Some client comments:
Jim has been a real pleasure to work with both personally and professionally for the past 5 years. He helped us develop an execution rhythm and muscle that would have taken much longer to develop on our own (if ever.) Our core values, planning and execution rhythms are installed as part of our operating system now. During our time working with Jim, we’e more than doubled our size, strengthened our leadership team and are well poised for success.
James Gillespie, CEO, GrayMatter
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We used Jim Alampi for several years to facilitate our annual and quarterly strategic planning meetings. In a short time using The Execution Maximizer process he established a system which brought leaders from our multiple disciplines working together for the common good. He established a professional and collaborative atmosphere which generated creative and impactful problem identification, analysis, and positive solutions. His style keeps people energized and accountable.
Jim Swanson, CEO Kitchell Corporation
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Jim has a proven formula for integrating the framework of The Execution Roadmap with guided strategic sessions that challenge the thinking of our executive team, while also building a spirit of collaborative teamwork.
His facilitation style enables us to explore key discussion points in depth where needed, while also demonstrating the ability to reign in the discussion of the group to maintain our focus. He has an effective ability to integrate real life examples to demonstrate the application of business concepts, and consistently delivers the agreed upon agenda complete on-time, on-schedule and with the intended business results.
With his help, we have been able to increase our focus on the few key initiatives critical to our success, and align our organization not only to achieve our goals, but to sustain them.
Jack Witwer, CEO Kalas Manufacturing
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Having just taken over as CEO, it was extremely important to get this first planning session right. Jim’s rare combination of street smarts and practical experience lends credibility to his words, but even more impressive is his innate ability to facilitate a discussion to its logical and optimal conclusion. Our offsite was very successful and we are big believers in Jim’s methods.
Warren Heffelfinger, CEO GoGrid
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Great job Jim. This was our third strategic planning meeting with you and again I was impressed by how much you understand our company — both strengths and weaknesses. What was most impressive was your observation of our company mantra. You recognized the fact that service is more important to us than our product. Sounds simple, but I do not know any other residential builder who considers themselves a service company rather than a home builder. It will make our communication to our team members much easier.
With our new tag line– “Cool homes, Awesome service” our company will be focused on how we will operate in the future. Your observation will make a huge difference in our future.
Thanks for truly understanding our company rather than simply following a predetermined script as we have seen from other consultants.
Dwight Sandlin, CEO Signature Homes
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At Sanimax we operate in a segment of the Agriculture industry that is down to earth and practical. A lot of what we do is instinctual and historically has been based on a stable business model. However, these old paradigms are changing in our industry and new challenges have emerged for Sanimax.
Jim has enabled us to see our current ways of doing things and has taken us through The Execution Maximizer process of discovery as a company. We are now developing a more proactive approach to our strategic opportunities and getting ahead of the challenges we face. Jim makes us think about our traditional business in new ways that has allowed us to modernize our company. Jim’s approach is straightforward and fits well with our entrepreneurial mindset at Sanimax. As a seasoned business leader Jim has brought us a perfect blend of Corporate leadership and entrepreneurial spirit. Jim is able to relate to our senior team in ways that go well beyond a pure facilitator role. In many ways, we feel Jim is an extension of our Executive Leadership Team at Sanimax. It is a fine line but he manages it very well. We are lucky to have you on the team Jim – thanks.
Tony Galasso, President and COO of Sanimax Industries
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We are a 105 year old company and never have established core values, a mission statement or defined our purpose. Jim Alampi’s The Execution Roadmap made it feasible and paved the way for our company to establish those key items for a company’s foundation. We have never felt more passionate about our core values, mission statement and purpose. It was a great team building exercise for our company. Thank you Jim for making this feasible.
Jill Duemeland, President, Duemelands Commercial
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Jim Alampi has worked with our Corporate and divisions operations teams for about two years. We found him particularly adept in helping us deal with complex issues surrounding our growth plans. He brought clarity and focus to our discussions surrounding leadership development and our rebranding. Jim’s experience helped us move forward at a faster pace that we would have achieved on our own.
