Today we’d like to introduce you to Ryan Stelzer
Hi Ryan, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
My first “grown-up” job was, unbelievably, working as a Presidential Management Fellow during the Obama administration. I had every intent of staying in grad school and becoming an academic, but Washington DC was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.
From DC I moved into a traditional management consulting role. One day at work, a friend sent me an article in The Economist entitled “Philosopher Kings.” It argued that business leaders would benefit from studying great writers. I had no idea how to do it, but I knew that was what I wanted to do.
Fast-forward eight years and here we are. I co-founded a consultancy that focuses on the qualitative skills that so often get left behind in business education. We wrote a book called “Think Talk Create: Building Workplaces Fit for Humans,” delivered a TEDx talk, and published our ideas across a range of media outlets including The Washington Post, Quartz, and Fast Company.
At the end of the day, we’re trying to help companies be profitable without sacrificing the well-being of their team.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has not been a smooth road, in the slightest. I think our biggest obstacle when we started was translating the values of humanism to a business environment. I had a professor who once quipped “a person’s bottom line is seldom found in their ledger,” yet businesses are so often obsessed with “bottom line only” thinking. They adopt this short-term mindset, enamored with quarterly results, that they neglect the long-term health of the organization and employees alike. I think we’re still fighting an uphill battle and will be for some time.
We’ve been impressed with Strategy of Mind, LLC , but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We are a management consultancy that operates in four key functions: strategic communications (strategy, speechwriting, media training, etc), organizational performance (transformation, role chartering, KPIs, etc), executive coaching, and keynote speeches/workshops. Consistent across all – at the core of our services – is a groundbreaking, collaborative technique known as active inquiry. We believe in powerful conversations that deliver powerful results.
I’m most proud of our ability to adapt per client. We’re small, and therefore nimble. We’re able to create bespoke offerings based on every client’s individual needs. No two engagements are alike. I’m also proud of our range, we’ve worked with Fortune 10 companies and small, regional non-profits.
What matters most to you?
On a professional level, the thing that matters most to me is impact. It’s important to me that I make a positive contribution in the lives of others. Impact is a funny thing in that you’re only able to make an impact so long as your ideas are impactful. So, I suppose by that logic, it’s important I am able to share ideas; to engage in dialogue with others about them.
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