Thoughts
Ideas that transform people, businesses, and industries
Deeply rooted in our organizational ethos is the celebration of authentic and unapologetic “thought.” We believe each member of our team brings with them a unique view of themselves, our clients, and of the world we live in. We make a point to not only articulate our individual experiences, senses, emotions, and actions internally, but to share them with you here.
Leveling Up: How to Hone Your Skills at Home
Leaders have been trying to crack the code on talent development for years. Recent studies have shown, however, that strength-focused leadership [read: intentionally elevating the qualities that already come naturally to us] is the clear winner for developing talent...
Fake Case Study: Jack of all trades vs. Master of One
Listen to any earnings call or executive presentation and you will likely hear the terms “top line” and “bottom line.” These are words used to describe a business’s performance. According to Investopedia, the words are defined as follows: Top line refers to the...
Your Personality Is Showing
There I was, minding my own business one evening, digging into my organization's SEO performance (as one does), when I came across something interesting. Search terms related to "MBTI" — or the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, developed by Katherine Cook Briggs and Isabel...
Lessons From a Change Manager Who Hates Change
Hello. My name is Monique, and I’m a change manager who hates change. After years of receiving “consulting therapy” from various mentors, I am now able to say these words out loud and proudly. But for a long time, it felt more like an admission of guilt. I mean, who...
Creativity as a Cure
The topic of creative solutioning has been front and center these days as we talk more and more about organizational adaptability in the face of dynamic and uncertain times. For example, I recently read about a project that got me thinking about specific priorities...
Thought Ensemble, a Pariveda Company — Why Now?
Big news over here as we close out the year - we have been acquired by Pariveda, a 750-person consulting firm in 12 markets across North America! We are now “Thought Ensemble, a Pariveda Company” and I’ll be serving as the Managing Vice President continuing to lead...
Thought Ensemble Joins Pariveda Solutions!
Dallas, December 9, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Pariveda, a leader specializing in solving complex technology and business problems, announces the acquisition of Thought Ensemble. With the addition of Thought Ensemble, Pariveda now provides holistic business strategy,...
Thoughts on Colorado’s Equal Pay for Equal Work Act
It was about a year ago that we first started hearing about Colorado’s Equal Pay for Equal Work Act (SB19-085) and I knew it was going to be national news. We’d just gotten past the “Rocky Mountain High” jokes, and our lovely state was trying to break new ground...
What Would You Say You Do Here?
“I deal with the … customers so the engineers don't have to! I have people skills!” That famous Office Space quote from Tom Smykowski cracks me up every single time. I know Toms. I’ve been Tom. Change the quote to say, “IT Team” instead of “engineers,” and there’s a...
A Technologist, Technician, and a Technology Specialist All Walk Into a Room, Who Do You Choose?
I’ve always found the question, “What do you do for a living?” challenging to answer. And as frustrating as that deadpan question is, I’ve had an equally difficult time answering the second most common question one gets in in their life, which is, “Where do you see...
What’s in a Name?
In today’s impression-obsessed, content-rich, never-ending-narrative-building climate, there is a surplus of articles that exacerbate the importance of developing a strong competitive BRAND for your organization. But what about your company’s name? What about the...
What Is Ted Lasso Teaching Us?
Featuring Dave Allston For me, it started about six months ago… “Do you watch Ted Lasso?” This question pops up on Zoom calls. References often show up deep within the heart of important meetings as a form of verbal punctuation and most certainly are a mainstay of...
Calling Everyone Back to the DEI Table
It is no secret that 2020 put a glaring spotlight on the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion in our everyday lives. As our communities reckoned with difficult questions and conversations around racial equity and justice, those topics found their way into...
We All Have Something to Learn From the Business of Fantasy Football
Some can smell it in the air. Some know the exact number of days since the last game was played (212). Some know EXACTLY how many weekends we will have once it begins (23). It is football time in America! NFL football represents a lot of things in America, but to many...
Did We Just Fall in Love With Hybrid Meetings?
Last week, we held a two-day training session for our extended leadership team. We’d been planning it for months — the meeting room, the dinner activity, the team building exercises … the works! This was, as I’m sure you’re picking up on, more than just a meeting,...
From Deck Builder to Storyteller: Five Tips to Make an Impact With Your Next Presentation
Did you know that roughly 35 million PowerPoint presentations are given each day by an estimated 500 million users worldwide? And that’s just PowerPoint — I haven’t even factored in other mediums like Prezi, Haiku Deck, or Pitcherific (look for our review of all the...
“The Great Resignation” Has a Really Good Publicist
Mass resignations are a big deal right now. Yes. Is it surprising? Absolutely not. People leaving for greener pastures is not a new concept. How many of you — given a choice between two situations — would choose the one that LEAST benefited you? If a better option...
The Human Quotient: Heuristics and Bias in Analytics
As individuals, we all have a unique set of heuristics and biases that show up in our daily lives, whether we notice them or not. This means that for a lot of the decisions we make, whether personal or professional, there is an underlying, subconscious process that...
Why Keeping It Real Is a Winning Strategy
If I had to sum up my pandemic year, I might say it was the year I got to spend each day of an entire summer with my daughter. It was also the year that I significantly altered my career path by taking the brilliant advice of my coach: to lead with my values (keep it...
Meaningful Brand Maturity vs. Promotional Box Checking
Featuring: Errika Flood-Moultrie Diversity. Equity. Inclusion (DEI). Individually, each word packs its own unique punch, but together, this lineup represents something much greater — profound even — and that is true head and heart transformation. As a people-first,...
A “Belongingness” Framework for your Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Journey
In honor of LGBTQ Pride Month, Thought Ensemble’s Culture and People Leader Lauren Malik has compiled a series of thoughts, insights, and learnings developed to support organizations in their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) journeys. I want to begin by both...