What Our Clients Say
“The opportunity to be successful has been greatly improved . . .”
“I am a better leader now!”
“I can redirect to winning in the marketplace . . .”
“Since 1994 Kaplan DeVries has done outstanding work with 150 of our senior managers. Their immediate bosses tell me there has been a demonstrable change. It’s all very positive. I continue to think the Advanced Management Program is maybe the single best thing we’ve ever done in the talent management arena, and Kaplan DeVries’ segment is always viewed by the participants as the most important part of the program, by a good bit I might add. I have the highest respect for the Kaplan DeVries team.”
Phil Humann
Chief Executive Officer
SunTrust Banks
“Every leadership position is a learning experience. The opportunity to be successful has been greatly improved and supported by my ability to learn from the Kaplan DeVries consultants. They are my teachers and colleagues in my leadership journey at Mayo Clinic.”
Victor F. Trastek, M.D,
Chair, Board of Governors
Mayo Clinic in Arizona
“The Kaplan DeVries consultants helped our Senior Team achieve a higher level of performance and they expertly coached me through difficult transitions, human resource issues and periods of whitewater change. Their teambuilding, facilitation and coaching skills have made a positive difference in my work life and personal life.”
Frank Mascia
President & CEO (recently retired)
United Healthcare of N.C.
“I felt guided—not directed. I felt coached—not trained. I felt motivated—not forced. And I can feel the difference in my professional and private life—I am a better leader now!”
J. Peter Hegemann
Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing Carrier EMEA.
Corning Cable Systems
“The people at Kaplan DeVries Inc. are consummate professionals. I really enjoy working with them. Not only do we get extraordinary things done, we have fun along the way. If you are looking for someone who will partner with you to find the solution you are looking for, you’ve found them.”
Brian Dowd
Director of Employee Development
Granite Construction Incorporated
“The LaserChange® process was extremely beneficial to me. The Kaplan DeVries consultant was instrumental in helping me analyze the feedback and identify two areas to work on. And his coaching, encouragement and regular contact helped me follow through and exhibit significant growth and improvement in those two areas.”
Michael Bernstein
Director of Software Engineering
Airvana
“The ROI on the LaserChange® process was exponential. As a result of the focused feedback, data, and coaching, I have taken out a lot of wasted time and effort in my leadership style, which I can redirect to winning in the marketplace”
J. Peter Hegemann
Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing Carrier EMEA.
Corning Cable Systems
“Bob Kaplan is one of the true professionals in this field. The Versatile Leader book affirms his deep expertise. When I work with him, I have a sense of calm because he delivers practical solutions to thorny problems we are facing.”
Sandy Ogg
Chief Human Resources Officer, Unilever N.V.
“After having read countless books on leadership, I finally found one that hit the mark for me. The number of insights I got from The Versatile Leader were remarkable. I am a person who likes to simplify things—carry around nuggets in my mind. This book helps you do just that. The way they describe the problem of lopsidedness, provide concrete examples, and then say, ‘Here’s how you can improve’ is a perfect formula! Lots of books raise self-awareness but stop there or offer advice which is lacking in practicality or concreteness. This book is both conceptual and tactical and easy to read. I especially like the box on p 171, Developing Yourself, Coaching Others. It rolled up 80% of the book in a ‘nuggetized’ fashion that hit the mark for me. If you only read one leadership book, read this one.”
Gary Calabrese
Corning Inc.
I have worked with Bob Kaplan and the Kaplan Devries team for many years. They provide a nice balance of data-driven analysis and personal observation and coaching that is very effective.
Their team employs a holistic approach that analyzes professional and personal strengths and opportunities for development through a variety of assessment tools and individual interviews. Through a comprehensive feedback process that drives individual accountability they help leaders create personalized development plans. Very effective.
