Liberty Business Strategies

Our clients are senior leaders across industry sectors who are committed to delivering the best results possible. Those leaders could be the CEO or an executive of a major corporation, a startup entrepreneurial venture or investment partnership, a high-growth business, or an exceptional non-profit organization or foundation.

Representative Engagements

The following describe some of our engagements and the results achieved. Click on a panel heading to read more about it.

Preparing a Future CEO to Lead

Situation	A Fortune 500 technology company was seeking a new CEO.
Challenges	The president of the largest business unit of the company had the background and perspective to assume the CEO role but lacked the personal support of the current leaders.
Liberty’s Approach	Liberty consultants worked with the president to strengthen his relationships with his own team, so there could be no doubt about his leadership abilities. Concurrently they worked on enhancing his influence with his peers and the retiring CEO.
Outcomes	In time, the president demonstrated that he was the optimum choice and was named CEO. He and Liberty continued their partnership, but with a new focus: building effective relationships with directors, analysts, shareholder representatives and other key stakeholders.

Aligning Teams Around Outcomes

Situation	As part of a new strategy implementation, three cross-functional teams found themselves struggling with talent turnover and unclear goals and decision processes.
Challenges	Team members were both long tenured and new to the organization. In the past, goals had been project-, task-, or development-oriented, rather than targeted toward actual organizational outcomes. The teams were functionally focused, with little to no experience acting as team members or collaborating with other functional concerns. The team leaders also had some hidden and some not-so-hidden agendas.
Liberty’s Approach	Liberty’s consultants worked fast to get the teams grounded in their mutual accountability. For goal-setting and strategic decision, the team collectively developed a Strategic Impact Tree, a diagram that told the story about how the organization/teams create value. Senior leadership clarified roles and created some sub-teams at the most senior level to facilitate the long-term strategic decisions with greater quality and speed. Through facilitated meetings, the teams established norms and greater awareness of team dynamics.
Outcomes	Over the first six months, each team’s long-term goals were tied to strategy and true outcomes. Team members’ understanding of how the organization creates value was highly improved. Team members were clear on their individual and mutual roles on the teams. Senior leadership expedited key decisions and utilized the talent within the teams as appropriate

New Leader Onboarding

Situation	A major international organization appointed its first woman VP.
Challenges	Taking on a leadership role heightens expectations for anyone; even more so if the incumbent represents a “first,” such as the first woman or first minority. Consequently, this VP had to succeed not only for herself and the organization but also to pave the way for future women leaders.
Liberty’s Approach	Liberty’s consultants created a comprehensive plan to rapidly assimilate the VP into her role, optimizing performance. As importantly, Liberty served as a thought partner and sounding board, coaching the VP as she built a strongly aligned team and developed strategies that created early wins for the region. Following the Year One focus on team building and leadership, Liberty and the VP continued their partnership, focusing on critical issues, such as building a relationship with the organization’s new president and, eventually, realigning the team for success in the given changes in the geopolitical environment.
Outcomes	The VP has succeeded in her role, exceeding all expectations.

Accelerating the Launch of Blockbuster Products

Situation	An Executive Director’s reputation and the health of the organization hinged on the successful launch of high-potential products.
Challenges	Success required creating cohesiveness within a splintered management team.
Liberty’s Approach	Liberty’s consultants worked with the Executive Director to pinpoint the personal and team behaviors that could jeopardize the product launch. They continued to advise the Executive Director as the team reformed and transformed.
Outcomes	In time, the leader and the team were able to build the trust, unity, and momentum necessary to bring the products to market on an accelerated timeline, resulting in a savings of $125 million.

Aligning the Senior Team for Success

Situation	Succeeding the company founder, the new CEO of a medical device manufacturer faced a daunting challenge: a dysfunctional team.
Challenges	The CEO needed to overcome cultural and geographic differences, mend personality conflicts among key executives, and align the senior team around a new strategy and set of business imperatives.
Liberty’s Approach	Liberty consultants designed and facilitated a senior leader offsite conference that brought the full team together to clarify shared accountability and identify opportunities for revenue growth. Through a series of focused activities, designed to surface differences and generate meaningful dialogue, the team achieved an initial breakthrough toward collaboration. Following the offsite interventions continued as Liberty partnered with the CEO to reinforce and strengthen emerging synergies among his team
Outcomes	Subsequently, the senior team collaborated successfully to close a complex business transaction and achieve the business plan.

Merging Multiple Teams to Work as One

Situation	Four high performing team leaders in a high-pressure healthcare company were charged with merging their teams as part of a reorganization.
Challenges	The managers had enjoyed independent accountability for team outcomes; now, they were interdependent in a new organization structure. Old manager and team relationships stood in the way of fast progress. Liberty’s charter was to bring four teams together to work as one.
Liberty’s Approach	Liberty consultants interviewed each manager to ascertain their perspectives and identify pathways to success. They facilitated fast, effective team meetings to get at the issues with candor and then applied apply practical tools for solving structure and communication issues. Finally, they provided individual coaching and paired coaching to quickly provide some new management awareness and resolve relationship issues.
Outcomes	Within eight weeks, the managers had hurdled historical barriers and were working more collaboratively. They communicated more effectively and built new decision processes to respond to the high urgency of the work. As a management team, they built trust for each other and began to put aside old perspectives and resistance.

Coaching an Executive to Achieve Global Success

Situation	As an organization took on a global perspective, a senior manager needed to establish credibility and work effectively with his global counterparts.
Challenges	The senior manager operated effectively within his comfort zone but was somewhat ill equipped to expand his sphere of influence.
Liberty’s Approach	With Liberty’s coaching, the senior manager was able to analyze his missteps, leverage his strengths, and adopt a strategy for maneuvering successfully on a global basis.
Outcomes	Within time, he raised his profile and solidified his reputation as a global, not just a regional, leader.

Learning the Power of Effective Relationships

Situation	A hard-driving CIO, with a “triple A” personality, consistently was handed tricky, tough assignments. He got results, but his bull-in-the-china-shop personal style alienated stakeholders and damaged his image and standing in the firm.
Challenges	Faced with leading the development of a new organizational structure, the CIO needed to both repair and build new relationships.
Liberty’s Approach	Liberty’s consultants guided the executive to the recognition that power comes from the quality and nature of relationships as well as from smartness and the ability to drive for action.
Outcomes	With coaching, the CIO was able to forge the partnerships needed to design and implement the new organization.

Liberty Business Strategies

Our Clients

Representative Engagements

Representative Clients