of coach training, and is a Certified Director of Operations.

Ashley Acker

Joe Brouillette is an Executive Consultant, Coach, and Faculty Member&nbsp;for&nbsp;Leath Group, LLC&mdash;a dynamic curriculum development and intellectual property&nbsp;greenhouse&nbsp;that grows leaders and shapes cultures.
Joe has five&nbsp;decades&nbsp;of leadership, consulting, teaching, and global project management experience in finance, marketing, sales, new business launches, business transformation, technology enablement, and executive team development.
Through both entrepreneurial endeavors and corporate assignments, Mr. Brouillette has produced value across numerous industry segments in senior leadership roles with global firms, including Vice President, Capgemini, Senior Executive Global Business Development, Accenture, and Strategy Director, Verizon&nbsp;Enterprise Solutions.
In addition to numerous other senior positions in technology system design and development, Mr. Brouillette served as President of the American Airline Tech Subsidiary, AMRIS, and President/CEO of TelAmerica&mdash;two global telecom service providers.
Joe&nbsp;formerly served&nbsp;as an independent Board member for a number of public and private organizations and as an adjunct professor at <a href="http://www.neeley.tcu.edu/">M.J. Neeley School of Business </a> at Texas Christian University and Tandy Center for Executive Education, both in Fort Worth, Texas. Mr. Brouillette earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance &amp; Economics from the University of San Diego and attended the University of Chicago and Stanford University focusing on graduate studies.
He is widely known for his work in Human Capital Development and serves as an advisor and executive coach for many organizations focused on optimal performance. He is a certified Heart Centered Leadership facilitator and counselor.
Joe&nbsp;lives in Wilsonville, OR where he currently serves as Chairman of Delta Energy &amp; Communications.

Joe Brouillette

Brian Cesare is a Subject Matter Resource and Faculty Member for Leath Group, LLC&mdash;a dynamic curriculum development and intellectual property&nbsp;greenhouse&nbsp;that grows leaders and shapes cultures.
Brian is a Human Resources Professional with over 25 years of experience across four Fortune 100 companies including General Electric, Citigroup, Microsoft, and BHP-Billiton. Brian&rsquo;s background includes an in-depth knowledge of performance management processes, organizational development and design, organizational effectiveness, staffing, compensation, employee relations, and culture change. He also has had extensive employee relations experience that includes union and non-union work, as well as union avoidance. Additionally, he has international experience in staffing, compensation, benefits, and expatriate relations.
He has implemented Workday with two very different organizations, with both implementations coming in on time and on budget.
A couple of his hallmark successes include an instrumental role in completely reversing negative employee satisfaction at a multi-site General Electric operation. This organization has become one of the premier employee-satisfaction businesses in all of GE.&nbsp;He also was the first in the country to implement both market-based pay for teachers, as well as a unique pay for performance for teachers.
Brian is a Certified Mediator, Arbitrator, and Compensation Professional (CCP). Other training includes Workday, Six Sigma, LEAN, DDI Administrator for Behavioral Based Interviewing, Administrator of OAI (Overseas Assignment Inventory), Organizational Effectiveness, Change Management, and Union Avoidance Consultant.&nbsp;

