Jon Spiesman

One Percent Better Leader

Just like other skills, leadership is something that improves through willingness and consistent practice.  No one becomes a true leader overnight, but working at it consistently and targeting small improvements over time leads to great results!  Are you willing to put the effort in to get 1% better today?  OPBL is dedicated to helping leaders achieve their goals 1% at a time.

Founder and CEO

Tala Peak Leadership, LLC

"Culture eats strategy for breakfast" - Peter Drucker.  I help leaders intentionally build the culture of their organizations and exceed their goals.  Tala Peak Leadership works with leaders to analyze their situation and create a specific plan to shift the culture of the organization and create measurable results.

Managing Owner

Center for Executive Coaching

Certified Executive Coach 

Bayer

Business lead for Integration of Bayer and Monsanto entities, business processes, and ERP systems.  Set up enterprise project governance and project management systems for $200M integration effort.  Identified and recruited talented leadership team.  Drove collaborative teamwork across teams of Monsanto and Bayer experts, senior executive stakeholders, and complex business teams.  Maintained highly engaged teams throughout grueling and intense 2 year project schedule through visible and authentic leadership, fun and engaging team activities, and regular newsletters and town hall style communications.  Project stakeholder management and communications was considered best-in-class internally and was implemented on other enterprise critical projects.  Creatively addressed the challenges that COVID placed on a global project team to achieve an on-time implementation with fully remote teams.

VP, Business Lead US/CA Integration Project

Continuation of Monsanto role through transition to Bayer ownership.  Responsible for customer support and account management, logistics and delivery, and business process support for $8B revenue business.  Lead team of ~500 with $50M direct budget managing ~$200M of Logistics spend.  Leader of cross functional team, each leader with diverse and independent functions and sometimes diverging interests.  This role required a CEO mindset to elevate vision of team success and foster collaborative teamwork.  Consistently maintained highest levels of engagement scores within function/division/region by prioritizing communication, clear goals, employee trust, and celebrating wins.  Success required effective team building, stakeholder management, authentic leadership presence, and high personal accountability and credibility.
Notable Accomplishments in Team Performance and Innovation Leadership:
•	Defined and implemented new business model pilot for outcome-based pricing and direct to farm delivery
•	Implemented Monsanto’s first Digital Transformation of customer experience encompassing B2B strategy, customer portal strategy, digital finance tools, and market funding tools.
•	Implemented TMS system for transportation optimization and shipment visibility – project won global recognition from JDA for customer value creation, completed on-time, and achieved savings goals.
•	Implemented perfect order metric to drive improved customer experience and streamline processes
•	First implementation of Robotic Process Automation – automating ~10,000 process steps in first year.
•	Implemented hub support model across select support functions to enable standardization and efficiency gains of 20% in cost and resourcing

Director, North America Customer Care

Monsanto Company

Responsible for customer support and account management, logistics and delivery, and business process support for $8B revenue business.  Lead team of ~500 with $50M direct budget managing $200M of Logistics spend.  Responsible for customer support and account management, logistics and delivery, and business process support for $8B revenue business.  Lead team of ~500 with $50M direct budget managing ~$200M of Logistics spend.  Leader of cross functional team, each leader with diverse and independent functions and sometimes diverging interests.  This role required a CEO mindset to elevate vision of team success and foster collaborative teamwork.  Consistently maintained highest levels of engagement scores within function/division/region by prioritizing communication, clear goals, employee trust, and celebrating wins.  Success required effective team building, stakeholder management, authentic leadership presence, and high personal accountability and credibility.
Notable Accomplishments in Team Performance and Innovation Leadership:
•	Defined and implemented new business model pilot for outcome-based pricing and direct to farm delivery
•	Implemented Monsanto’s first Digital Transformation of customer experience encompassing B2B strategy, customer portal strategy, digital finance tools, and market funding tools.
•	Implemented TMS system for transportation optimization and shipment visibility – project won global recognition from JDA for customer value creation, completed on-time, and achieved savings goals.
•	Implemented perfect order metric to drive improved customer experience and streamline processes
•	First implementation of Robotic Process Automation – automating ~10,000 process steps in first year.
•	Implemented hub support model across select support functions to enable standardization and efficiency gains of 20% in cost and resourcing

