- Wall of Love -
Sharing the Love
Hear directly from our amazing partners.
Sean Fitzpatrick
CEO | Lighthouse
As we scale our company, we know that our success depends on the individuals on our team. We know how important it is to invest in our leaders, and we were searching for something more than just textbook leadership development. Each of our leaders is at a different stage in their leadership journey; some are very new and others are more seasoned.
What we love about Raise The Bar is that they help each leader tap into their own authentic leadership style, no matter where they are on their leadership journey.
While there’s a leadership framework, Raise The Bar’s training and coaching encourages everyone to find their own voice, their own inner leader, as they grow and develop. It’s a fantastic program and one of the best I’ve participated in during my long career.
My coaching experience with Genna Clark was truly transformative and I am incredibly grateful for this opportunity.
Genna fostered a safe and supportive space where I could explore my strengths (and saboteurs), challenge my beliefs and explore my leadership style. Through insightful questions, authenticity and active listening, Genna helped me re-define my leadership commitment, and reflect on my impact on others. This enabled me to manage my team more effectively and bring more clarity and purpose to the work we do.
One of the most impactful aspects of working with Genna was her focus on helping me cultivate my leadership identity. She encouraged me to explore my commitments, values and motivations, and then translate those discoveries into actions to express my leadership authentically. Thanks to this coaching experience I feel more confident, capable and inspired as a leader.
Maciej Doskocz
Director Learning & Development | Showpad
The program had two HUGE impacts on me.
It helped me to shut up and listen!
It's helped me be more aware of my blind spots and recognize them.
I am a MUCH better listener now and I encourage feedback in every team setting.
Jenny Gittleson
Sr. Manager, Merchant Care | ShipBob
Aaron & the team at Raise The Bar are always pressing me to be curious and try new things.
Steve Tanner
Manager, Communities | Relativity
I really enjoy the Practice Labs. I’ve been making more use of powerful questions to solicit my direct reports’ thoughts and to guide others. For example, I ask questions of my team when I hold (informal) quarterly performance reviews rather than make declarative statements or jump into “I’ll address the issue” mode. As the Director of HR, I also coach managers about the use of powerful/open-ended questions to solicit feedback, to move difficult conversations along, and to achieve “buy-in.” Time spent in Practice Labs helps to reinforce those skills.
Nancy Shalowitz
Director of HR
Nexus Pharmaceuticals
(Coach) Stacey helped me identify bad habits and recognize things to celebrate well beyond the key points of the bootcamp.
Bobby Cafazzo
Technical Lead | Own Up
This program has made me a more conscientious leader, particularly as it relates to listening, truly understanding, and asking questions all before responding. The impact of this has been individuals finding answers on their own,
Katie Whitcomb
Head of Operations, Stride
uncovering insight they were previously not aware of and becoming more intrinsically motivated. These skills have made work more fun!
Already a 4th group of leaders at Lighthouse has the opportunity to strengthen their leadership skills with Raise The Bar.
Aaron Levy, it is an undeniable pleasure to work with you and your team. Not only are you responsive to our needs, but you are always ready to take that extra step that gives even more value to what you do - transforming managers into true leaders.
This is another year of cooperation and another group that has started an adventure with you. Thank you!
Magdalena Cynkiel-Wielgomas
Learning & Development Manager, Lighthouse
The Bootcamp has given me the confidence to embrace uncertainty - an essential skill in a fast growing startup like mine, where we are building processes and initiatives from the
ground up. I am now empowered with the confidence to be vulnerable and let my team know I don’t have all the answers. This, in turn, has given them the freedom to get messy and embrace change and uncertainty as we explore ideas together.
Jennifer Valdez
Director of Operations | Lucas James Talent Partners
My prior management style could best be described as a micromanager. Raise The Bar’s Leadership Bootcamp provided me with a framework to be a more effective leader, rather than a micromanager.
I’ve learned how to provide clarity to my team by giving
both positive and tough feedback regularly. As a result, we’ve built trust as a team. They know
it’s a safe environment to speak up, to share feedback, ideas and concerns. I no longer feel the need to micromanage; instead, my team members set the path of where they want to arrive and we are more efficient.
Igor Moiseev
Sr. Director of Engineering | Standard Cognition
We're managing through the toughest time in our company’s history and the Raise The Bar training program is having a big impact on our entire Operations team.
Morale could easily be waning and our teams could be tired, disengaged, and negative during this period. For our teams in Chicago and Phoenix, it’s the opposite of that and I think that’s a direct result of the timing of the training.
Adam Kunz
Leadership Team | Michael Lewis Company
I recently got promoted!