Brian Cesare

Dawn Leath is a Principal, Executive Consultant, and Faculty Member for Leath Group, LLC&mdash;a dynamic curriculum development and intellectual property greenhouse that grows leaders and shapes cultures.&nbsp;
Prior, Dawn spent a decade in the financial services industry working as a Human Resources Professional (recruitment, selection, career planning, benefits), Instructional Designer, Trainer, and Facilitator. In that time, she developed and delivered content for workshops and organizational universities that addressed Empowerment, Individual &amp; Organizational Accountability, Internal &amp; External Customer Service, Leveraging Interpersonal Differences, Morale, Critical Thinking &amp; Problem Solving, Quality, Team Audits &amp; Teamwork, and Performance Management (Orientation &amp; Onboarding through Succession Planning &amp; Conducting Effective Exit Interviews).
Since 2002, Dawn has devoted more time volunteering and serving nonprofit, local community organizations in varying capacities. However, in May 2013, she accepted a full-time calling to join the staff of RockPointe Church as Women&rsquo;s Minister. Building upon the solid foundation begun by her predecessor and surrounded by servant-leaders, peers, and a body of passionate believers with shared vision, she has been blessed with an opportunity to extend and mature a sustainable infrastructure that is more commensurate with RockPointe&rsquo;s current needs and future growth projections&mdash;numerically, but more importantly, of course, relationally and spiritually. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
Today, as a wife of 28 years and mother for 19 years, Dawn continues to run a busy household while working alongside 70 colleagues at Leath Group to improve clients' cultures and performance. She is also an author and instructor of Leath Learning's Spirited Series, a leadership program designed for ministry leaders.&nbsp; &nbsp;
Dawn earned her BBA in Entrepreneurship at Baylor University&rsquo;s Hankamer School of Business. The university&rsquo;s pioneering entrepreneurship program is ranked No. 4 in the nation by The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine.&nbsp;
Dawn, Blake, their daughter Lauren (and her partner in crime&mdash;the beloved rapscallion, Kit) make their home in the Great State of Texas.

Dawn Leath

Michelle Simms is a&nbsp;Practitioner Consultant and Faculty Member for&nbsp;Leath Group, LLC&mdash;a dynamic curriculum development and intellectual property greenhouse that grows leaders and shapes cultures&mdash;and is also owner of <a href="https://leapingcalf.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Leaping Calf Communications</a>.&nbsp;Michelle is a&nbsp;marketing&nbsp;resource and creative content curator with specialties in media strategy, communications, work culture analysis, event planning, social media, writing, graphic design, emceeing, and webinar hosting. Applying many of the public relations, journalism, psychology, and communications classes from college days, Michelle is also constantly studying what drives herself and others to make decisions to buy products, work with a team, cooperate on a project or engage in events. She is a critical thinker and driven self starter who thrives in synthesizing ideas with others.&nbsp;
Collaborating with teams in the business, nonprofit, and education sectors, along with church and parachurch entities, Michelle&rsquo;s experience brings out the best of each organization&rsquo;s internal and external vision and message using marketing and communication strategy. Michelle&rsquo;s goals and initiatives result in stewarding current company constituents well while recruiting new ones, along with increasing positive brand awareness.&nbsp;
After graduating from Pepperdine University with degrees in Broadcast Journalism and Political Science, Michelle spent several years at NBC Network News as a field producer covering the O.J. Simpson trial for the NBC&nbsp;Nightly News with Tom Brokaw, Today Show, and Dateline. She also helped produce Today Show entertainment segments in Los Angeles interviewing various artists, industry leaders, and celebrities, including coverage of the Oscar, Grammy, and Emmy award shows.&nbsp;
A Southern California native and pilot&rsquo;s daughter who spent a handful of her childhood years living in a Lockheed community in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Michelle now hunkers down in North Texas with her husband, former Major Leaguer Mike Simms, and their two teenage daughters. When they are not willingly suffering whistle shock from watching endless college and club volleyball matches, they love traveling, discovering new seafood or sushi restaurants, and sipping on a Cuban Cortadito (with caramelized raw sugar, please).