Promoted to Lead cross functional team including Customer support and account management, logistics, demand and distribution planning, and business process support for $6.5B revenue business.  Success in this role required strong partnering and negotiation with sales and marketing functions and functional global leadership.
Notable Accomplishment Areas in Operational Excellence and Innovation Leadership:
•	Led first Monsanto implementation of SFDC – over 1M cases, 36% increased NPS, 49% reduction in resolution time, and 32% improvement in customer effort score.
•	Implemented Monsanto first mobile track and trace and delivery feedback process, enabling real-time feedback on 19,000 deliveries with a satisfaction rating of 99%.
•	Implemented new OTC system to enable movement of $800M brand to agency model.
•	Established dashboards, metrics, and governance processes to drive consistent operational excellence across business lines.  The improved target setting and harmonization between functions delivered $10M in logistics savings, improved OTD, and a 90% variance reduction against quarterly targets.

Director, US Supply Chain

Notable Accomplishments
•	Influenced key decisions makers to change the strategic plan for the 5 year soy crop LRP through creation of a model to help bring visibility to hidden costs and risk associated with the ramping up of new product volumes.
•	Created and implemented novel contingency plans to replace 20% of total supply plan impacted by historic 2012 drought conditions.

Director, North America Soybean Seed Mfg

Notable Accomplishments:
•	Led first Monsanto implementation of new SC model integrating Procurement, Planning, Logistics, and Customer operations into one organization.  
•	Post-centralization of Customer Service function led a full re-evaluation of the function and the OTC processes which led to several impactful initiatives including:  Implementation of a new distribution model in Italy reducing product returns by 50% with an increase in sales, implementation of a front/back office split in Customer Service enabling 50% improvement in efficiency and labor arbitrage of $2.5M USD to East Europe.
•	Designed and implemented a new Procurement model for EMEA, increasing staff H/C from 1 to 45 but reaching breakeven savings 7 months into first year and 2X committed financial contribution over 3 years ($70M USD).
•	Led definition and implementation of first measure of NPS and OTD in EMEA and drove a 10% improvement against baseline in the first year.
•	Oversight of hosted site shutdown and demolition in Antwerp, Belgium including negotiated settlement with asset owners, labor unions, and works councils.

EMEA Supply Chain Director

Manufacturing Business Unit Leader

Monsanto

Production Planning

Area Leader

Site Manager

Freeing Execs to work ON their business instead of IN their business.

You finally have time set for that romantic dinner date with your spouse.  Her favorite location, the smell of butter, garlic, and wine wafting from the kitchen as you imagine a plate of Veal Parmigiano.  The maitre’d seats you and you open the menu as you feel a familiar buzz from your jacket pocket….
Your phone ringing.  It's work…again.

You missed another of your son’s soccer games.  His dejected gaze at his shoes when you explain, it carves at your soul.  That look from your wife….all too familiar.  

You can see that your strategy is outdated, opportunities laying lonely on the table like those magazines articles you keep meaning to read.  

You just need time…you need to get ahead of a few things.  You need freedom to work on your business, not stuck feeling trapped in your business.

You sacrificed much to build your business.  You deserve success….you also deserve to live your life and enjoy what you have built, not be a slave to it.  You can regain your treasured personal time, you can pursue those business opportunities and catalyze the next level of growth.

If you recognize yourself here….there is hope.  You grew your business career one block at a time…the way out of this situation is the same….to grow out of it. 

I use proven coaching frameworks to target measurable improvement areas for your leadership.  True organizational change starts through courageous change with senior leaders like you.  I’m so confident in this process that I offer a results guarantee.  You will see measurable improvement or you don't pay.  What do you have to lose?

Want a leadership master-class? The Johari window is a pretty good candidate.

Leadership is relationship…when relationships and trust are strong, you have a good chance as a leader.

The Johari window is a framework to expand trust and achieve potential.

The “arena” is where you can openly lead….leveraging your strengths and those of others to achieve results.

In the arena - you build trust through competence and leading with humility.

You also build trust through vulnerability - sharing some of the hidden things in the ‘facade’.

What are the things that you lose sleep over? What are you working on to be a better leader?

Vulnerability requires a lot of courage but it brings humanity into the leadership equation.

When you have gained enough trust, you may start to learn about “blindspots”.

In my last post, we talked about blindspots….negative or positive, they represent opportunity.

A workplace with trusted relationships allows for exploration into the “unknown”.

