I first met Dan when we hired him to assist us with our annual corporate strategic planning process. Dan brought a high level of “out of the box” thinking to our process. He helped us understand how social media would fit into our business model (we are an engineering/ architectural/planning firm in the Midwest), introduced us to the possibilities of work in China (stretching us well beyond our Midwest comfort zone!), and helped us think about how our re-branding efforts would be integrated with our strategic and tactical business decisions. Dan’s style is very personable and he was able to help the group flow in new directions.
I would be remiss if I didn’t take this chance to also recommend Dan for his new book – Apples to Apples. For a small book (179 pages start to finish) it is extremely comprehensive, covering topics that you would have to read five or six books to get at! It is an “easy” read, very well organized (with a unique system of icons and boxes to help the reader zero-in on topics and action items to take away. Considering myself somewhat of a “process wonk”, chapter 7 on “Process” is among my favorites. “Know This: Process Creates Consistency – Process is a template for producing consistent results. But business demands innovation, so processes become obsolete. Every process should be evaluated and challenged constantly.” The book is filled with these sorts of rules of thumb and the details necessary to implement them. As they say – “two thumbs up”!