Creative Leadership : Innovation + Job News

The Role of Diversity in a World of Opportunity
 
May 31
Walker Art Center, Skyline Room
5:30pm - 8pm
$35 (rsvp required)
 
What does diversity in business really mean? It goes beyond race and culture, and extends into creating meaningful messages that resonate with consumers. In this presentation by Chris Roberts, president of Cargill Kitchen Solutions, attendees will hear about how we can check our own biases in order to do good work. All proceeds go to benefit The BrandLab, a non-profit that brings students from diverse backgrounds together with people in the marketing industry.
 
Eyeo Festival
 
June 5 - 8
Walker Art Center
9am - 2pm
Pre-conference workshops: $125; festival ticket price: $549
 
Artists, designers, and coders come together for a series of workshops and mixers to transform digital culture. The festival attracts a wide range of talented individuals, including those interested in creative code, data visualization, design, experience design, 3D printing, architecture, and gestural computing.
 
d.school Crash Course
 
June 5
CoCo Minneapolis
6pm - 8pm
$50
 
A quick introduction to "design thinking" methods and mindsets. In this session, students will take a common experience and redesign it completely. This crash course is based on the original Stanford Design Program d.school curriculum. See The Line's coverage of CoCo's d.school here.
 
TechMasters
 
June 5
Benchmark Learning training facility
4510 W. 77th St., Suite 210, Edina
7:40am - 9am
free
 
TechMasters is a new Toastmasters chapter in the Twin Cities, dedicated to helping technology professionals improve their skills in public speaking and presentations, impromptu speaking, critical thinking, and communicating with non-technical people. Every week, the group rotates roles to practice speaking in a friendly and supportive environment.
 
Womens Excelerator Workshop
 
June 16
St. Catherine University
CDC401 Board room, 4th floor
8am - 12pm
$89
 
In this workshop, attendees will develop a level of comfort with pitching their business, and will learn to create a value proposition statement. Each entrepreneur will have 10 minutes to present her business to her peers and facilitators, followed by a feedback session to identify which parts of the elevator pitches need work.

What happens when a former executive "fails" at retirement, longing for the type of daily success that only work can bring? Or when a senior director wants to make a switch to another company, but hasn't updated her resume in decades?
 
In situations like these, Navigate Forward is ready to assist.
 
Started in 2008 by management consultants Teresa Daly and Mary Kloehn, the firm works with executives in transition. Daly says, "We really saw an opportunity in the marketplace to help this group of people. In the big firms, transition services have changed, they've become more standardized. We felt people needed more personalized services to meet them where they're at."
 
She adds that many of those in the Baby Boom generation are at a particular crossroads right now in their careers. They've been used to trailblazing, and are now seeing work change as they get older. In the later stages of their careers, they may prefer to switch industries, work longer into their supposed retirement, or even shift into starting their own companies.
 
"Careers aren't always a straight line," says Daly. "Because of that, making career transitions isn't just about updating a resume or tapping into a network."
 
Navigate Forward specializes in helping executives to "build their brand," which means packaging themselves based on where they're going, not on where they've been. Daly notes that a resume is helpful for detailing experience, but it's a "look  backward" that doesn't usually capture the essence of a person.
 
The firm prefers to create a "brand profile" instead that captures someone's interests, passions, and personality. Clients often tell Navigate Forward that they come out of the process with more clarity than they've ever had.
 
"They're able to tell a story about who they are, and what unique contributions they can bring to an organization," Daly says.
 
The firm currently employs nine people and expects to grow organically as it develops an even stronger foothold in the local executive transition space. Daly notes, "There's such a big trend of seeing the value of a whole generation of executives, and understanding what they bring to the business world."
 
Source: Teresa Daly, Navigate Forward
Writer: Elizabeth Millard

Some companies are particularly well named. Here's an example: On-Demand Group, which is bringing such fresh energy to the IT consulting realm that it's driving high client demand.
 
Helmed by Heather Manley, with her brother Sean acting as COO and partner, the company was started by their father 16 years ago. Manley signed on in 2006 and bought out the firm just two years later.
 