Michelle Simms

Jay Leigh is a Senior Consultant and Faculty Member for Leath Group, LLC&mdash;a dynamic curriculum development and intellectual property&nbsp;greenhouse&nbsp;that grows leaders and shapes cultures.
Jay is an experienced leader in value stream transformation and management from the individual contributor level to the billion-dollars-plus enterprise level. He was a key member of tiger teams that transformed the Raytheon Missile Systems Air-to-Air line of business (Shingo award winner) and transformed Crane Aerospace at the enterprise level. He was the prime architect of a major plant level value stream transformation for BAE Systems that won a corporate Silver Award for reducing operating costs over 20% per year while improving all key metrics. Jay&rsquo;s most recent work with BAE has been as the Value Stream Transformation Leader for the Flight Controls product line as the Director of Lean Enterprise.
Jay has owned and operated his own companies, worked for small, medium, and large companies, and has been a contractor for the United States Department of Energy. This breadth in experience&mdash;grounded in direct line responsibility for executing multiple $80M to $300M/year programs&mdash;provides a powerfully unique perspective for crafting and tailoring solutions specific to the most sophisticated client needs.
Jay earned his Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from Iowa State University, graduating with Honors &amp; Distinction. He is a Raytheon Six Sigma Specialist and graduate of the Raytheon Program Management School. Having served as a subcontractor for Los Alamos National Laboratory and other government-centric organizations, Jay possesses DOD Secret Clearance (formerly DOE &ldquo;Q&rdquo; Top Secret).
Jay launched his post-collegiate career by becoming a national level swimming coach who produced more than 75 National top-16 times, 50 Junior National Qualifiers, 25 Senior National Qualifiers, and 5 Olympic Trial Qualifiers. In 1993, Jay was selected as Minnesota&rsquo;s Coach of the Year. He takes great pride in applying his personal passion for coaching, teaching, and team building to lean philosophies, practices, and organizational culture.
In addition to his rich work experience, Jay has served as the President of the Board of Directors for two non-profit organizations. With his wife, Cari, he has engineered and produced two CD albums and was nominated by the Minnesota Music Academy five times for Producer of the Year and four times for Engineer of the Year. He currently plays tournament disc golf with his 16-year-old daughter, Zia. Having resided and worked in Minneapolis, Los Alamos, Tucson, and Seattle, Jay, Cari, Zia, and 13-year-old daughter Tehya now make their home in Highland Village, TX.

Jay Leigh

Phil Davis is a&nbsp;Practitioner Consultant and Faculty Member for Leath Group, LLC&mdash;a dynamic curriculum development and intellectual property&nbsp;greenhouse&nbsp;that grows leaders and shapes cultures.
Phil has over 35 years of hands-on leadership, customer service, operations transformation, technology enablement, risk management, project management, and client support experience in leading customer care and financial services organizations.&nbsp;He managed as many as nine locations (on-shore, near-shore, and off-shore) and almost 1,500 associates at one point.&nbsp;Phil&rsquo;s consulting focus is business transformation, performance management, and cultural integration.&nbsp;
Phil&rsquo;s passions and expertise flourish when effectively leading organizations through change from process re-engineering to cultural integration and transformation.&nbsp;He is a proven leader in delivering on corporate targets, as evidenced by achieving a 35% reduction in operating expenses over a recent three-year period through performance management and technology efficiency initiatives.&nbsp;In addition, he has successfully steered organizations through approximately two-dozen organizational consolidations and/or site closures by understanding the human impact of change on employees, families, livelihoods, and communities.&nbsp;
Phil has served capably in executive leadership roles with Bank of America, Citigroup, and, more recently, Vantiv and Think Finance.&nbsp;During the recent global recession, Phil was serving as the Chief Operating&nbsp;&amp; Credit Officer for a Nevada-based credit card lender.&nbsp;Despite overseeing 140% portfolio growth immediately prior to the downturn, he led the design and implementation of risk-management strategies that mitigated the external risk to the portfolio.&nbsp;&nbsp;
During his career, Phil has played an integral role in the credit industry. He was a charter member of the Bankruptcy Issues Council, which spearheaded bankruptcy reform, has served as a member of the National Foundation for Consumer Credit Advisory Council, and on the Board of Directors for Consumer Credit Counseling Services of Virginia.&nbsp;
Phil is currently serving on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of the nonprofit International Baseball Academy of Central America, and he was instrumental in their recent signing of a training partnership agreement with one of the Nicaraguan professional baseball teams (BOER Indians).&nbsp;
He earned a bachelors degree in Economics with a concentration in Management from Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia.
On the personal side, Phil has been married to Lisa for 22 years, and they currently reside in Flower Mound, TX.&nbsp; They enjoy socializing with friends in their new mixed-use community, yard work, and volunteering at the local food pantry.&nbsp;As evidence of their passion for travel, they moved temporarily to Nicaragua for four months in 2014 for what they describe as a &ldquo;once-in-a-lifetime adventure.&rdquo;

