J.D. Power and Associates

Alex Arrieta, Vice President, Global Human Resources
The McGraw-Hill Companies, J.D. Power and Associates

“We recently completed two different projects with Brainard Strategy over a 3-year period. The first was offsite with Michael developing our team strategies. Because of the excellent results with Brainard Strategy, we turned to the team again for our next project. In January of this year, we began to design our next major initiative, which was a Global Change Management process. Michael and his team helped us to design the business model, strategy, and communications that would ultimately lead to the launch of a company-wide pulse survey. Through the process, the Brainard Strategy team coordinated with our internal team to manage the process and review the results with our senior leadership. When JD Power, the world’s biggest survey organization, needs to do internal surveys, we turn to Brainard Strategy.

I’ve used other consulting firms in the past but for change management I consider Brainard Strategy a real partner. The team has a stronger focus of what we need and I consider Michael and Marissa an extension of our internal team. Brainard Strategy really takes the time to assess what the real challenges are instead of imposing a solution they think fits. That’s something you don’t get from many consulting firms. From their initial assessment, they balance strategy and action oriented goals to develop solutions, making real change possible.”

J.D. Power and Associates
Vice President, Human Resources

“While I had not partnered with Brainard Strategy in the past, I had always heard great things about their work. I contacted Marissa Waldman and she offered some great suggestions about how to position and approach our first executive off site session in many years. We agreed to meet with Michael so that we could thoughtfully design the right approach for assessment and rapport building, and the actual agenda and objectives. It was clear that Michael had a wealth of experience in this high level team development work and I had a great deal of confidence when putting him in front of my peers, the executive team.

Michael designed a custom interview that we reviewed in advance of him conducting the interviews with each executive. The information he was able to glean from each executive was rich and unbelievably candid. Also from the interviews each executive had a chance to get to know him and generated optimism for the pending session. Michael prepared a report from the interview data and he, I, and our CEO discussed the findings in detail and we collaborated on the agenda and outcomes for the actual session.

Michael’s approach in the session forced us to deal with the core issues, even when uncomfortable. We had an inclusive dialogue that led to action items that were measure-able. The team development process changed many of the key leaders approach to teaming and leadership. Michael has a unique ability to build credibility, facilitate executive sessions, and blend theory and street smarts. I appreciate Michael and his firm and they are a trusted partner for us, I would refer him without reservation.”