R. Jeffrey Kimball, President, L.R. Kimball
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Jim provides extraordinary value by bringing new ideas and perspectives to the strategic planning process. He is phenomenal at gaining alignment, identifying opportunities for improvement and creating accountability for success. Jim does an incredible job preparing participants for meetings and he is extremely results oriented. Our entire team found The Execution Maximizer process an exceptionally beneficial tool to help gain clarity and a shared sense of purpose.
Jill Blashack-Strahan, CEO, Tastefully Simple
Joani Nielson, COO, Tastefully Simple
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Jim has been an important part of regular strategic planning and the goal setting process at R. L. Polk & Co. He has provided us with structure, challenge and insight while maintaining accountability across the senior management of our company. Working with Jim is not for the faint hearted, as he is willing to ask the tough questions. I can heartily recommend Jim for your business strategy and planning efforts.
Stephen Polk, Chairman and CEO, R.L. Polk & Company
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Since starting our strategic planning process under your guidance I have seen a renewed passion and commitment to results in my team. I especially value the focus you helped us bring to a few critical initiatives as opposed to trying to tackle a huge laundry list of projects. I think it is fair to say that the management team was universally pleased with the way you conducted the meeting and the practical perspective you brought from your many years as a top executive. This is something most traditional “strategy consultants” simply don’t have.
John Vikupitz, President, Netafim
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Working with Jim Alampi was a great experience for our team. Jim led our company through two cycles of annual strategic planning in which he helped us to solidify who we are as a company and what it would take to get us to where we wanted to go. His process for keeping goals aligned to the strategic mission and for keeping team members on track throughout the year was excellent. Jim is a great facilitator and kept us focused on strategy throughout the process. Our team alignment improved dramatically with Jim’s leading – and we continue to maintain that alignment. Jim has a lot of business knowledge and experience and is great to work with. I would highly recommend him.
Ben Paramore, CFO, The Triton Group
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My partners and I had been looking at solutions that will enable our firm to break through growth barriers we are rapidly approaching. We chose Alampi & Associates to assist us. Having recently completed our first two-day strategic planning session with Jim Alampi, our Executive and Leadership Teams feel energized and focused.
Our firm has had a hockey stick growth curve for the past four years and as a result we outgrew a number of the processes and methods that had gotten us to where we are. Jim is helping us change that by introducing us to the strategies that he has spent years proving out as a CEO and advisor in businesses in many industries. Our team consists of some very talented individuals who have now committed to a handful of initiatives we all agree are our top priorities. Our organization has engaged Jim in an ongoing role to keep us on track and help us achieve our objectives.
We believe Jim’s continued engagement will be extremely valuable for us and is a testment to our team’s thoughts about Jim, his style, leadership and candor. If you are looking for someone to challenge your thinking and get your team centered on growth regardless of the economic climate, I recommend you talk to Jim!
Chris Simchick, Principal Partner, SDLC Partners L.P.
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Our company had tried many different attempts at Strategic Planning, utilizing inside and outside facilitation resources. We had fairly good success at dreaming and brainstorming and many times created very impressive packages that conveyed all of the hard work we put into the process of Strategic Planning. These were all great plans but we had immense trouble converting these great plans into actionable results. Jim Alampi’s process is straightforward, direct and focused on the action part of the plan, which is really all that matters in business – whether or not one can successfully execute a plan. Through just more than a year’s worth of learning the process, our team has really progressed to the point where we now are aligned with our quarterly goals and have confidence in our commitment and ability to effectively execute the plan!
David F. Neyer, President and CEO, AL. Neyer, LLC
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Jim Alampi has served as consultant, moderator, advisor and guide during the last several years of growth at Rowland Companies Construction Group. His experience, insight and the process he employs have been just what we needed. He’s helped our managers grow and the firm pass growth barriers from an “entrepreneurial start-up” to a well managed organization that can survive future transitions in management and ownership.