Over the past five years, they've worked to revamp technology and processes, and as a result, they've seen consistent growth. Last year, the company grew 75 percent, Manley says.
 
On-Demand Group fuels that surge by distinguishing itself from other IT consulting firms, Manley notes: "We're doing a ton of things that add value. We do a multitude of steps that companies don't do when they're on-boarding." She adds that the firm also has a global component, since it does some work in Latin America and Southeast Asia.
 
"Every year, we add something that's different and unique," she says. "Whether it's a new perk or more social activities, we create a culture that draws people to us."
 
The company has about 50 consultants in its pool, and within the next year, Manley expects to double the consultant roster, and to continue expansion of offshore offerings. With second stage growth just around the corner, On-Demand Group is likely to keep creating more demand.
 
"This is a really exciting time, and we're implementing some fantastic things," Manley says.
 
Source: Heather Manley, On-Demand Group
Writer: Elizabeth Millard

Anthropology and business are rarely put together as complementary fields, but they have more in common than many people might think. The social science deals with the organization of human societies and all characteristics of the human experience, so it makes sense that it could be used to make a company more agile, transparent, and strategic.
 
That's the theory behind Thinkers & Makers, a firm founded in 2010 by Emilie Hitch, who started her career as an academic anthropologist.
 
The idea for the company germinated while Hitch was doing field work in Peru. She wondered if she could translate the academic world of anthropology into the business realm of strategy. When she couldn't find a job that fit that idea, she landed at creative agency Olson, and began applying her studies to marketing projects.
 
After two years there, she saw the need to start Thinkers & Makers, to give clients a unique perspective on their organizations, employees, and customers. "I bring a very different view than what you'd get from an MBA or an economist," Hitch says. "Usually, people come to me with a big question, like how they can find revenue leaks, or learn more about their customer, or what they need to relaunch their brand."
 
Most of her business comes through referral, and that strong word-of-mouth marketing has helped Hitch to grow the firm. Looking ahead, she's anticipating more expansion into areas like business development for startups, social entrepreneurship, and sustainability.  "Many times, I see startups that have great ideas and passion, but they don't understand all aspects of how to put their business together," she says. "My perspective can help."
 
Source: Emilie Hitch, Thinkers & Makers
Writer: Elizabeth Millard

When Kristin Pardue left her high-profile corporate position at Carlson Companies, she envisioned starting a distinctive strategic management firm, but she also considered founding a non-profit that helps teens in North Minneapolis learn digital marketing.
 
Instead of choosing, she established both.
 
"I felt there was a great need in the marketplace for people to understand organizational purpose," she says. "At the same time, we wanted a way to give back and we thought, why wait?"
 
Rêve Consulting was started in 2009, and Pardue's husband, Brad von Bank, joined a year later to help round out the team. Pardue says the combination works well, since they bring different skills to the mix. Together, they offer insight to a range of clients like Capella University, Engine for Social Innovation, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, and Caribou Coffee.
 
"Clients come to us with questions about how their organizations can grow, and how their systems might be impacting the levels of their employees," says Pardue. "We encourage them to think strategically on every level, about how they're engaging their organizations."
 
The company is going strong, and plans to double the size of its small staff in the next year, she adds. She's especially excited about bringing more jobs to North Minneapolis, where the company's located.
 
For the teens in the area, there's Rêve Academy, an innovative after-school program that prepares students for careers in digital marketing. With an immersive curriculum and potential internships, the program is helping to shape the kind of leaders who could shape the local creative community someday.
 
"We believe this is a true pathway for these kids," says von Bank. "They're learning real-world skills that they can apply now, and at the end of the program, they make a presentation as if they're at an agency. It's very exciting."
 
With Rêve Consulting and Rêve Academy going strong, it's obvious that when it comes to choosing a rêve (the French word for "dream"), sometimes it's possible to go even bigger than planned.
 
Source: Kristin Pardue & Brad von Bank, Rêve Consulting
Writer: Elizabeth Millard

There are plenty of new lunch trucks zipping around the metro, but keep your eyes out for a different kind of fresh food delivery system.
 