Phil Davis

Patty Harrison is an Executive Consultant and Faculty Member for Leath Group, LLC&mdash;a dynamic curriculum development and intellectual property&nbsp;greenhouse&nbsp;that grows leaders and shapes cultures.&nbsp;As a strong project manager and marketing consultant, Patty has a passion for completing projects on time and in budget. Having balanced both marketing and advertising throughout her career, she believes strategy is equally important as proper execution. Her desire is to create the best possible product for the purpose and budget.
Starting her career in television production and editorial, she acquired a deep understanding of the technical side of the business. Moving forward as a broadcast and video producer for Dallas-based advertising agency, Tracy-Locke, then as executive producer for international agency DDB Needham, she participated in national campaigns for Fortune 500 companies such as Pepsi, Frito-Lay, Pizza Hut, and others, gaining valuable insight into creative strategies that drive revenue growth. During this time she won seven Telly awards.
Following was a decade of marketing management, business development, and team building for hi-tech start-ups, luxury family resorts, furniture retailers, and ad agencies. Expanding into web and digital, she applied best practices to oversee the launch of numerous websites, social media campaigns, and promotions plus digital and e-mail marketing that delivered positive, measurable results. Throughout this time she continued to produce TV, radio, and videos, and added scriptwriting to her skill set. Her clients included many well-known local companies such as Weir&rsquo;s Furniture, Terramesa Resort Properties, Slingshot Advertising, and Circa Design Showroom. Most recently, she has honed her life's passion, interviewing people. Recent projects inlude questioning C-Level technology professionals for SIM (Society of Information Management) and Thru Inc.
Along the way she was fortunate to work with talented engineers, web developers, copywriters, art directors, composers, a film director, as well as Hollywood and sport stars. The experience has left her humbled and grateful.
Patty earned a BFA in Theatre and a BS in Broadcast Journalism from the University of Florida and still insists she was not one of the party animals that graduated from this infamous institution.
When not working, she spends precious time with her husband, Lee, and two daughters Lindsey and Hope, who regularly insist on golfing, water skiing, and snow skiing, despite Patty&rsquo;s marginal performance level at these activities. She loves to paint, write fiction, watch movies, and teach spin classes weekly. Cooking is a creative passion she suffers due to her overachieving nature in the kitchen.

Patty Harrison

Susan Thoma is an Executive Consultant, Coach, and Faculty Member&nbsp;with more than 30 years as a results-oriented, relationship-building professional with significant experience managing and driving positive change through leaders and teams.&nbsp;Her background includes consulting, communicating, coaching, developing leaders, strategic planning and events.&nbsp;She has exceptional listening skills, creative and effective communication, with ability to influence others at all levels of the organization.
Most recently, Susan served as Senior Director for a Fortune 200 financial services firm where she led the Sales and Leadership Development function. She also drove the culture integration and talent management initiatives for new business acquisitions. During 2006, she was recognized as one of 30 associates invited to attend the corporation&rsquo;s elite worldwide Leadership Development Program.
Susan also spent seven years at Citibank where she served as the Chief of Staff to a Regional CEO.&nbsp;She managed the CEO&rsquo;s communication, strategic organizational development, change management and leadership development initiatives.
At Citibank, Susan received the Citicorp Service Excellence award in 1996 in recognition of dedication to Citicorp customers and outstanding service. Susan was also awarded membership into Menttium Corporation&rsquo;s Illinois 100&trade;&mdash;elected as one of two high-potential women in Citibank to participate in an external mentoring program with CEOs. In 1994, she received the U.S./Europe Citibank Team Concorde Award from Citibank senior leadership to recognize her &ldquo;extra effort&rdquo; that transcends business borders.
For the first 10 years in Susan&rsquo;s career she served in outside business development, training, coaching and marketing roles spanning industries such as healthcare, pharmaceutical, telecommunications, manufacturing, engineering, chemical, high-tech and consumer products. One of Susan&rsquo;s passions is integrating music as a metaphor in business. Partnering with conductors of symphony orchestras, she writes, produces and directs interactive educational and motivational forums for executive teams and employees.
Susan earned a B.S. degree in Marketing from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University, Bloomington, with additional emphasis in Speech&nbsp;&amp; Organizational Communication. She served on the Board of Directors, Executive Committee for the Indiana University Kelley School of Business Alumni Association from 1998 to 2001. In 2001, she completed the Coaching Certificate Program from Georgetown University. During 2006, Susan attended Leadership for Extraordinary Performance at the University of Virginia, Darden Graduate School of Business Administration. One of her interests includes Write Hand Studio, a creative outlet, where she integrates her faith, nature photography, and the lost-art of the handwritten letter. She currently resides in the Denver, Colorado area.

