CLIENT EXPERIENCE
Kathleen Joy
Executive Leadership Consultant
Hear from three of Kaiser Permanente’s senior executives on how Corporate Edge played a role in their leadership strategy in growing and transforming the organization.
Distinctly different from traditional executive coaching, Corporate Edge utilizes a unique organizational model to help companies retain, develop and build their most essential current and future leaders. Hear from some of the companies who have benefited from this approach.
Paula Downey
AAA Northern California,
Nevada and Utah
Former Chief Executive Officer
“When I was a relatively new company president, I engaged Corporate Edge as my Executive Partner to help me, as well as our organization, succeed in achieving key, high-stakes business initiatives. As a coach and Executive Advisor, Mike Takagawa and his high-caliber team helped me to become much more effective in leading my organization through significant changes, while simultaneously delivering greater business results. Our work together increased my confidence to tackle and communicate challenging issues which has paid large dividends with my Board of Directors – as well as with my senior leadership team. By integrating active and supportive efforts from our Board’s leadership, our Board now operates at even higher levels of overall productivity, strategic decision making, and communications effectiveness. This success was leveraged to include my senior leadership team, both individually and collectively. With the coaching and consulting assistance of Corporate Edge, I feel we have made key strides in ensuring the long-term health of our organization.”
Amy Vanbuskirk
Genentech
Vice President, Multiple Sclerosis
Sales and Marketing
When I reflect on my growth over the past 5 years, many tipping points in my leadership journey are rooted in my coaching conversations and the candor and caring in coaching. I recognize that I have to succeed on my own merit, but my coach's words of wisdom and clarity of perspective often empower me to take a new path. I feel so thankful for all of my coach's support.
Bruce Chizen
Adobe Systems, Inc.
Former President & CEO
“Mike Takagawa is a remarkable CEO Coach. Our work together was so beneficial that we also enlisted Corporate Edge’s solutions for our senior executive team. As a result, I am a more successful CEO and my team has elevated its collective leadership performance immensely.”
Chuck Bevilacqua
Kaiser Permanente
Senior Vice President of
Health Plan Product,
Service and Administration
When I joined the organization, I had a small team and focused on individual development. Now I find myself leading an organization of 6,000 and Corporate Edge has helped me scale to reach that level. We’ve gone through a lot of change over the last 7 years. Corporate Edge has been a key partner to the tremendous growth that we’ve had. We have our leaders working with the Corporate Edge coaches to figure out how to be more influential with leadership and how to deal with conflict when we have tension between departments. Our leaders are also working on critical multi-million dollar initiatives and I know that the Corporate Edge support structure has made them more successful in leading those initiatives. If you were able to say that just one initiative improved because we had Corporate Edge support, which is a very safe assumption, this has a significant ROI in the tune of millions of dollars.
A Corporate Edge Organizational Coaching Client Engagement was featured as a case study in a white paper published by the International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring. The article examines the organizational outcomes of Executive Leadership Coaching as supported by numerous research studies.
Robert N. Barone
AAA Northern California,
Nevada and Utah
Board of Directors
“Having the support of Corporate Edge has proved to be an investment worth every penny. The Executive Partnership between Corporate Edge and our company president has enhanced her leadership and decision-making capabilities. In addition, we leveraged Mike Takagawa’s firsthand experience in running organizations and managing Boards of Directors when he assisted us in reaching consensus amongst Board Members and management on key strategic issues. Now, the Board and management team’s viewpoints are aligned on the future direction of the organization. We are communicating effectively as a result and are supporting each other more than ever. Together, we are now well positioned to focus on the real issues facing our business and have begun that process. When it is time to hand the reigns over to the next Chair, I am confident that the Board/Management relationship will be one of trust and mutual respect.”
David Ku
Yahoo Inc.
