We were lucky to catch up with Catherine Barton, PhDC recently and have shared our conversation below.

Catherine, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

“What the hell are you doing?”
“Starting a business in this economy?”
and my favorite…”Aww, you’ve got a little business – that’s fun I bet”

I heard all of those comments and more! I have had women ask me if my husband was OK with me traveling for work. I mean come on! My risk, I started my own business and it just so happened to be in an industry where there are a lot of men. I consult businesses and I develop leaders and their workforces. And just so you know – I’m damn good at it. That’s right, I’ve got a little sassiness but it is alright because I have the skills to back it up.

Every single step I took was a risk and I excelled in some areas and fell on my face in others. But they were MY risks and I love every one of them. After 11+ years in business, I now chase those risks because they have formed me into one tough chick. I will never be satisfied with mediocrity

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Future Thinking Consulting is headquartered in Florida with a national and international presence. Everything that we teach, advise and coach is 100% science-backed. We are the ONLY place to find an online Leadership Development Program that is based on scientific research and includes a printable Self-Awareness Workbook. Future Thinking Consulting was the top finalist in an international United Nations challenge concerning women all over the world and how to empower them professionally. The challenge had over 500 global competitors made up mainly of multimillion dollar organizations. We are a small business and we came in second place. We are currently awaiting word to hear from the UN and Montenegro if they want to use our Leadership Development Program to advance their rural business women and grow their leadership knowledge. They hope to expand the female population in that industry and dissolve gender inequality.
Our Mission is to help people and organizations all over the world to attain their professional goals and reach their potential while promoting positive social change and significantly contributing to the industry. We want to improve upon how people perform and feel about work while also increasing businesses’ sustainability through utilizing better processes and advancing the capabilities of leaders. The three things we always take into account when developing a strategic plan, coaching or curriculum is: It must truly deliver desired-results, it must be economical compared to our competitors and it must be enjoyable.
The areas in which we believe ourselves to be more qualified than our competitors:
• We know science and use it to help our clients meet their objectives
• We coach/consult global executives
• We can effectively perform high level business consulting
• We have the best online Leadership Development Program (95% success rate, 7x ROI)
What we want to offer our clients in 2024:
• Workforce Development Membership (3 Years of Weekly Trainings)
• Female Leadership Initiative
• Salesperson Optimization Training
• National Networking Events
• National Mastermind Groups
Everything Future Thinking Consulting is involved in has an aspect of education. We had a group of 325 female international professional group that received daily business building techniques to progress their careers. We have annual mastermind groups that focus on building the member’s businesses. One of the groups had a $500,000.00 increase in revenue. All of the meetings have a science-backed strategic trainings to educate the members on effective business practices. Future Thinking Consulting performs weekly research investigations on diverse business topics to guarantee up-to-date knowledge while serving our clients.

WE LOVE WHAT WE DO and it shows!

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

My specialization is in Leadership Development. I actually have a list of things that I tell my clients that if they stink at any of these traits…they better start working on them – or else
My Top 9 Characteristics Necessary for an Effective Leader:
Building Relationships
Being Flexible
Innovative
Efficient
Decision Making
Supervising Conflict
Superior Communication Skills
Critical Thinking
DELIVER DESIRED RESULTS!

I capitalized the last one because THAT is the leader’s job. The leader must think about how they are going to have the outcomes that are required by the organization to be sustainable. I don’t care if you are a sole proprietor or a multi-billion dollar company, the job of the leader is to deliver desired results. Take it seriously because that team you are managing depends on it. Their morale will be high if they see a competent leader, leading them into success. Also know that it is actually more important that they view you as competent rather than likeable at times. Think about it, they want to pay their bills. Who are they going to follow? Nice idiot gal/guy or competent dude/lady that knows how to build business??

If you want to have a group of high morale, job-satisfied, high performers, here is a checklist:
Checklist for Creating High Performing Teams According to Science
 Each person has to feel safe (psychological safety)
 Promote adding value – each person must want to generate value on purpose
 Do team-building exercises regularly
 Make everybody feel as if they are accountable to each other
 Cohesiveness is non-negotiable
 Must have EXTREME CLARITY OF SHARED VISION
 Develop all leaders – focus especially on the ones that are willing to partner with others –
promote collaboration. If you want investors – developing your leaders is one of the best ways
 Everybody must understand their personal role/responsibilities/non-negotiable
functions/critical tasks
 Proper communication is imperative (all communications) Do NOT overload the team with
nonsense! RESTRUCTURE communication if needed – make it streamlined
 Continuous improvement in every facet of the team – little improvements may be the biggest
money makers. Be alert to what truly helps the organization, the team and the individuals
 Leader must interact with team members because they are people and humans thrive on
positive interaction
 Talk about your life without over sharing – should be comfortable conversation and happy
 Learning their industry – top level learning when it comes to the team’s industry and how the
operations function
 Try new things – allow for new options or practices within the team to perform and see if there
is a better way of doing things
 Set goals (little/normal goals and BIG PICTURE GOALS)
 Each person should understand how their performance effects the company
 Have a team of varied thinkers
 Show each person how they personally contribute to the goals
 Make it where people would be sad to quit
 Never talk about the person with others – focus on their job performance
 Make it a norm to point out success stories instead of failure (entire team not just leader)
 Improve upon processes on a regular basis – Literally put it on your calendar
 Make jobs challenging but achievable – NEVER BORING
 Leader needs to ask questions more than pushing and guiding
 Do not assume conflict is bad – you need it to move forward
 FEEDBACK, FEEDBACK AND MORE FEEDBACK

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

I know my clients very well. I literally still talk to people from 15 years ago. My type of client is a dreamer and high achiever – these people work hard so I have to too to gain their respect. That means we go through stuff. Some stuff is pretty and some is not but we do it all together. I understand that I serve my client and I am comfortable with that position. I am excellent at boundaries and never feel taken advantage of so I enjoy the process of servitude. A good advisor, consultant, or coach has to be alright with the client winning. The moment that the consultant is less client-centric and more self-absorbed, the relationship is doomed.

There is a need for charisma in business. Especially if you are a company that relies on word of mouth and referrals, you must have a personality that the client can depend on.

My brand is focused around only delivering science-based advise/training/development. If I do not perform better than my rivals, clients will go elsewhere. It is important to know that reality as a business owner. Once you slack at providing top-notch services or products, then you will decrease in clients. They will forgive you for awhile but not forever. There are organizations that are here right now but won’t be in 10 years and it is because they did not improve. Continuous Improvement is essential in the business arena.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://futurethinkingconsulting.com/ AND https://future-thinking-consulting.thinkific.com/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/futurethinkingconsulting/ AND https://www.linkedin.com/company/future-thinking-consulting/?viewAsMember=true