As an enterpreneur-founder with a “family business model” we had capped-out our ability to thrive and grow. Our succession plan actually had my wife calling a friend in a national construction firm to take over our work at my death or disability. That plan left our son, daughter, managers and employees we cared deeply about without a very firm future past my involvement. Then, my friend took early retirement and our succession plan was dead. I think we were not an uncommon business model, because very few construction companies survive the passing of the founder.
The business that started in our home had not been able to grow past a single peak year of $60 million in sales after 20 years. We achieved $40 million in sales for nearly 15 years. With Jim’s guidance we adopted a Strategic Focus. My first goal was to set the firm on the path for surviving the next two transitions in ownership. That meant broadening and growing leadership internally. Jim lead us through a Strategic Planning process, adoption of a Leadership Model, a formal Meeting Rhythm and realistic Planning Update meetings with Quarterly Rocks for execution of strategies. We followed the ups and downs of performance and failure for a while, eventually got rid of the wrong people, moved a few managers to the right positions, figured out where “A” players needed to be and grew a broad leadership that catapulted our revenues and profits. Last year, after 3 years of changing our culture and growing management, our combined operations reached $124 Million. It was our most profitable year ever. The Leadership has expanded with four experienced “A” players assuming ownership responsibilities, and we have now begun to focus on growing leaders for the future.
Unless you’ve been there, it’s hard to describe what it means to move from struggling for survival to “growing leaders for the future”. I had read all the management books, talked with Jim Collins, John Maxwell and other thought leaders. Then I met Jim Alampi and found the coach our leadership needed to move our company to the next generation and beyond. Thanks Jim for what you have done for our leadership and company future.
Bill Rowland, Chairman and Founder, The Rowland Companies
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Jim Alampi, and his process have greatly enhanced my company, REALTY EXECUTIVES International, for a number of years helping us through some major changes in personnel and strategic direction. It was difficult at first with a team that was somewhat dysfunctional, but with Jim’s calm and steady guidance, we were able to create a very workable plan to fix a number of issues within our company. Beyond that, Jim has taught us how to be responsible to each other in his absence through systems that we know work well because we have experienced them first-hand.
Most recently, we completed our planning for the coming year, incorporating new team members seamlessly into the process. What has been most effective about Jim and the systems we have learned from him, is our ability to turn strategic conversations and ideas into action. Implementing new products and services into our company has now become systematic, rather than impulsive or reactive.
I can whole-heartedly recommend Jim Alampi and his process to businesses that need a boost in their team performance or to any company that needs to implement and execute better.
Richard A. Rector, Owner, CEO & President, Realty Executives INTERNATIONAL
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I would strongly recommend Jim and his process for any company looking to strengthen its management team and execute its strategic plan. I hired Jim six years ago because of our company’s management disarray, lack of accountability and, quite frankly, we didn’t have a plan. Today, our management team is clearly the #1 strength of the company. Every member is accountable and our results are significantly better than they would have been with Jim’s training and expertise. I cannot recommend Jim Alampi and his process enough. Your company will be better off and your employees will thank you.
Jeff Wayne, President, Dynamic Back & Neck Therapy
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Jim is a terrific, no nonsense, face the brutal facts, business advisor and coach. His depth and breadth of experience translates into spot-on questions and advice. Our company continues to work with Jim and his process, even after five years, as there is always a new business challenge that Jim’s advice is invaluable to me, as CEO, and our entire Senior Leadership Team.
Louis Meeks, President & CEO, The Service Source
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When Robertson Brothers asked Jim Alampi to facilitate our annual managers’ retreat we accomplished more focused planning, team alignment and goal setting than we had produced in years of previous meetings. We pride ourselves on our planning processes but his methodology for translating vision into execution has proven to be invaluable.
At the time of our first meeting, Robertson Brothers was struggling with our corporate sales goals. After working with Jim for three quarters the team turned that sales slump into our largest sales volume quarter in corporate history. Jim gets a great deal of credit for this turn around.
