Slides

Workshop

Facilitated Dialogues

Cohort or Class Project(s)

Beyond only hiring and culture creation, strategic planning is arguably the most fundamental employee-related endeavor in any organization, and research released in December 2020 indicates that in our [eventual] post-COVID-19 world, 85% of managers view it as their #1 priority in 2021.
It's no longer trite to say that we are entering an unprecedented era, because it's true; one ripened by new world orders, tremendous social change, sweeping technological advancements (robotics and AI among them), a plethora of information, increasing speed, decentralized decision making, and much, much more. In the past year alone, the United States has seen more than 10,000 retail stores roll up their carpets, and Fortune magazine estimates that more than 100,000 establishments that temporarily shut down due to the recent pandemic are now out of business for good. As Dylan sang, the times they are a-changin', and with so many genies out of their bottles (including tens of millions of employees in the States alone who might as well now be viewed as "free agents"), there's no stopping the sands of time.
Tumult, however, also presents untold opportunities. Baron Rothschild, for example, an 18th century British nobleman who famously made a fortune in the days following Napoleon's defeat at the Battle of Waterloo famously suggested, "Buy when there's blood in the streets, even if the blood is your own."
Through our Strategic Planning Process, we introduce an evergreen solution (not an episodic event) that facilitates your organization's consideration of such realities&mdash;and responses to them&mdash;on an ongoing basis henceforth. We can also facilitate the creation of Vision, Mission, Values, Core Ideologies, Strategies, Goals, and Tactics (if desired) that can weave seamlessly together to strengthen prioritization, resource planning, and talent development in real-time to achieve a stronger state of preparedness and sustainability in the months and years ahead.&nbsp;

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

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

Dalton Jantzen is an Executive Consultant, Coach &amp; Faculty Member for Leath Group, LLC&mdash;a dynamic curriculum development and intellectual property&nbsp;greenhouse&nbsp;that grows leaders and shapes cultures.
Dalton has over 50 years of experience in leadership, business and ministry formation, transformation, training, coaching, consulting, facilitation, and team-leading in environments as varied as mining, manufacturing, churches and para-church ministries, and the remote jungle outposts of South America.
As a coach to business leaders and owners, he has worked with for-profit and nonprofit organizations, as well as their boards of directors in both private and public sectors. In the manufacturing world, Dalton has worked with multi-lingual teams and helped streamline and heal interactions between teams and their counterparts across borders and competing organizations. Dalton always emphasizes the importance of leading from within&mdash;both within the individual, and the organization he or she serves.
Dalton is a popular speaker and growth cultivator, inspiring groups as well as working one-on-one with individuals on four continents: Europe, SE Asia, North America, and South America. He is co-author and facilitator of the impactful workshop series created for business and ministry leaders entitled The Spiritually Healthy Leader Series and Leath Group's <a href="https://www.leathgroup.com/series/spirited-series?f=&amp;s=&amp;d=recommended" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Spirited Series</a> (co-authored by church leaders for church leaders) including programs on Righteous Leadership, Giving Leadership, Impactful Leadership, Leading the Growing Church, and Leading Volunteers.&nbsp;
Fortune 500 companies in the USA, Canada, and Mexico know Mr. Jantzen through his consulting work with DeLaPorte &amp; Associates, Inc., where he served as Senior Consultant, Coach &amp; Special Projects Leader. His expertise in facilitation, strategic planning, coaching, mentoring, conflict resolution, production integration, and quality improvement gave these clients access to what one executive described as "Wisdom with heart." Many acclaim his ability to care more for their people and business than any other consultant.
Dalton and his wife, Vicki, are co-founders of 30 60 100 MINISTRIES, a Christian 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization focused on coaching and equipping leaders to multiply their impact through a passionate relationship with Christ. Using a variety of workshops, customized consulting programs, and unique blend of ministry and business expertise, they equip men and women of all backgrounds and cultures to prevent burnout and multiply impact through effective leadership&mdash;building healthy, effective, and efficient organizations and teams.
Dalton and Vicki observe that many professionals in the corporate world are educated and trained to rely primarily on their acumen and skill to make leadership decisions and achieve goals. As 16-year veterans of the mission field in the jungles of Colombia, South America, the Jantzens understand firsthand the ramifications of what it is like to rely solely on God to minister and live. Skills only take leaders so far; agility, adaptability, versatility, understanding, and learning to roll with the punches are equally vital parts of becoming a healthy spiritual leader, whether leading in a literal jungle or an urban one. Dalton's 20 years of experience coaching pastors and their staffs, elders, and deacons often distinguish him from those possessing theoretical depth and breadth yet lacking real-world experience, a deft touch, sufficient confidence, or good instincts.
Over the 20 years since founding 30 60 100 MINISTRIES, INC., Dalton and Vicki's unique blend of experience and expertise has helped equip men and women and their organizations to fulfill a healthy spiritual life balance and a passion for service to their Lord and His people.
Dalton and Vicki have been married for 51 years, with three grown children and five grandchildren, and have recently made Fort Worth, Texas their new home base.

