With my forty-odd years of sitting in on business meetings, I have found one thing to be true: people like to talk. They like to share. And they have lots of ideas when you get them going. Now this inherent capacity of human beings for expressing their thoughts can be viewed as a strength. But […]
Author Archive | Jerry McNellis
The Strategic Planning Process that Saved Pacelli High School
To fully understand the power of the Compression Planning® model, we have to go back to its origins. I was recruited to design and lead one “last-ditch effort” to save a parochial high school in Austin, Minnesota (population 23,000). The previous year’s fund-raising efforts brought in $60,000 and spent $40,000 to do it over a […]
Decision Making Models Will Help You Prioritize Your Business Meetings
I recently read that one-minute spent planning a business meeting will save 10 minutes of the same meeting. To me, it seems more like 1 to 50, or 1 to 100, in many cases. For more than 36 years, I’ve been dumbfounded by how executives and board meeting members can sit through endless, unproductive, and […]
Forget Strategic Planning. Improve Your Strategic Planning Meetings with Differentiation
Strategic planning is answering core questions. I was coaching a friend about a CP session she was leading with a cattleman’s association. We got into a subject I wish I’d recorded and had transcribed, because it would make an interesting special report or e-book. The subject of the conversation was about vision and mission statements, […]
How to REALLY Background
Dr. Mary Brumbach, CFRE, Associate Vice Chancellor, Strategic Initiatives, Dallas County Community College District (DCCCD) did the best job of Background for a Trustees’ retreat I’ve seen. Without exception. Best job for any CP session ever. Here are the infographics Mary used with the DCCCD Board of Trustees: Demographic Issues Economic and Workforce Issues Poverty […]
Narrowing Down To A Manageable Few
What do you do when you have too many pre-identified items competing against each other? My friend Don Moyer (ThoughtForm Design, Pittsburgh) invented a way to do Compression Planning® which saves him immense time. Don’s method is for times when you have a finite number of ideas, solutions, options already defined that need to be […]
My Mother, Helen McNellis – Writing Our Book
Helen McNellis My Mother passed away Sunday morning, December 22, 2013. She was 2 months shy of 99 years of age. She led a life full of curiosity, wonder, spontaneity, awe and joy over the simplest of things. If I were to present Mother with a trophy, it would be “World’s Best Listener.” She would […]
True Leaders Know When To Lead…And When To Follow
By Jerry McNellis My daughter Lisa was a college freshman when our company was asked to lead a Compression Planning retreat for the International Board of Habitat for Humanity. She went along to handle logistics. Habitat for Humanity had a tradition where they started each session with a prayer led by a different board member. […]
7 Steps To Stronger Designs
The 7 Steps I Followed To Design The 2-Day Retreat For Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing Retired Navy Captain Ed Nicholson’s stay at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in 2005 presented him with a close look at the returning wounded from the conflict in Iraq (and later Afghanistan). His desire to offer fly fishing to […]
Honoring My Mentor and Friend, Dr. Kendall Cowing
The Reverend Doctor Kendall Cowing Charlotte, North Carolina Passed away on February 4, 2013 Married to high school sweetheart Della Father of 5 children, 16 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren I’d like to share four items about Ken and his impact on Compression Planning and leading groups: How he mentored me His advice about groups with […]