We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Denise Eisenhauer a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Denise, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Some of the most interesting parts of our journey emerge from areas where we believe something that most people in our industry do not – do you have something like that?
Yes, Let’s start with a question,
When do most people take their first leadership development workshop or course?Well, usually, it is AFTER they have already become a leader!
The average age of first-time managers is about 30 years old, so one could argue that many people do not have the opportunity for intentional development in leadership skills until they are already out there working and leading others.
While training for leaders who ARE leaders is certainly a concept I support, I have to ask the question; “Why don’t we start sooner? Why don’t we start BEFORE a leader is a leader?”
And there we have it, the question that served as inspiration for creation of The Growth Factor; an educational boutique offering customized leadership development opportunities for youth and young adults.
Denise, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
The Growth Factor, LLC is an educational boutique offering leadership, business, and personal development opportunities for our next generation.
What we do:
The Growth Factor partners with schools, educators, communities, parents, and young adults to offer unique educational experiences as well as consulting to support development in both leadership and business principles.
Why we do it:
There is no doubt, we all want our next generation to be successful. We spend time (and money) making sure our children receive the best education and are involved in extracurricular activities to support their development.
But, we may be missing something….
Research has shown that development in “life skills” and “soft skills” can have a positive impact on a person’s ability to not only achieve success, but also live life with greater purpose, passion and fulfillment. We are here to help by offering unique expereinces focused on development of important life skills to support our next generation in their life journey.
What we hope to accomplish:
Our vision is that our future generation, regardless of background, education, or expertise, will find themselves in positions to innovate, create, and lead and that they will be able to do so not only armed with the knowledge and skills to do so, but also with purpose, passion, and a sense of personal fulfilment.
My Path:
I began my career as a clinician, a pediatric speech-language pathologist working in schools and hospitals in Chicago. Early into my clinical career I realized, while I loved the clinical work, I also had developed an interest in the leadership and management side of healthcare. I found myself surprised with the expectation of health professionals to provide services in a rapidly changing healthcare landscape without necessarily having the formal training or education in leadership and management. This curiosity led me to begin coursework at Northwestern University in the Kellogg School of Management, studying healthcare management and organizational behavior.
After completing my MBA, I moved from clinical work into a healthcare leadership role in a corporate healthcare setting. It was within the corporate health environment where I found her second love, leadership and healthcare management. I led clinical and administrative teams and worked to create efficiencies in the day-to-day workflow, meeting revenue targets, all while maintaining high quality clinical care and optimal cost structure.
Between 2015 and today I have taught leadership, business, and management courses for both master’s level and doctoral level clinical students at Northwestern University.Teaching has provided me the opportunity to inspire, motivate, engage, and educate future professionals to allow them the most success in navigating their careers. Denise’s love of teaching, coaching, and supporting young professionals in their development inspired the launch of The Growth Factor Group in 2021.
The Growth Factor has drastically grown since opening in 2021. I am fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with now hundreds of youth and young adults to help develop entrepreneurship and leadership skills to support them in their journeys. I have partnered with communities, private schools, and individual families to offer workshops focused on development of entrepreneurial and leadership skills.
Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?
For me, it’s been about organic growth. In 2022 I started with 1 client, and by the end had over 50 clients. 80% of new clients were referred by word of mouth through clients who had experienced The Growth Factor workshops.
I have used Instagram and Facebook to highlight my service offerings, but most new clients have known someone who has attended one of my workshops.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
The Growth Factor’s mission is to “inspire our future generation to lead with purpose and passion”. Like any business, I try to measure my success through outcomes data and KPIs, but I do continue to wonder how we best determine the long-term effects of the curricula we offer in the youth we serve. Is it really working?
Just last week, a letter popped up in my inbox. It was a middle school admissions application essay responding to a prompt, ‘Describe a leader.”
To be endorsed by a 5th grader vis-à-vis a middle school admissions essay may have been the single most impactful accolade I have received in my career. At least for this “n” of 1, there has been impact!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://thegrowthfactorgroup.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thegrowthfactorgroup/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thegrowthfactorgroup
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/72688045/admin/
- Other: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JgtqZH-wTWpjzRiLD4Uin7bDCwWm-0Ez/view?usp=sharing Link to mentioned essay.