Jim Ryan
Chairman, President and CEO
Grainger
I have been working with Kaplan DeVries for over ten years. Over this time they have helped me and other key people in our organization become better leaders. Their work gets to the core of the key strengths of each individual as well as what’s getting in their way of achieving greater success. They do so with a focus on hard data and broad-based feedback; an atmosphere that’s safe, comfortable, and supportive; and a perspective deep in insight informed by years of research and experience. I and many others gladly trust the core of our professional development to Bob Kaplan and his team.
Randy Battat
President and CEO, Airvana
Bob Kaplan and his colleagues are wonderful listeners. Rather than come in with a pre-set box of tools, they truly do listen and gain a deep understanding of the context—all the company’s issues and challenges—that forms the basis of what tools to apply to fix problems. So they come in with a non-partisan viewpoint.
Their work is very eye-opening. The individuals that go through the process get a very deep understanding of their own behavior and their way of thinking and how that projects to others. It’s unlike any other process I’ve seen. The light bulb goes off. Sometimes it takes longer for it to go off. But you’re guaranteed that senior managers come out of it understanding how they are seen by others and knowing what they can do to make that more optimal.
I appreciate their firm’s idea of strengths overused. It’s a good way to think about things and it applies to almost everything. It’s unique. Quite a bit different from the typical, what are your weaknesses? It helps people understand themselves in that context.
I also like the way their assessments of individual executives knit together—based on the briefings each executive and the Kaplan DeVries consultant gave me. I could see people across a spectrum where they either overindex or underindex. That helped me see people in an integrated way. The consistency was helpful.
Gary Rodkin
CEO, ConAgra
On Research & Development
“The research at Kaplan DeVries stands out in many ways; it is simultaneously creative, rigorous and utterly practical. It is some of the best work on leadership in recent memory.”
Robert Hogan, Ph.D.
President, Hogan Assessment Systems
“We are continually impressed with the value KDI’s R&D shop provides us with their applied research. They translate cutting-edge statistical analyses into meaningful and practical information that is easily interpreted by our senior management. We always feel confident making decisions based on their data and analyses.”
Ramzi Baydoun
Former Director Organization Effectiveness
Motorola Inc.
“I found Kaplan and Kaiser’s article, ‘Developing Versatile Leadership,’ enlightening. The concept of overusing strengths is generally not well articulated and certainly not a common element in today’s performance management models. Indeed we leaders are at risk of lopsided leadership when we continue to be reinforced for our strengths. I particularly value how the article ‘peels back the onion,’ which helps readers diagnose why they may have an imbalance in their approach.”
Susan Tardanico
Vice-President, Communications
Textron
On the Leadership Versatility Index (LVI)...
“The Leadership Versatility Index® is a rare feedback tool. Not only it unique and innovative, but is built on great science combined with practical usefulness. Managers and executives love the LVI because it provides them with specific and easy to understand behavioral changes that they can make to improve their effectiveness immediately. Practitioners love it because it is packed with a ton of valid diagnostic data. Without exception, the LVI represents a quantum leap improvement over the other leadership feedback instrument I used in the past.”
Larry W. Norton, Ph.D.
Vice President, Organizational Development PetSmart, Inc.
“We adopted the Leadership Versatility Index® as the feedback centerpiece to our Leadership Development Process for senior managers. It is succinct yet goes beyond just the interpersonal part of leadership and also covers the business side, strategic and operational leadership. Our leaders benefit greatly from the LVI—the feedback is clear, immediately actionable, and highly relevant to critical business issues.”
Dr. Pam Mayer
Former Director of Organization Development
Granite Construction Incorporated
“The Leadership Versatility Index® is beyond a state-of-the art 360 tool. It captures&mdashin a common-sense way—the dynamic tensions at play in leadership and within leaders as they learn and grow. It is built on an elegant simplicity that can take you into complex places.”
Gene Boccialetti, Ph.D.
Senior Director MDHRM Programs
Cornell University ILR, New York City
* LaserChange is a registered mark
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