Dalton Jantzen

Dave Arnott, PhD, 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;He is also an accomplished writer, speaker, consultant, seminar leader, college professor, author of three management books and President of The Arnott Organization.
The notoriety of his first book, Corporate Cults, made him one of America&rsquo;s top authorities on the issue of corporate culture and, as a result, he has appeared on the CBS program 48 Hours, numerous other TV programs, and multiple radio shows.
Dr. Arnott is an accomplished keynote speaker who uses poetry recitation and storytelling to relate organizational relationships to practical situations. He has led more than 300 days of management and leadership seminars.
He is in his&nbsp;21st year as a professor of management at Dallas Baptist University. Dave worked for the Association of Tennis Professionals before entering the consulting and academic field. He also worked in the sporting goods and sports promotions industry, where he was owner/manager of a small manufacturing company and marketing director.
He recently led MBA students on a &ldquo;BRIC&rdquo; tour, visiting the developing countries of Brazil, Russia, India, and China. In one year alone, he made five trips abroad to: Puerto Rico and the Caribbean, Hong Kong and Singapore, six Mediterranean countries, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Israel.
Dave is a retired marathoner who once rode his bicycle across the U.S. He lives on an 11-acre ranchette south of Dallas, TX, with his dog, chickens, and two cows&mdash;named &ldquo;Dirk&rdquo; and &ldquo;Jet,&rdquo; after Dallas Mavericks players.

Dave Arnott

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

Greg Holden is an Executive Consultant and Faculty Member for Leath Group, LLC&mdash;a dynamic curriculum development and intellectual property greenhouse that grows leaders and shapes cultures.
Having served three decades in diverse roles including HR Director, Learning &amp; Development Director, Compensation Manager, and HR Business Partner for a variety of functional groups such as Engineering, Research &amp; Development, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Information Technology, Mission Success, and Global Sustainment across Massachusetts, Alabama, Florida, and the Delaware Valley, Greg is the epitome of a broad-gauged HR professional and an exciting addition to our team.
Our rich, high-trust relationship with Greg began two decades ago when he and his colleagues implemented a transformational HR/L&amp;D initiative at Lockheed Martin entitled Leadership 21. At the time, a sizeable number of LM leaders were becoming retirement eligible within five years. As an intellectual-capital intensive business, Leadership 21 was designed to capture and transfer as much knowledge as possible within the five-year timeframe. Through assessments, workshops, and an award-winning mentoring program, Leadership 21 was a tremendous success.
Greg and his peers were equally instrumental in Leadership 21&rsquo;s successor solution, Full Spectrum Leadership.
Today, most frequently through executive coaching, Greg brings his complement of what we describe as &ldquo;heartfelt thoughtfulness&rdquo; to executives, managers, and individual contributors alike. We consistently receive positive feedback regarding his approach, which is equal parts&nbsp;deeply philosophical&nbsp;and&nbsp;pragmatically impactful.&nbsp;Greg attributes much of his coaching style to Marilee Adams, Ph.D. (author of&nbsp;Change Your Questions, Change Your Life),&nbsp;and to&nbsp;Cornerstones of the Gestalt Model for Change as taught by the renowned Gestalt International Study Center in Wellfleet, MA.&nbsp;
Greg is a&nbsp;Lockheed Martin Certified Executive Coach&nbsp;and is designated as a&nbsp;Senior Certified Professional&nbsp;by the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM). He earned his MS in&nbsp;Organization Development &amp; Leadership from Saint Joseph&rsquo;s University in Philadelphia, PA.
Greg, his wife Anne, and their Goldendoodle, Libby, reside in Cohasset, MA. Their sons, Christopher and Scott, live in Somerville, MA and Philadelphia, PA, respectively. Greg loves spending time with family, exercising, and enjoying the outdoors. He also likes visiting with his three brothers in the Bay Area of California.