Twin Cities Local Food aims to connect farmers with customers in a unique way: by playing middleman. Started by Josh Kelly, who left the corporate world to pursue his dream of providing fresh, healthy food to the local community, the service intends to give people year-round access to locally grown and produced food.
 
Farmers benefit because they can directly market, sell, and package their own products, and customers can order online weekly and then pick up their food at a location in South Minneapolis. The system has been successful in other states, such as Michigan, but hasn't been tried here before. The first orders went out just last week, and Kelly is excited to see the online marketplace grow as it becomes better known.
 
"This is a different kind of model, but we feel that it's needed," he says. "People are busy, and sometimes they just want the convenience of shopping for good, local food online and picking it up easily."
 
The service includes numerous types of products, including fresh produce, meats and poultry, eggs, honey, syrup, dairy, grains, and preserved foods.
 
Kelly created the company with his wife, Natalie, and he notes that they always knew they'd make great business partners. Twin Cities Local Food is fulfilling that prediction, and they're both eager to keep the orders rolling in.
 
Source: Josh Kelly, Twin Cities Local Food
Writer: Elizabeth Millard

"Taxi" is a universal word, the same in nearly every language. So, when entrepreneur Peggy Paul wanted to start a new company that would take off quickly and have cross-cultural resonance, she went with SheTaxi.
 
Paul began the company in 2010 after being laid off from a previous position as an "intrapreneur" who started companies within existing companies. She'd had cancer in 2004 at the age of 34, and she saw the layoff as part of a larger change she'd been making ever since her illness—to lead a life that was non-toxic and spiritually aware.
 
"After getting sick, I'd go on well-being sites and read blogs about different topics, like meditation," she says. "But alongside that content were ads for liposuction and celebrity gossip. I wanted a place where women could go and talk about real stuff in their lives, without being bombarded by that kind of junk."
 
SheTaxi became a personal development site that brought together insight on balance and well-being. Paul and others also provide coaching and training services as well as events like "Bringing Your Type A Life into Balance."
 
The site is geared toward working women, and Paul envisions an annual retreat where women can come together and connect to learn from each other. She's currently in the process of fundraising, and once some funding comes in, she plans to hire employees to keep the growth going.
 
"We're in an early stage right now, but I think it's very exciting to see how it's all coming together," she says.
 
Source: Peggy Paul, SheTaxi
Writer: Elizabeth Millard

In a January opinion piece in TechCrunch, entrepreneur Jon Bischke suggested the most successful urban leaders are those who view cities like startups. CEOs for Cities, a national network of urban leaders dedicated to creating next-generation cities, will examine that premise at its 2012 Spring National Meeting: The City As a Startup--Creating Demand, Attracting Talent, Taking Risks, and Going to Scale.

The meeting is set for May 17-18 at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati and is made possible with support from The Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile Jr./U.S. Bank Foundation. Former AOL Chairman and CEO Steve Case will deliver the morning keynote and also sit on a panel conversation about Startup America.

CEOs for Cities will also release its latest City Vitals report, a framework for measuring the success of cities. Other panels include considering Songdo, South Korea as the planet's smartest city and using the collective-impact approach to catalyze social change. There will also be opportunities to tour Cincinnati attractions and examples of success.

Register here. View a draft agenda here.

Issue Media Group, the parent company of The Line, partners with CEOs for Cities in exploring new options for urban growth.

Never underestimate the power of a basement office.
 
Take recruitment professional Stacey Stratton. She decided to leave the Minneapolis-based staffing firm Celarity and strike out on her own in 2008 to start True Talent Group, and she laughs now about the timing: "It was a terrible time to start a business, just dismal."
 
But she wanted to give it a try anyway. She set herself up in the basement, with a bathmat as her office rug, and told her husband that she was giving herself 60 days to make it work. Over the next year, she did sales recruiting, and then got back into working with creative professionals. "I'm so passionate about this industry, I just love it," she says. "And that's translated into triple-digit growth."
 
In 2009, she brought on three employees and all work out of their homes, which Stratton believes is beneficial for achieving a strong work/life balance.
 
Although the firm initially focused only on permanent placement for creatives, the industry at the time was more geared toward contract work, so Stratton added freelancers to the pool. She focuses on marketing and creative professionals partly because marketing is her background, but mainly because she finds the fields exciting.
 
