Keep it simple, like the house Jack built at GE: Unnecessary complexity can easily cut more than 10% off profits

April 2013 – When Jack Welch was boss of GE, the giant American conglomerate, he extolled the virtues of “speed, simplicity and self-confidence”. Businesses are now realizing why he put such an emphasis on encouraging simplicity. Read more...

Innovating Like a Startup – How to Build a Lean LaunchPad for New Ventures

April 2013 – Enabling innovation within corporate environments is one of today’s key OD challenges. By mixing best practices from the lean startup movement with change stewardship and results-oriented execution, OD practitioners can help their organizations crack the innovation code. Read more...

M&A Best Practices Dinner Discussion

April 2013 – Corporate executives responsible for strategic acquisitions will learn six actionable M&A integration steps as well as how to turn a culture clash into an integration advantage... Learn more...

Highlights from Our Evening with Steve Blank

Early in 2013, Schaffer Consulting hosted an event in New York City focused on the topic of how to create successful start-up businesses within established companies. Our featured speaker was Steve Blank,one of the pioneers of the "lean startup" movement and the author of the year's best selling book, "The Start-Up Owners Manual".   Listen to some audio excerpts from Steve's discussion that evening. (Each audio is about 2 minutes.) Learn more...

"Why Change Management Needs to Change" at HRPS Global Conference

March 2013 – On April 17, Ron Ashkenas and Justin Wasserman will be presenting at the HR People and Strategy Global Conference in Denver, CO. The title of their presentation/workshop is "Why Change Management Needs to Change."  It will focus on how HR and OD professionals can ... Read more...

Innovate Like a Start-Up – Even If You're Not

January 2013 – "Innovate or die" is the rule for Fortune 500 companies, just as for start-ups.

On Tuesday, January 15, Schaffer Consulting will be holding their next Leadership Roundtable in New York City. The session will explore how high-performing, well-established companies can drive innovation by borrowing from the start-up playbook ... Read more...

Webinar - January 23, 2013 – Creating Successful Change: Lessons from Healthcare Leaders

January 2013 – At noon EST on January 23, three healthcare executives shared their personal experiences driving successful transformation in their organizations, and offered a framework and specific insights for how you can help your organization achieve its objectives in 2013. Listen to the webinar

Schaffer Consulting Partner Named One Of 'Top 100 Global Thinkers'

November 2012 – The tremendous impact of Schaffer Consulting's Rapid Results approach reached another milestone as Nadim Matta, senior partner, was just named one of Foreign Policy's Top 100 Global Thinkers of 2012. Joining prestigious past awardees such as President Barack Obama and Bill Gates, Matta was honored for implementing Schaffer's Rapid Results to improve the world in which we work and live. Read more...

Nadim Matta Named Yale School of Management Donaldson Fellow

November 2012 – Nadim was one of four distinguished alumni selected in this biennial event, along with the US Ambassdor to South Africa; a Senior Fellow at the Kenan Insititute for Ethics at Duke University; and the founder of Ascendent Capital Partners.  Read more...

Schaffer Consulting presents at American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA)

October 2012 – Evan Smith, Celia Kirwan, and affiliate Don Fallati presented at the recent American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) Convention on the topic:  “Simply Effective: Using a  Rapid Results Approach to Manage Complexity and Achieve Your Goals.” Read more...

Sparkle of Hope

October 2012 – Schaffer Consulting is a proud sponsor of Community Hope New Jersey's Annual Benefit Dinner Auction, "Sparkle of Hope". This year, Sparkle of Hope will honor Mark Altmeyer, President and CEO of Otsuka America Pharmaceutical and Bruce N. Kuhlik, Executive Vice President and General Council of Merck. Read more...

Two Pathways to Learning and Development Impact

October 4, 2012 – How can Learning & Development be a central contributor to business results? Ron Ashkenas and Patrice Murphy revealed two pathways at an ASTD Learning Leader breakfast on October 4. Read more...

SURVEY for Health Information Management Workers

Do you work with health information as part of your job? Do you manage others in coding, clinical, or other areas that rely on health information in your organization? If YES - Please take this poll!    Read more...

Settle for Survival or Go for Growth?

August 2012 – Today's volatile marketplace requires transformational leaders who are willing to reset strategic direction, re-shape fundamental attitudes and assumptions, and test those quickly. Read more...

From Regulator to Business Enabler: Use Employee Communications to Re-Position Your Compliance Function

August 15, 2012 – The importance of compliance communications for the pharmaceutical industry has increased significantly in recent years. By keeping... Read more...

Lessons of Scale: Large Deals by Large Companies

August 2012 – This new article by Suzanne Francis and Andrew Shapiro illustrates the key lessons to be learned from major M&A activity in large companies. The article takes an organization development perspective and examines the role leaders can take... Read more...

M&A Payback in 100 Days

July 2012 – Leaders play critical roles in ensuring that mergers and acquisitions deliver on their promise. In addition, the merger integration experience can be a powerful developer of ... Read more...

Robert H. Schaffer Award To Be Presented in August

July 30, 2012 – The Robert H. Schaffer Award for the Best Paper in Applied International Management will be presented to the best scholarly paper of the International Management (IM) Division focusing on applied international ... Read more...

Justin Wasserman to Speak at Denver Change Professionals Network

July 18, 2012 – Traditional change initiatives start by helping clients diagnose and strengthen their organizations. The change professionals provide studies, reports, new strategies, recommendations and training programs. The promise is that once the improvements are ... Read more...

Streamlining Pharmaceutical Portfolios: Cutting the Gordian Knot

May-June 2012 – In global pharmaceutical companies, supply-chain product proliferation and organizational complexity are a mutually reinforcing Gordian knot that manufacturing and commercial leaders struggle to cut. Read more...

How to Design Leadership Development for Immediate Gains

May 2012 – Leadership development is generally seen as a long-term investment, but this doesn’t have to be the case. It can deliver short-term business performance improvements. Read more...

Pleasing the In-Laws: Integrating M&A Across Cultures

Managing a merger across borders is not for the faint of heart. However, by learning how to avoid obstacles such as cultural myopia, differences in leadership styles and customer ... Read more...

Schaffer Consulting Founder Honored By Teachers College, Columbia University

April 27, 2012 – Recognizing his unique contributions to the field of organizational change, leadership development and management consulting, Robert H. Schaffer ... Read more...

Schaffer's Dino Mauricio judges M&A Advisor's 40 Under 40 Awards

APRIL 26, 2012 —The M&A Advisor today announced the winners and finalists of the 3rd Annual 40 UNDER 40 M&A Advisor Recognition Awards. Read more...

Nadim Matta, Director of the Rapid Results Institute, spoke at the NextGen Charity conference in New York City.

It is easy to get discouraged or disconnected from the enormous challenges facing millions of people in Africa. If you want to hear examples of real improvements in nutrition... Read more...

Integrating R&D Within M&As

The CEO should be able to communicate the vision of a merger – strategically, financially, operationally, and with the entire organization in mind. Though this article deals with the pharmaceutical industry, the concepts apply across many industries. Read more...