Raise The Bar had a significant impact on my leadership skills and how I manage people. I thoroughly enjoyed our sessions and appreciated the fact that I could bring examples of my personal life into the fold.
I continue to reap the benefits of the goal you helped me distill down: "to see the power in communication". I see this both in work and in personal relationships.
Parker Pedersen
Sr. Manager, Emerging Modes & Emerging Markets | FourKites
I learned several tips on how to be a better listener, which I now apply as a leader, such as removing distractions, asking questions, and not jumping in immediately to solve a problem.
Brett Monroe
Business Intelligence Manager | Capstone
Brett stepped out of the small "noisy" day-to-day items and started approaching the big picture more. Brett seems to have grasped that leadership isn't just time clocks and lending ears but really defining visions and best practices. It's great to see!
Sara Freeman (Brett's Manager)
VP Information systems | Capstone
I love that we had the opportunity to practice what we learned in the session and the accountability for practicing outside of the Zoom classroom.
Greg Post
Client Delivery Manager
Lucas James Talent Partner
I don't wait on tough conversations as much and implement more useful questions. I feel I have a good set of tools to help me continue.
May Parell
Senior Sales Manager | ReviewTrackers
We dove into Stay interviews, why they are important for establishing lines of communication with your team, and how to conduct them authentically, and I began implementing them with my team shortly afterwards.
'Stay interviews helped to set a level of expectation between myself and my team that didn’t exist before'
When you really try to understand what your employee wants out of their job, and not what you want out of them, it makes managing those employees much easier. The results speak for themselves and my team is performing at a much higher level.
As a new manager, attending the Raise The Bar Bootcamp gave me the tools I needed to be successful in my new job
John Babbitt
Field Services Director | RGE
The Bootcamp helped me better understand my direct reports, peers and managers and created an opportunity to empower my team. In the end, this is going to grow our organization to higher ceilings. I can't always be the problem solver. I need to be a leader and identify when and how I'm needed as a leader.
Oscar Sandoval
Client Delivery Manager | Lucas James Talent Partners
This program teaches a leadership style that fits with the vision and culture of our organization extremely well. I like that everyone we move into a leadership role gets this foundation from which to build.
Matt Boldyga (Oscar's Manager)
Director, Client Delivery | Lucas James Talent Partners
My time in the Raise the Bar Leadership Bootcamp had a significant impact on me as a leader and I am confident that the skills I developed in this course played a significant part in helping me get to this next level. Thank you all for pushing me out of my comfort zone, sharing some hard truths, and generally for the important work that you're doing.
Lynnley Miller
Director | Honeymoon Israel Foundation
The Bootcamp was such an incredible and eye- opening experience! Throughout the workshops, homework, and coaching, I was really challenged to step outside my comfort zone and do the next hard thing. The program has given me the baseline to be the authentic leader I always wished to be and has helped me operate my team more effectively.
Lindsay Weickert
Talent Acquisition Consultant
There is this leader in my organization who is invaluable to the work we do. He brings a wealth of knowledge, experience, and expertise and on the flip side, the way he communicates takes a toll on me personally as well as our business.
After the session on critical conversations, it became very clear there was a difficult conversation I needed to have and I didn’t wait, I used the process to prepare and hold the conversation with this crucial leader.
I asked him a few open-ended questions, then I shut up and listened. It was hard, and I did my best not to interrupt, instead allowing him the space to express himself.
Once it was clear he’d had a chance to be heard and share all of his thoughts, I let him know with very specific examples how his behavior was hurting our company, our team and me personally. Needless to say, he was absolutely exasperated, his posture and expression reflecting a humbling shock followed by sincere apologies.
'By being direct in sharing the impact of his actions, we unlocked something new together.'
Our working and personal relationships have changed dramatically for the better. The impact on me personally has really been extraordinary, eye-opening and liberating.
It's clear that having crucial conversations helps to avoid the almost cancerous growth of an employee’s harmful behavior, but more importantly, saved an invaluable member of our team and established a much stronger, a much more open relationship between us.
Tom Denison
Founder & President | SmartHealth Activator
When I first started working with Raise The Bar, I didn’t know my leadership style or who my team needed me to be. I’m now clear who I am as a leader and it started with getting clarity on my commitment to myself and my team. It helped remind me to be myself when I show up for my team on a daily basis.
My team is now more engaged and producing at a higher level because I’m hyper-engaged with them. I’ve even had people from different teams ask to join my team.
David Waxberg
Area Manager | Industrious
Bill has a strong ability to ask probing questions that lead to critical thinking, creating clarity, and gaining perspective.
John Ballou
Chief of Staff | LogicGate