"There's nothing cooler than looking at great creative," she says. "Also, creative is its own animal. If someone says they need a production artist, we know exactly who to find. There's value in sticking with a niche instead of trying to build expertise in all areas."
 
To keep the growth rolling, Stratton will be launching a new website in the near future, and focusing on keeping her 90 percent referral rate. "The Twin Cities has such a vibrant community when it comes to marketing and creative," she says. "That makes our opportunities seem limitless."
 
Source: Stacey Stratton, True Talent Group
Writer: Elizabeth Millard

In the marketing arena, how large is the gap between what people say and what they do? And how does that question affect their purchasing habits?
 
Those are the sorts of inquiries that drive David Bergstrom, founder of Minneapolis-based Reflect Research. Before creating the firm in 2009, the entrepreneur spent 10 years developing products and strategies for Procter & Gamble, and studied engineering at the University of Minnesota before that.
 
He combines the complex process thinking involved in engineering work with the creative skills he honed as a product designer, he says, and that's what makes Reflect unique.
 
"Basically, this company is the story of me wanting to do something I love," he says, "and that's creating a very specific niche within the world of market research."
 
Most market research emphasizes consumer reaction to products, he notes, but Reflect takes a different approach by figuring out what people need, and proposing products, services and campaigns based on that information.
 
For example, a recent client hired Reflect to find out why people choose to prepare their own tax returns. Bergstrom not only came up with top reasons, but also offered advice on how to draw these potential customers to a professional tax service.
 
Bergstrom feels that by doing ethnographic research and consumer trend analysis, he can help to develop innovative products and spark new ideas for clients.
 
"We figure out what people need, not just their reactions," he says. "Then we help to bring those solutions to life."
 
Source: David Bergstrom, Reflect Research
Writer: Elizabeth Millard

When it comes to figuring out what's best for clients, Minneapolis-based software development firm Warecorp has Belarus on speed dial.
 
The company got its start in 2004, when entrepreneur Chris Dykstra decided to strike out on his own after working in the software and web development fields.
 
Since he'd had some experience in working with offshore software firms, particularly in Belarus, he decided that Warecorp could benefit from a similar arrangement. He quickly built up an office in Minsk, which currently has about 60 employees. Another 10 employees are located throughout the United States.
 
Minsk is a hotbed of engineering activity, Dykstra notes, and despite some challenges with communication and time zone issues, he feels that such a large office there gives Warecorp an advantage. He says, "The level of expertise there is excellent, and it's much cheaper to hire and maintain an office with that many employees there as opposed to here."
 
Warecorp also distinguishes itself in the marketplace by being choosy about projects, Dykstra says. "We try to look for companies that are doing something to make the world a better place." The company has clients in the education, healthcare, and nonprofit sectors, as well as media companies and software firms.
 
"What makes us different is that we focus on social responsibility as well as business expertise," says Dykstra. Drawing on the engineering talent in Belarus gives Warecorp the ability to keep its robust growth rate, and Dysktra believes that the company will keep increasing by almost 50 percent every year.
 
Source: Chris Dykstra, Warecorp
Writer: Elizabeth Millard

After working in the organizational and HR field for most of her career, Louise Harris found herself out of job when a project came to its planned end.
 
"I was presented with a fabulous opportunity," she says. "I thought I'd take six weeks off to rejuvenate myself." That was 10 years ago, and she still hasn't gone back into a corporate position.
 
Instead, she began consulting and set up shop as Praeeo (Latin for "to lead the way"), a firm that offers strategic development, organizational effectiveness, leader development, and change management.
 
Harris believes that she fits well into that specific niche because she brings a theoretical foundation together with practical experience. She marries psychology, sociology, training, and development in a way that allows her to balance experience with theory.
 
When she first started Praeeo, Harris considered growing the business into a mid-size consultancy at some point, but the more she worked as a solo entrepreneur, the more she liked the freedom of that structure. She says, "I think if I had a team, there would be a greater sense of responsibility to manage the business for their sake. Now, I just manage it for me."
 