Susan Thoma

Gary Moreau is an&nbsp;Executive Consultant and Faculty Member for Leath Group, LLC&mdash;a dynamic research, curriculum development, and intellectual property greenhouse that grows leaders and shapes cultures.
In his fourth decade of leadership, Gary has served as consultant, global executive, private equity partner, General Manager of a large multinational in China, and always as writer, thinker, and pragmatic philosopher.&nbsp;
As former President &amp; COO of Oneida, CEO &amp; Operating Partner of Lionel LLC (Lionel Trains)/Wellspring Capital Management, Managing Director and subsequently VP &amp; GM (Asia Pacific) of Libbey Inc., Gary has thought often and deeply about the disciplines of leadership, collaboration, communication, strategy, and the nature of ethics in the workplace.
He is the author of the Understanding series of books with volumes devoted to doing business in China, general business and leadership, and living a fulfilling life. Understanding Business: The Logic of Balance was named a 2017 Top 100 Business Book of the Year by Kirkus Reviews and one of his fictional books, The Message, written under the pseudonym Avam Hale, was given a perfect 4/4 rating by the <a href="http://onlinebookclub.org">onlinebookclub.org</a> and subsequently named book of the day.
Recognized by the World Economic Forum as a Global Leader for Tomorrow in the Class of 1993, which also included Bill Gates and Michael Dell, Gary&rsquo;s abundant curiosity and thoughtfulness are animated through research, consulting, speaking, and ongoing contributions to scholarship and personal and professional service. You can find many of his articles on leadership and management on LinkedIn.
Gary studied&nbsp;Economics at Middlebury College, from which he graduated with honors.&nbsp;
Having spent eight consecutive years leading in China, Gary is now stateside again, where he makes his home in Rochester, Michigan. A voracious reader, Gary is an Amazon Top 500 book reviewer and has a large following for his book reviews on Goodreads, where he reviews a wide range of genres from classic literature to philosophy and business.