Robertson Brothers would recommend Jim Alampi to anyone interested in improving their goal setting, strategies and corporate performance.
Paul C. Robertson, Chairman & CEO
James V. Clarke, President
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The success of strategy meetings like the kind Jim Alampi facilitates hinge greatly on the content, and the proctor. Having a team of senior executives from Kodak, Global Crossing, Convergys and Nortel, the concern that “nothing new” would come of these sessions was real among my senior staff. Represented was a diverse group of stakeholders in the Info Directions business, that included department heads and middle management in sales, finance, IT, HR, Product management, engineering and operations. Jim Alampi brought the question of “is this time well spent?” to closure immediately, and structured a meaningful and effective strategy session that everyone agreed was useful, relevant and timely. I wish I had met Jim and his process 5 years ago.
Don Culeton, CEO/Founder, Info Directions
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I want to thank you for facilitating our recent leadership strategy retreat. I also want to point out some of the specific, concrete benefits we have already realized because of what you and your system brought to this very important subject. Our leadership team is lights years ahead in our development as a team than we would have been without the retreat and your teachings. We are now fully aligned on the big Rocks we need to tackle as an organization. Our message, and corresponding objectives, has been cascaded down through the rest of the organization bringing clarity and tapping the energy produced through proper alignment. Your approach is very practical; there is no fluff. It is a real working session and is managed at just the right pace. From understanding the power of effective meetings to discovering our core values; from the recognizing the importance of rhythm to understanding the barriers to growth, your process has helped us identify our purpose and create a working plan for realizing our objectives. I’m thrilled to have you on our team and look forward to the upcoming quarterly sessions to continue the journey.
David T. Darragh, President & Chief Executive Officer, Reily Foods Company
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I would recommend Jim Alampi to any business owner who plans to stay in business. Their practical, logical, and systematic approach to running a business is invaluable. Jim has been instrumental in successfully moving us from one stage of growth to another. As a CEO, it’s lonely at the top! You need to have a 3rd party, professional person in your corner. I wouldn’t go back to running my company without the help of Jim Alampi.
Crystal Halley, Owner & CEO, RE/MAX 100
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Jim Alampi has been most successful working with the members of TEC as they utilize his process for translating vision into execution and results. This methodology has made it possible for our CEO members to improve selection, apply a rhythm for their meetings and increase the performance levels of their people.”
Richard Beadle, CEO, TEC Detroit
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I’m not quite sure where to begin to express my appreciation for the work you have done with us. You have touched our organization at many levels:Your willingness to coach me as a new CEO and give me honest feedback and advice has been extremely valuable. We were new to the strategic planning process, and yours has helped us stay on track with our goals and work toward clarity for the organization. Pat Lencioni’s tools have helped me personally and given our team a framework for discussion so we can work through issues we have all recognized, but couldn’t quite get our arms around until now. The entire process has led me to a clearer understanding of some of our most difficult problems and has reduced my stress on the day-to-day issues tremendously. I am getting more focused on what is truly important to the organization.
Thank you for your help and your contribution to A.B. Heller. I look forward to facing other challenges together!
James Heller, CEO/Owner, A.B. Heller, Inc.
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The Lockwood Companies have employed you and your firm over the last two years to help us improve our goal setting, strategic planning and execution processes. During our meetings, you have provided invaluable insight into the business issues confronting us and assisted us in reaching good decisions. With your assistance, we have consolidated three separate business units, created an Executive Team to oversee them, and established new metrics for assessment of performance. Our revenues have increased 23% over the past year and we have become profitable, even as the Michigan economy has suffered a severe downturn.
Rodney Lockwood, Chairman, CEO and Owner, The Lockwood Companies
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Everybody had a great time! It was a great team building exercise for all. You were right on target and your meeting cadence was perfect. Day 2 had a lot of content. You led us in the right direction, making everybody think outside of the box.
Robert Schulte, CEO/President, Hi-Tech Mold & Eng., Inc