Greg Holden

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

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

Kimberly Kyle House is an Executive Consultant, Coach, and Faculty Member for&nbsp;Leath Group, LLC&mdash;a dynamic curriculum development and intellectual property greenhouse that grows leaders and shapes cultures. She is also Founder of&nbsp;K. Kyle &amp; Associates, a talent brokerage firm representing professionals in the top of their fields.
Having begun her relationship with Leath Group as a client, Kim now possesses 28 years of extensive sales and service management experience. She has served in roles as diverse as Personal Lines Manager, Vice President, Consultant &amp; Vice President of Sales, Senior Leader of Employee Development &amp; Engagement, Talent Development Partner, Senior Manager of Organizational Effectiveness, and Manager of Training &amp; Development in industries ranging from retail, insurance, consulting, and financial services to aeronautics, defense, pharmaceutics, and luxury retail design.
Possessing such a vibrant, talented network, today she endeavors to connect great people with great need, often catching them at an inflection point.
Kim&rsquo;s expertise includes oversight and leadership of instructional/curriculum design, mentor programs, performance management solutions, executive coaching, facilitator/instructor pools, public relations and corporate communications projects, sales/operational enhancements, and cultural transformations writ large, be they domestic or international. She is also author of Women Working with Women, a profound and popular workshop that untangles, restores, and renews female executive relationships in the workplace.
She has taught extensively through the years, and served on numerous community and affinity advisory boards including Youth Leadership Program (Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce), The Make-a-Wish Foundation of New Mexico (President), UNM MBA Alumni Association, GRACE Grapevine (Board Member), Wounded Warrior Project, Fellowship Church, Club Corp (Board Member, La Cima), and in various capacities at local Chambers of Commerce from DFW to San Antonio.
As a teen&mdash;with the love of family, friends, and faith&mdash;Kim overcame Hodgkin&rsquo;s lymphoma. As an adult, she battled and beat breast cancer in a fight that would last for years. Her indomitable spirit, grace, and sassy wit are on full display in preliminary drafts of Fight &amp; Claw, her love letter to those who have tangled with Mr. C, and her manifesto for those (approximately &frac12; of males and&nbsp;⅓&nbsp;of females)&mdash;and their loved ones&mdash;who will eventually be drafted into the theater of war.
A native Texan, lifelong learner, and undaunted volunteer, Kim attended Texas Tech University, earned her BBA in&nbsp;Marketing &amp; Management&nbsp;and her Executive MBA (with an emphasis in&nbsp;International Business) from Anderson School of Management at University of New Mexico, and is a Certified&nbsp;Human Capital Strategist.
Today, this itinerant gura and connector of ideas and people can be found traveling, writing, speaking, solving, encouraging, talking back, and introducing.
But when she is not, one will likely not find her at all, for she has traded her kingdom for a horse and will be ankle-deep in manure in some remote southeast Texas barn or stall: shoveling, shampooing, grooming, shoeing, or perhaps even buying or breeding his majesty&rsquo;s greatest mammal. And eventually, come rain or shine or dawn or dusk or midday beam, Kim-the-equestrian will be but a blurry speck off in the distance, a thunderous beast galloping her into some Christopher Cross oblivion beyond the horizon, the future on her face and troubles to the wind.