Gary Moreau

Dr. Blake Leath is the founder of Leath Group, LLC&mdash;a dynamic curriculum development and intellectual property greenhouse that grows leaders and shapes cultures. To date, Leath Group has authored more than 90 copyrighted organizational science solutions implemented for clients around the world. 83 of those solutions are catalogued <a href="https://www.leathgroup.com/programs?f=&amp;s=&amp;d=recommended" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.&nbsp;
Blake has worked with clients as diverse as Abbott Laboratories, Adidas, AEP, Alcatel, Alcon, Alliance Data, Altec Lansing, American Chemical Society, Americo, Anchor Hocking, Anritsu, Anthology, Apple, Aramco, Ardagh, Ashland, AT&amp;T, Atlas Copco, Avnet, BAE Systems, Baker Hughes, Bank of America, Bausch + Lomb (Ray-Ban), BBN Technologies, Beckett Media, Bell Textron, Ben E. Keith Co., Berkshire Hathaway, BFGoodrich, BHP, BlackRock, Blackstone, BNSF Railway, Boeing, Brinker International, Burlington Resources, Capital One, Cardinal Health, Catapult Mineral Partners, Celanese, Centex, Citigroup, City of Albuquerque, City of Plano, City of Shreveport, Claffey Pools, Clemson University, Coeur Mining, Comfort Systems USA, Corelle Brands, CornerStone Staffing, Countrywide Financial, CVS Caremark, Daimler, Ericsson, EssilorLuxottica, Fidelity Investments, Fiserv, Footstar, Freeport-McMoRan, FSI Defense, Fujifilm, GCC, GE, Genencor, General Mills, Gentiva, Giant Industries, GoPro, GuideStone, Haggar Clothing, Halliburton, Hallmark, H-E-B Grocery Co., Hecla Mining, HF Sinclair, Honeywell, IGT, Instant Brands, Intel, JCPenney, Junior Achievement, Keurig Dr Pepper, Kodak, Konica Minolta, KPS Global, L3Harris Technologies, Lennox, LexisNexis, Libbey, LightPath Technologies, L.L.Bean, Lockheed Martin, Lockton Companies, Los Alamos National Laboratory, LSG Sky Chefs, M3 Engineering, McAfee, McDonald's Corporation, McElroy Metal, McEwen Mining, Meeting Professionals International, MetLife, Microsoft, Mohawk Industries, Momentous Institute, Multi-Chem Group, NASA, Naval Air Warfare Center, NEORIS, Nestl&eacute;, New Moly, New York Life Insurance Company, Newmont, NMED, Northwest Airlines, Northwestern Mutual, Peabody Energy, PepsiCo, Pfizer, Phelps Dodge, Pier 1 Imports, PNM, Premier Distributing Co., PrimeSource, Procter &amp; Gamble, Public Werks Inc., Raytheon, Ready Seal, Royal Leerdam, Sabre, Sally Beauty Supply, Sandia National Laboratories, Scotts Miracle-Gro Co., Service Corporation International, Software Spectrum, SourceHOV, Southern Methodist University, Southwest Airlines, Stillwater Mining Company, Sysco, Takata, TEGNA, Tesoro, Tetra Pak, Texas Farm Bureau, Texas Instruments, The Coca-Cola Company, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, The Rosewood Corporation, Thornburg Mortgage, Toledo Zoo, Trinity Industries Inc., Ultralife Corporation, United States Coast Guard, UnitedHealth Group, Universal Instruments, University of Texas, USAA, the U.S. Departments of Agriculture / Defense / Energy &amp; Interior, Vitro, WESCO International, WSDOT, Wyndham Hotels &amp; Resorts, Yahoo! Inc., and Yum! Brands Inc.
Blake and Leath Group colleagues provide consulting &amp; communication services and tools that transform leaders, cultures, and processes to achieve dramatic breakthroughs in strategy and performance. Since 1992, he has worked with practitioners in more than 300 companies and numerous federal, state, and local agencies/departments/bureaus, as well as with individual researchers from leading universities to understand and maximize employee involvement, success, longevity, and passion.
In 32 years as an organizational sociologist and strategist, Blake has instructed in excess of 15,000 participants (in intimate groups rarely exceeding 12-20 at a time) across 41 states, and his content has been used by leaders in 27 countries. Leath Group at large has worked with more than 200,000 individuals, and well over 2,000,000 imprints have been made of the Group&rsquo;s combined intellectual properties. Blake&rsquo;s primary interests include strategy, culture, leadership, change, communication, systems thinking, M&amp;A integration, trust &amp; influence, and the process of acculturation.
In 2007, Blake published his first mainstream book,&nbsp;Cultivating the Strategic Mind: Growing From Leader to Visionary, Creator, and Architect of Strategy. The modest and very personal text consistently receives high praise from professional strategists&nbsp;embracing&nbsp;its approach to reinforce more systemic strategic thinking, and is increasingly regarded as a classic within its domain. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1939550378/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1513014688&amp;sr=8-2&amp;keywords=cultivating+the+strategic+mind" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A commemorative 10th anniversary Second Edition paperback featuring nearly 800 updates&nbsp;was released&nbsp;for Christmas 2017</a>.