When you are consistently expanding the arena by shrinking the other three quadrants….I would wager your results will be strong.

It may seem oversimplified to think about this with a 2x2 matrix.

But if you really think about it….does leadership need to be more complicated than this?

What is missing for you?

Have you seen or used the Johari window before?

💡Leadership Tips that make you think
🔔 Follow me or connect if you are cheeky

Best sketchnote by Tanmay Vora ✍️ — make sure to give him a follow!

#EncouragingLeaders #JohariWindow #Leadership #Trust #GreatPlaceToWork #LeadershipDevelopment

ENLEXIS - Behavioural Consultancy, working with clients worldwide

Expert advice with specific focus on how to influence decisions and choices and to drive behaviour in customers, employees, citizens, users or patients. In other words, how to make people take a specific action easily, by creating a tailored environment that makes the desired action happen now. 

HOW WE HELP:

By mending the gaps in the way, using Science, so the other party doesn't drop out and takes the action you want. You’ll stop loosing time and money trying to convince someone who may have already left, not because they wanted to, but because you make it difficult for them without your knowing. 


📍LASER-FOCUS BEHAVIOURAL STRATEGY SESSIONS - Use the winning sequence

Let’s discard what you don’t need that blocks your persuasion efforts and delays results. I'll take off 80% of your current effort and actions, only to focus on the few essential things that, according to scientific findings, enable desired behaviour to happen.
You’ll have a PLAN: You'll know what to do to unblock influence, why, and in what order. You'll be able to check instantly whether your actions are able to convince and how to replace the ineffective ones by others that work for your specific issue. 

📍BEHAVIOURAL AUDITS – Know the hidden enemy 

I'll assess your current way of doing to influence, step by step, to uncover the hidden obstacles that make your customers, users, employees or patients drop out while you believe they are still onboard. I'll tell you at WHAT exact points, in your process, persuasion is close to zero and WHY, using neuroscience findings. This is rarely what you think it is and you'll know why and what to do about it. I'll remove the frustration of not getting results and wondering why, despite the quality of your product or service.

I'll make your process danger-proof by using science-backed techniques that take care of the obstacles (biases) in the way.  The path to “YES” will be seamless – and behaviourally effective.

BEHAVIOURAL SCIENTIST - Founder of ENLEXIS, The Behavioural Consultancy

European Commission

Assessment/expert advice for international/multi-partner projects related to individual/group decision-making and behaviour change - worth up to 6 Million €/project.

EXPERT/ADVISOR IN BEHAVIOUR CHANGE

Market Research Companies

I. QUALITATIVE CUSTOMER RESEARCH

Analysis of customer perceptions, motivations, behaviours 
Brand Awareness, Product development, Concept testing.


II. QUALITATIVE EMPLOYEE RESEARCH

Qualitative employee research on key HR issues aiming at exploring perceptions and at modifying behaviour: Learning & development, Performance management & career development, Work Culture/Climate, Rewards & Recognition, Corporate Image & Reputation, Corporate Values, Work/life balance, Leaver Research, Diversity & inclusion, Solution oriented workshops.

CUSTOMER/EMPLOYEE BEHAVIOUR EXPERT

Ernst & Young

RESPONSIBLE FOR THE MANAGEMENT AND THE COORDINATION OF TRANSVERSAL PROJECTS - 23 COUNTRIES
Qualitative research to explore perceptions and to modify behaviours in the workplace.


EMPLOYEE RESEARCH - perceptions and behaviours

Unique Employee Research Expert/Behaviour Change Specialist for E&Y France

- Fully responsible for the design and the implementation of employee research projects related to key HR topics: Learning & development, Performance management & career development, Work Culture/Climate, Rewards & Recognition, Corporate Image & Reputation, Work/life balance, Leaver Research, Diversity & inclusion – 1200 employees 

- Global Supervisor of employee surveys to explore perceptions, implemented in the EY offices worldwide. Responsible for the survey coordination of the second (out of 7) largest geographic zone – 23 countries

•	Qualitative analysis of results and recommendations by business unit/region
•	Design and implementation of survey follow up actions according to specific and /or local needs
•	Design and implementation of training sessions for EY survey managers across Europe – 10 countries 

DIVERSITY - perceptions and behaviours

-	Design, implementation and follow up of an international  Diversity/inclusiveness project aiming at managing perceptions in the workplace – 10 countries
-	Definition of specific indicators to measure diversity in the workplace, used, for the first time, to measure workplace diversity in 10 countries.
-	Design and implementation of specific actions aiming at establishing and enhancing diversity at the workplace. Analysis of specific cultural factors weighing on diversity dimensions and initiatives selection locally. 
-	Design and implementation of specific women’s leadership initiatives to promote career advancement of female talent
-	Coordination of an international diversity group, working on the implementation of “diversity” initiatives - Selected over 10 peers.