Former Senior Vice President,
Advertising Product Groups
“As part of a recent reorganization, I needed to transform from a technology orientation to a business orientation, with the goal of driving advertising strategy across the company. It was important to shift the way I led and operated with my executive team so they are fully empowered and to increase their capacity to execute on larger, deeper engagements with our internal and external customers. Corporate Edge proved to be the right partner. By immersing themselves deeply into my staff and team activities, Mike Takagawa and Loretta Stagnitto offered deeply insightful observations and guidance. I spent more time with them in solution space and less in getting them up-to-speed on how we all operate together. Since engaging Corporate Edge, my executive team is operating at a higher level, engaging more effectively with our partners across the company, and as a team, we are more impactful. Personally, I have learned a great deal about how to lead and influence beyond technology. This transformation would not have successful if it weren’t for Corporate Edge.”
Jan Willis
Cadence Design Systems
Former Senior Vice President,
Industry Marketing
“Corporate Edge has been an essential aid to our reorganization and turnaround efforts, enabling us to improve productivity by over 30%. Our teams are now able to lead major projects in less time, with fewer resources. My executive partnership with Mike Takagawa was also a huge factor in my promotion to Senior Vice President. I turn to Mike for feedback when faced with difficult decisions. With each unique challenge that arises, he hand picks the right people from his team of specialists to deliver the support I need to achieve outstanding results.”
Josh Levine
Mentor Corporation
Former Chief Executive Officer
“After evaluating several executive coaching and management consulting firms, we were impressed with Corporate Edge’s strong public company references and track record of helping new CEOs succeed. Our executive partnership with Corporate Edge proved to be a wise investment. Mike Takagawa and his team helped us to improve communications between our executive team and Board members and enhance the productivity of our meetings. In addition, Corporate Edge’s assistance in establishing our "On Boarding" program was invaluable during a period of heavy executive level recruitment.”
Mark S. Sutton
International Paper Company
Chief Executive Officer, Supply Chain
“I had just transferred from an international assignment in line business management into my first staff role in 20 years. It became necessary for me to learn to work in a different way - from running my own show to getting things done through influence and collaboration. I selected Mike Takagawa as an Executive Advisor because of his significant business experience and practical connection with the challenges at my level. Mike and I talked about the issues I deal with on a regular basis. Early on, he guided me in resolving a contentious situation and building equity with a key leader from one of the biggest parts of our organization. Overall, our discussions helped me to make right decisions for the company, avoid costly mistakes, save time, and prepare for what we need to do in the future.”
Joseph Whitters
Mentor Corporation
Former Chairman, Board of Directors
“Our work with Corporate Edge has clearly paid off. Our CEO has shown striking improvements in his strategic thinking and overall leadership - skills that will benefit our company for years to come. Initially, we wanted to help our new CEO fine-tune key leadership skills and learn from the feedback of our Board of Directors. We decided to retain an impartial third party advisor, so that our CEO would feel comfortable fully exploring and openly discussing opportunities for improvement. Bringing the right combination of objectivity and leadership, Mike Takagawa and the Corporate Edge team served as an excellent conduit between the Board and CEO. On a regular basis, they listened carefully to our high-priority issues and the examples we relayed. Some of Corporate Edge’s team members even joined us in Board meetings to observe our interactions first-hand. They were proactive in building on our examples and capitalizing on real situations to help our CEO further develop his talents."
Dr. C.S. Park
Maxtor Corporation
Former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
“Our executive partnership has had a tangible, positive impact on our shareholder value. As a result of Mike Takagawa’s assistance, my Board of Directors and I were better equipped to make critical decisions concerning corporate growth, ownership, and executive strategy. I highly recommend Corporate Edge’s solutions to any organization.”
Mark Sieczkarek
Conceptus, Inc.
Former President &
Chief Executive Officer
“Our challenge was to enhance communication between our Senior Management team and our Board of Directors. Corporate Edge has helped us leverage our Board as a resource in decision-making while clearly conveying how much we value them. Mike Takagawa’s deep-rooted experience with Boards as a CEO was invaluable. An excellent facilitator, Mike helped Senior Management and Board members recognize one-another’s concerns and expectations in a positive context. As a result of our work with Corporate Edge, I have established a more relaxed and inclusive relationship with the Board. My recommendations now have greater analytical rigor, our meetings are much more productive, and my team is confident that the Board will support us in accomplishing our goals.”