In her free time, Harris is also an artist who creates works made out of recycled furnace filters. She donates most of her proceeds from the art to charity, and has been in some art shows. "It's just fun to tap into my artistic side," she says. "Although business can be an art, too."
 
Source: Louise Harris, Praeeo
Writer: Elizabeth Millard

Fred Haberman never intended to go into public relations. It just turned out that he's very good at it, especially when he's following his passion and encouraging others to do the same.
 
After starting an adventure travel company and an organizational development counseling firm with his wife, Haberman fell into the PR field. The couple started their own business in their house, with clients meeting at the dining room table, and eventually grew it into a 38-employee firm housed in the Warehouse District.
 
Growth has been robust, Haberman notes, attracting clients like explorer Ann Bancroft, Great River Energy, National Cooperative Grocers Association, Organic Valley, Slow Money Alliance, HealthSimple, and the Social Venture Network.
 
Sensing a theme yet?
 
Haberman's firm specializes in sustainability-focused clients who are trying to make a contribution to their communities, and Haberman has that same vision.
 
"We're geared toward helping to create a collaborative world," he says. "The question is: how do we make a difference while being financially sustainable? And we think the answer is that we follow our passion."
 
Companies have begun to seek out Haberman, to tap into that energy and spark that sets the firm apart. As a result, he expects to keep hiring and growing the firm, which benefits not just the company and its employees, but all of us, Haberman believes.
 
"There's something remarkable about creating shared value," he says. "That's what we've been about from the beginning."
 
Source: Fred Haberman, Haberman
Writer: Elizabeth Millard

Marketing to the Millennial age group--18-to-28-year-olds--can be more than tricky, but a new Minneapolis-based agency has the savvy and background to help. After all, it's run by a couple of Millennials.
 
Started in January 2011, The Social Lights got started when friends Martha McCarthy and Emily Pritchard decided to combine their entrepreneurial energies while they were both attending the University of St. Thomas.
 
They did business plan competitions together and took classes in journalism as well as business topics. They created The Social Lights during their last semester at school, and McCarthy recalls that it wasn't easy. "We were doing homework and pitching clients at the same time," she says.
 
After graduation, they came to a full boil and took on numerous campaigns, focusing on others in their age group. "Sometimes companies that are trying to use social media can have a hard time reaching Millennials," says McCarthy. "They know how to use the tools, but they don't know how to communicate with them. Since we're in that age range, we have insight into what that audience needs."
 
With an increasing number of clients, the firm is getting ready to hire its first non-founder employee this summer. McCarthy believes that the hire will be another major step forward for the company: "We're not sure how large we'd like to get eventually, but this is very exciting, to get to this point."
 
Source: Martha McCarthy, The Social Lights
Writer: Elizabeth Millard

Wayzata- and Minneapolis-based RBA Consulting has been advising clients about technology since 2006, and has shown an impressive success rate over the past few years. When it landed on the Inc. 5000 list last year, the magazine noted that its growth over the previous three years came in at 247 percent, with an increase of 89 employees in that timeframe.
 
Now, the company is ready to get even more robust.
 
Last September, the consulting firm acquired Ratchet, a Minneapolis-based digital marketing company, and subsequently changed the name of the combined company to just RBA.
 
The combined company offers a wide range of services, from custom application development and infrastructure expertise to portals and collaboration solutions.
 
"Historically, marketing organizations and IT departments haven't gotten along well," says RBA President and COO Mike Reinhart. "We see an opportunity for RBA to come in and create cohesion there. We understand marketing and what they're trying to accomplish, and we know how IT needs to work. We're bringing the CIO and the CMO together."
 
The company is expecting to grow by about 30 percent this year, and is in the midst of active hiring, Reinhart adds. He predicts that with RBA's strong sales force, more hiring will be ahead as well.
 
Most of all, he and others at the company are excited about the possibilities that lie ahead, now that the usual challenges that come with mergers are behind them.
 
"I'm a technologist at heart, and I love that I'm surrounded by bright and talented people who are thinking about how best to leverage our capabilities," says Reinhart.
 
Source: Mike Reinhart, RBA
Writer: Elizabeth Millard