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR - EMPLOYEE BEHAVIOUR EXPERT

- QUALITATIVE RESEARCH ON EMPLOYEE PERCEPTIONS AND BEHAVIOUR

- QUALITATIVE RESEARCH ON CUSTOMER PERCEPTIONS AND BEHAVIOUR

CUSTOMER BEHAVIOUR SPECIALIST

UNESCO

MANAGEMENT AND COORDINATION OF INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS AIMING AT CHANGING BEHAVIOUR AT THE WORKPLACE

Fully responsible for the design, the implementation and the evaluation of the following qualitative research projects:

•	Diversity and gender equality in the workplace:  international projects on women’s career advancement in organizations across world regions
•	Change management following the findings of the “Diversity” projects: Expert advice to organizations, across regions, on ways to implement specific actions leading to gender-related behaviour change and structural corporate change
•	Organization and moderating of International workshops and seminars on diversity and behaviour change in the workplace 
     •	Coordination of an international gender diversity network

BEHAVIOUR CHANGE CONSULTANT

BEHAVIOURAL SCIENTIST🔸 I'll inject a dose of Science and Psychology in your process that'll maximise the reach of your product or service. You'll get to Yes faster with methods that are designed to do exactly that.

I INJECT A DOSE OF SCIENCE IN WHAT YOU DO, TO MAKE IT WORK FASTER. 

WHO I HELP:

Entrepreneurs and teams who find it difficult to make a specific action happen, that is crucial to move their project forward.

If you’ve used various methods to convince a customer, a user, or a patient to take a specific action you have in mind, and results are not what you want them to be, please get in touch.

HOW I HELP:

Not by improving your product or service
Not by reviewing your rational arguments
Not by analysing opinions about your product

Instead,

I insert science-backed tweaks into what you are already doing, to make action taking easier.
I rely on scientific findings on how the brain works when we make decisions, we choose between options or we take action. You'll know how to overcome resistance with science-backed techniques, when you want someone, or a group of people, to do something specific so you can move forward faster.

At the crossroads of Neuroscience, Cognitive and Social Psychology and Behavioural Science, I zero in on what’s scientifically proven, yet hidden and therefore frequently neglected and more dangerous than we think: the unconscious rules of thumb we all use that drive 95% of our decisions and actions.

I’m confident you take good care of the visible 5% : it's your project, within your expertise. For the invisible 95% remaining, I’ll help you see through with science-backed, cost-effective, easy to apply techniques so you can convince faster (I make them easy to apply for my clients, even if they don’t know anything about Behavioural Science or how the brain works.)

I have helped a number of profit and non-profit organisations solve complex issues related to perceptions and to conditions for shaping behaviour. I make them “see” what the other party “sees” that prevents them from taking action. I’ve had a hand in projects dealing with customers’ behaviour, citizen’s behaviour, employees's behaviour, users’ behaviour, online behaviour and gender-related behaviour to name a few.

DO YOU NEED TO MAKE THEM TAKE THE ACTION YOU WANT BUT UNSURE OF HOW TO DO IT? 
I'LL GIVE YOU A PLAN 🗝

DM me here, 
or visit my website for ways to shape your customer's behaviour a lot easier: https://www.enlexis.com



---------------
EXPERT/ADVISOR with the European Commission for projects on decision-making and individual/group behaviour change.

Specialties: Decision-Making, Behaviour Change, Customer Behaviour, Employee Behaviour, User Behaviour, Patient behaviour, Citizen Behaviour, Behavioural Science, Behavioural Economics, perceptions analysis, UX.

Dr. Theodora ZIAMOU

THIS WILL TRANSFORM YOUR OFFER
INTO A YES TRIGGER
NO MATTER HOW MANY NOs YOU GOT IN THE PAST.



