Pepper Foster Consulting

We love sharing our space and hosting events to facilitate collaboration and knowledge sharing! Last week, Pepper Foster hosted AI Portland to talk AI hype, strategy, creativity & efficiency while honing essential human-centered skills. A huge thank you to everyone who participated! #ai #community #genai #consulting #assessment

Meet Shannon Heizenrader, PMP, MBA, a skilled Consultant and Project Manager! Shannon has a knack for turning around at-risk projects and getting things back on track. Her generosity shines through in the community impact activities she organizes and participates in. To learn more about Pepper Foster and our people, visit www.pepperfoster.com. #PDX #FSO #GSD #SPOTLIGHT

HR is Where Change Goes to Die! A White Paper from Pepper Foster Consulting The days of treating change management as unnecessary or a luxury are thankfully in the past. Most organizations now accept effective change management as essential to maintain business relevancy, achieve enterprise-wide transformation, and realize value. However, many organizations are still stifling their change management teams and making the value realization of transformations more elusive. Although intuitively it seems to make sense to house and lead change management teams within HR, in practice it doesn’t work. Change management teams within HR are stifled, underfunded, distanced from the entities directly responsible for strategic transformations, and focus too heavily on HR’s priorities rather than the priorities of the business as a whole. Change management teams should instead be formed within transformation offices, under the leadership of the COO, or within the strategy or operational teams directly responsible for achieving transformative change.

For Earth Day, our team had the privilege of volunteering with SMART Reading, a fantastic nonprofit dedicated to children's literacy. Together, we rolled up our sleeves to restore and clean books, ensuring they find their way into the hands of eager young readers across Oregon. 📚 Books have the power to inspire and change lives. What was your favorite book growing up? #SMARTReading #CommunityService #LiteracyMatters #EarthDay

We were honored to host another impactful event in partnership with SIM Portland Chapter as part of their "How Women Rise" speaker series! On Thursday, April 11th, we had the privilege of hearing from Mandy Huth, CISSP, VP of Cybersecurity at Kohler Co. Mandy delved into Habits #1 and #3 for career advancement, sparking insightful discussions. Throughout the evening, we explored overcoming the reluctance to claim achievements and the importance of avoiding the expertise trap. Mandy's insights emphasized that while expertise is crucial, leadership and relationship-building skills are equally vital for career growth. A central theme of the discussion was Mandy's 'Think Big, Start Small, Act Fast' mentality, highlighting the importance of advocating for oneself and others to achieve professional success. Thank you to everyone who joined us for this enriching conversation. Let's continue breaking barriers and fostering growth together! #HowWomenRise #CareerAdvancement #Empowerment #LeadershipDevelopment #WomenInTech #Advocacy ✴ Michelle Simone, EMBA

Results of the 2024 Pepper Foster Consulting M&A Sentiment Survey In late March 2024, Pepper Foster Consulting surveyed 115 US-based C-level and senior executives at companies with over 5,000 employees. All those surveyed had visibility to and knowledge of their organization’s plans for M&A. Under pressure to grow and increase margins, business leaders are embracing M&A as a strategic imperative. There is an unprecedented surge of activity towards and optimism for M&A for 2024 and 2025. An astonishing 85.2% of respondents said that their organizations are actively pursuing or seeking M&A opportunities. Another 11.3% are considering M&A. The high percentage of large US organizations actively pursuing or seeking deals suggests a mad rush to close deals may be on the horizon. Balancing the desire for growth against tolerance for risk will be critical and the linchpin in securing deals and realizing value.

Earlier this month, our Portland office had the pleasure of hosting students from the Willamette University School of Business for an insightful career trek discussion. Our consultants shared their unique paths into consulting in an open-forum style, followed by breakout sessions for personalized Q&A. It was a fantastic opportunity for connecting and exchanging knowledge. A big thanks to all who participated – we had a blast getting to know each of the students and fostering meaningful dialogue! #willametteuniversity #careertrek #pepperfosterconsulting #pfc #futureconsultants

Some candid advice for those who would like to be included in critical decision making.

All eyes on generative AI. Pepper Foster Consultants agree that AI will transform how we work and how we perform. Time is of the essence to gain a competitive advantage by integrating generative AI into your technology and business operations. Implementation involves several key steps to ensure successful adoption. If you are in the early stages of considering an investment in generative AI, Pepper Foster will help you assess readiness to set you up for success. If you are further along in your journey, we will partner with you to drive the transformation, champion adoption and optimize value. #consulting #stratgenai #generativeai #artificialintelligence #fso #gsd #transformation #genai Nathan Caskey Jamie K. Damian Smith ✴ Michelle Simone, EMBA Brad Denney - MAIS, PMP, ADKAR