Blake's latest book, FIRESIDE: Seasoned Leaders' Reflections on Work, Life, and Life After Work is available now in either <a href="https://smile.amazon.com/Fireside-Seasoned-Leaders-Reflections-After/dp/B08FP9Z74T/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&amp;keywords=blake+leath+fireside&amp;qid=1601929269&amp;s=books&amp;sr=1-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">black-and-white</a> or <a href="https://smile.amazon.com/Fireside-Seasoned-Leaders-Reflections-After/dp/B08KH97MNG/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&amp;keywords=blake+leath+fireside&amp;qid=1601929383&amp;s=books&amp;sr=1-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">full-color</a> paperback editions, both of which serve as perfect gifts for graduates, parents, grandparents, the recently promoted or retired, or leaders of any age or stage in life intending to live on-purpose for however many more tomorrows remain to their names.
Today, Blake and his colleagues continue to research, write, design, deliver, facilitate, train, present, and film extensively, and most often in conjunction with long-term internal/external communication efforts designed to define, shape, or elevate client cultures.
Gleanings from the Group&rsquo;s contributions to knowledge and best practices (plus hobbyhorses&nbsp;<a href="../blog" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Blake&rsquo;s Blog</a>, <a href="../language-hound" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Language Hound</a>, <a href="../reviews" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Movie Reviews</a>, and <a href="https://www.leathgroup.com/books" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Book Bytes</a>) can be found at <a href="https://www.leathgroup.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">www.leathgroup.com</a>. Lifelong learners are encouraged to visit the site to experience Leath Group&rsquo;s work, download freebies, and to participate in and contribute to an organic community of dialogue. Follow <a href="https://www.facebook.com/leathgroup/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Leath Group, LLC on Facebook</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/1438715/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LinkedIn</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@LeathGroup" target="_blank" rel="noopener">YouTube</a>, or&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/leathgroup" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@leathgroup</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/blakeleath" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@blakeleath on Twitter</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.instagram.com/leathgroup/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">leathgroup on Instagram</a>, and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@leath.group" target="_blank" rel="noopener">leath.group on TikTok</a> to engage in periodic comings and goings and lighthearted musings, riffs, personal photos, and puff-piece observations.
Existing somewhat skittishly at the 97th percentile of introverts (and therefore endlessly fascinated by what he describes as &ldquo;one of the hardest yet most rewarding and essential puzzles of all time: the people puzzle&rdquo;), Blake admits to being a persistent yet plodding learner since kindergarten, having now been a student in nine states (California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas, and Vermont) and an itinerant college lecturer in four (Montana, New Mexico, South Carolina, and Texas). A Baylor University graduate and Brown University Leadership &amp; Performance Coach (with educational tune-ups at Dartmouth, MIT, and Yale in intervening years), Blake earned his bachelor&rsquo;s in Management &amp; Marketing, his master&rsquo;s in Organizational Management, and his doctorate in Organizational Sociology (the latter being i/o psychology at sociological scale that employs generously elastic sensemaking tools for contemporary work). Postdoctoral studies exploring the integration of strategy, leadership, and corporate communication in postmodern management are proving to be the inspiration behind 2025's intended Cultivating the Managerial Mind, the second in a burgeoning series. And though an Adjunct Faculty member at TCU&rsquo;s Neeley School of Business in Fort Worth since 2004, Blake will forever be a Bear at heart.&nbsp;&nbsp;
Blake, Dawn, their daughter (Lauren), and their microscopic Cavalier King Charles Spaniel (Kit) make their home just north of Dallas, Texas. For play, the Leaths enjoy traveling, exploring, reading, moviegoing, attending concerts, plays, and musicals&mdash;and embarking on fun design projects of virtually any nature that get their creative juices flowing.

Blake Leath

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Blended Learning

Growth

Leadership

Strategy

Culture

Change

"The soft skills are the hard skills" because they are (by their very nature) organic, subjective, open to interpretation, and difficult to master. Unfortunately, no one gets a 'pass' simply because something is difficult to learn.
Our Cultivation Series pries deep into the bushes and bramble of difficult to learn topical areas while never shying away from their importance. Though there are few hard and fast rules here, we and our clients have drawn a number of helpful conclusions about these ofttimes inscrutable topics.
While we can certainly add to or remove from any topic upon request, we generally aim for .5 to 1.5 days per program in the Cultivation Series. Said another way, if you're looking for a primer to dive deeply into seemingly soft, subjective areas quickly, this series is the place to start.

Growth

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