Kimberly Kyle House

Dr. Knute Sorenson 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.&nbsp;Knute brings over 35 years of business experience and offers a pragmatic approach to his materials, projects, and work. His primary areas of interest include business planning, organizational diagnosis, vision/mission/values alignment, quality initiatives, conflict management, change management, and project management.
Knute worked at White Sands Missile Range for two years and Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM) for 28 years, 18 of them in various management positions. At the time of his retirement, he was the Director of Business Improvement, which included the Project Management, Operational &amp; Organizational Analysis, Quality Programs &amp; Initiatives, Human Resource Development &amp; Training, and Disaster-Recovery groups. In addition to his internal assignments, he was on executive loan to State government and numerous non-profit organizations for strategic planning, business planning, organizational analysis, and organization evaluation. He has given numerous presentations to various regional, national, and international organizations. He has published four papers for the International Project Management Institute. For the past&nbsp;20 years, Knute has also had an independent consulting business specializing in business planning, project management, quality initiatives, and organizational/operational analyses. During this time, he has worked with dozens of organizations.
Knute retired from PNM in 2002. At that time, he became an adjunct professor with Southern Illinois University at Kirtland Air Force Base and continued his consulting practice with organizations that were interested in change and required pragmatic solutions. During this period, he finished his PhD. While the primary focus of his graduate program was Organizational Learning, he expanded his expertise in Action Learning, Knowledge Management, and Organizational Dynamics. Today, he teaches Project Management in Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University&rsquo;s graduate program and also studies how organizations consciously use and inventory knowledge/skills, seek to retain this critical knowledge during periods of high uncertainty, and quickly access such knowledge. This area of study has proven to be very important to organizations that are experiencing layoffs, high turnover, and/or high levels of change in their business. It is his desire to assist these types of businesses in maintaining their existing expertise while moving forward in the ever-challenging business environment.
Knute and his wife, Bobbie, make their home in Albuquerque, New Mexico. They spend much time with their grandkids and enjoy gardening, reading, and being with their friends.

Knute Sorenson

William &ldquo;David&rdquo; Rigdon is an&nbsp;Executive Consultant, Faculty Member, and Thought Leader&nbsp;for&nbsp;Leath Group, LLC&mdash;a dynamic curriculum development and intellectual property&nbsp;greenhouse&nbsp;that grows leaders and shapes cultures.&nbsp;In his most frequent roles as consultant and instructor, David works in the areas of assessment center development, change management, team leadership, adaptive performance, and curriculum development for interactive technology platforms.
Formerly a marketing/advertising consultant, David spent more than 15 years specializing in entrepreneurial start-ups and new product/service launches. His &ldquo;prior life career pinnacle&rdquo; occurred in Los Angeles at GoWarehouse.com (now Vizional Technologies, Inc.), where he developed and implemented a one-year internal/external communication campaign. His efforts garnered a $250 million second-round funding offer from Goldman Sachs just prior to the market collapse.
In this former career, David was asked to hire, develop, retain, and manage small marketing/communications/graphic design teams. Over those 15 years, he learned many hard lessons about managing projects and leading people and was intrigued by failure and where/why it occurred. Disappointed in his own lack of leadership consistency (why some teams gelled and others disintegrated and why most met their objectives but few possessed the desire to exceed them), David persevered to convert lemons into lemonade. Following the burst bubble of the dot-com era, David returned from L.A. in 2003 to study Industrial Psychology.
His initial driving questions included, &ldquo;What was I missing?&rdquo; and &ldquo;How could I improve?&rdquo; As everyone does, he realized there is no one-size-fits-all magic formula, but he did find an active research community with solid answers to many tough questions, and a genuine desire to improve the world of work.
Today, in addition to sharing his many wonderful talents and keen insights with Leath Group, David teaches Psychology Applied to the Workplace (a hands-on experiential course in small group dynamics and team leadership) at the University of Texas at Dallas.
David earned his BS in Communications from the University of Texas at Austin and his MS in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from the University of Texas at Arlington.
David and his wife, Cathy, met and married while both were attending UT Arlington in 2004. A second time around for both, David&nbsp;is dad to adults Rob and Kate, and a cat, Comet,&nbsp;four dogs (Darwin, Dakota, Boiler, and Colt), a sister (Julie), and Julie&rsquo;s two-year-old daughter, Sarah. Yes, things are always happening at the Rigdon household! David and Cathy love to travel&mdash;not really the getting there part&mdash;just the going there part. Their favorite way to travel is by passenger train. They spent two weeks on the rails for their honeymoon traveling up and down the U.S. Eastern seaboard. In his spare time, David designs non-traditional tabletop games and builds furniture.

Strategic Planning Process

Designing the Future