If you are working, right now, on tweaking:

→ Your offering
→ Your value proposition
→ Your sales pitch
or,
→Your pricing model



..and you feel it’s starting to take too long, costing you even more time, more effort, more money, triggering more questions than it solves, not to mention the frustration and the feeling that this thing seems stuck for ages...


…here’s what you need to do. Ask yourself:

➡️ “Do I want my customer, user, client, patient…to DO something specific?”


To “DO” is:

⬇️

To buy. To book your preferred option. To register. To show up. Not to cancel. Not to forget their medicine. To follow up. To invest. To donate. To engage regularly. To recycle. To pay promptly…


(Did you notice all the above are actions/behaviours?)


🔥 If you do want them to do one or several of the above, research findings suggest that you need to meet the CONDITIONS that ENABLE this specific action/behaviour to happen. No conditions met, no Yes. Or some random ones.


⚠️ If the answer is “I want them to ‘understand/to think/’…” your path to a Yes will be difficult, if not impossible. You need to focus strongly on the ACTION you want them to take instead. NOT on their thoughts, NOT on their understanding, NOT on changing their mind or beliefs.

→ Start with defining the concrete ACTION you want them to take.



Not sure what conditions you need to meet in your specific case?

Not sure what elements in your current offering trigger a NO? (Because you do feel something is missing, right?) 


❇️ This is where I help.
Exclusively with science-backed techniques that are known to enable AND to trigger a Yes.

Two ways, in the comments, to work with me on this. 
You’ll know what to do to trigger a Yes, what NOT to do, where and why.
 

Let’s go!

BEHAVIOURAL SCIENTIST🔸 I’ll inject a dose of Customer Psychology in your current service or product, that is known to maximise reach and impact. You’ll get more Yeses, faster, with science-backed tactics that work.

THE 5 TOP FACTORS 
THAT MAKE YOUR CUSTOMER SAY YES.
WHICH ONES ARE YOU ALREADY USING?

HERE’S A WELL KEPT, RESEARCH-BACKED SECRET TACTIC
THAT PROTECTS YOUR OFFER FROM A NO, 8 TIMES OUT OF 10.
ARE YOU USING IT?



📍 Your pitch is perfect. 
📍 You have eons of experience.
📍 The quality of your product or service is at least high.
📍You have proof your client needs it.


But you heard a NO. Or many.


This is BECAUSE SOMETHING CRUCIAL IS MISSING.

Something that drives them directly to a NO, despite your brilliance, experience, skills and grit. And now we have PROOF of its existence AND its importance, thanks to a large amount of research findings.

Any guesses?

⬇️

Science says they said NO to you because:
(Please take note, this greatly impacts your results.)


⚠️ YOU UNINTENTIONALLY set “NO” as the *DEFAULT* ANSWER.

⚠️ Your product, service or process is structured in a way that is NOT ABLE TO TRIGGER A YES. Without you realising it.


This means…
🔴 …of all possible answers, when your prospective client sees your offer THEY FIND ‘NO’ BEING THE EASIEST ANSWER TO CHOOSE. So they say No. And they leave.


The result:

🔻 NO becomes the AUTOMATIC client choice.

🔻DESPITE the brilliant thing you created. Despite the effort. The expertise. The skills. The courses. The grit. 

🔻How frustrating is this?



⚠️ 8/10 of my clients DON’T REALISE that ‘NO’ appears as the EASIEST/AUTOMATIC choice when a customer considers their offer.


⚠️ Almost 10/10 of my clients DON’T KNOW how to SET A DEFAULT answer that is SATISFACTORY for both their customer AND them.

 
⚠️ There are MANY ways to UNINTENTIONALLY make ‘NO’ the default answer in your offering (hence the danger.) 



But, Theodora, WHERE is this “default answer” in my offer?

And HOW do I set it to YES?


Not obvious, I know.


✅ Let’s tweak your product, services or process in a way that ❇️ YES IS THE DEFAULT ANSWER ❇️ - exclusively with science-backed techniques, that are proven to do exactly that.

✅ You already spent so much time, effort, money and thinking to make that offer brilliant. You deserve a Yes. Let me make them say it, faster.

✅ 2 ways, in the comments, to work with me to make it happen.

The time is now.

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Jon Spiesman

Dr. Theodora ZIAMOU

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taplio

The Battle

Jon Spiesman

Dr. Theodora ZIAMOU

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Jon Spiesman's LinkedIn Performance

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Performance ScoreJon Spiesman's LinkedIn Performance