PLEASURE IN PLANNING
One lovely thing about a new year is that sense of a fresh start and an open calendar. Of course, that calendar tends to fill up pretty quickly with work and travel commitments. One way to make sure you’re factoring…
Corrie Shanahan is an expert in rapidly strengthening organizational performance, productivity, and corporate culture.
She works with clients all over the world, including leaders at Mars Inc., UNICEF, Discovery Communications, Deloitte, the World Bank and the IMF. She is a writer and frequent keynote speaker.
delivers tremendous value for her clients
Her clients engage her to rapidly improve their performance, to successfully manage transitions, and to develop leadership capacity across their organizations.
Her career has included being head of communications for the IIF, the world’s largest trade association for the financial industry, and leading external communications for IFC, the private sector arm of the World Bank.
Corrie was also the chief spokesperson at UNFPA and led Delta Airlines’ communications and investor relations in Europe. She covered international news as a journalist for NBC News and Reuters in Moscow, London, and Jerusalem.
She has been quoted in the New York Times, Financial Times and Harvard Business review.
She is the author of “Do it, Mean it, Be it. The Keys to Achieve Success, Happiness and Everything You Deserve at Work and in Life,” Career Press.
A native of Ireland, Corrie graduated from Trinity College Dublin and speaks German, French, Spanish and Russian. She lives in Washington, D.C with her teenage son Sam and their well-meaning beagle Patsy Cline.
Top performers constantly seek improvement and look for better, faster ways to get results. This program helps senior executives rapidly build on their strengths while mitigating weaknesses in order to improve their own performance and that of their teams. Typical results include improved communication, better optimization of team, and more effective collaboration.
Successfully managing transitions in high stakes situations. Typical results include: increased productivity, greater clarity for the team, improved visibility and influence, measurable business results and increased confidence.
Clients seek robust, diverse talent pipelines that can accelerate business growth. This program helps clients better identify talent, tailor support for high performers, and build capacity internally for leadership development. Particular focus on the development of women and minorities.
Most teams don’t operate as a team. They are a collection of individuals who sometimes share a common goal. This program helps teams agree on core principles of behavior, shared goals, and how to successfully navigate conflict and change. Clients see rapid improvement in how they work together, make decisions, communicate, and deliver for the business.
Ensuring a strong leadership bench is essential for all successful companies. Typical results include an agreed plan for succession, a road map for transitions, contingency planning, and clarity on roles and responsibilities for building a strong bench.
Clients seek us out for experienced facilitation of important conversations for the senior team or the board. We also design and lead staff offsites large and small, with clear business objectives that align people, culture and results.
Corrie Shanahan has a unique combination of expertise in communications, strategy, and leadership that make her a compelling speaker for your audience.
Working for organizations like the World Bank, IMF, United Nations, Delta Airlines, Reuters and NBC News around the world, she has the experience and insights to help you motivate, innovate, and lead change in your company.
From the newsroom in Moscow to the boardroom in Washington, her experience as a communicator, strategist, and business leader allows her to deliver tremendous value for your event.
For more information on booking Corrie as a speaker, please contact her at:
corrie@corrieshanahan.com or 202-294-4697
Corrie impressed me with her down to earth, yet always strategic and insightful manner of probing my thoughts. She was a terrific partner to work with during a critical transition in my career.
Corrie is a highly skilled facilitator. She has the ability to connect with even very large groups of people and create an environment that is productive, constructive and really enjoyable. I highly recommend her.
Corrie has the ability to clearly identify the needs of an organization, lay out a plan, and then deliver results quickly that greatly benefit the organization and its clients.
Corrie was an invaluable partner in my transition from public to private sector and move into the next phase of my professional life.
Corrie helped position us effectively with key audiences, raising our profile and making us more influential.
Corrie impressed me with her down to earth, yet always strategic and insightful manner of probing my thoughts. She was a terrific partner to work with during a critical transition in my career.
Corrie was an invaluable partner in my transition from public to private sector and move into the next phase of my professional life. I highly recommend her as a career coach.
Corrie has the ability to clearly identify the needs of an organization, lay out a plan, and then deliver results quickly that greatly benefit the organization and its clients.
Corrie is a highly skilled facilitator. She has the ability to connect with even very large groups of people and create an environment that is productive, constructive and really enjoyable. I highly recommend her.
Corrie Shanahan has terrific expertise in understanding a client’s long term goals and in thinking strategically about how to position a firm in the marketplace. She was instrumental in helping Atlas Mara manage its initial appearances with the global banking community in a way that strengthened our brand and created value to our business for the longer term.
Corrie has helped us get attention for the good things we do, that helps our organization attract members and means we spend less time on recruitment and more time implementing our mission and delivering for our members.
Relevant and impactful is how I would describe working with Corrie. We worked on the things that mattered most. This led to practical change, which was very impactful.
Working in emerging and frontier markets often presents challenging environmental, social and corporate governance issues. Corrie has tremendous experience dealing with those issues and the sound judgment needed to manage reputation risk in some of the world’s toughest markets
Corrie built a communications infrastructure for the IIF that greatly improved our ability to serve our members. She increased customer experience at our events, while also growing revenue. She made our staff better communicators. Our members really noticed the difference and appreciated the stronger brand and visibility.
What I really like is her global perspective. It’s very difficult to find people with a global perspective and yet in operations like Mars, that operate in almost every country in the world, it’s really important to coach people to operate in a global environment.
To work with Corrie was one of the best choices I made. Whether you are seeking a boost in your professional career or a change of path, I highly recommend her.
I really enjoyed working with Corrie. She was a personable and empathetic partner and had a clear, strategic approach to helping out with personnel and organizational issues.
Increased name recognition and brand visibility
Improved performance of management team
Increased inquiries from investors and media
You have had a great career and are currently in what will probably be your last fulltime role. You are a little tired of corporate life and not really ready to retire but you don’t want or need another fulltime role. You know people who are serving on boards and as acting advisors to big name firms. That looks attractive.
How do they do that?
The secret to building a successful portfolio career is in being purposeful about creating it and clear about what really interests you. The old maxim of finding what you’re good at and what you love applies here.
About 12 months before you are due to retire ideally, go through your contacts and create a list of people who know you and could recommend you. Start calling them. Be transparent with them about what you’re doing. That will make it easier for them to help you.
Develop a script: “We haven’t spoken for a while. I wanted to let you know that I’m going to be stepping down from X, and I’m interested in board and advisory roles. I thought you would be a good person to advise me on that…… Do you know of any? Would you be willing to recommend me…..” etc.
Then follow up. Set up meetings, coffees and lunches. Talk to people. Talk to more people. Keep an open mind but also keep your eye on the type of role you would ideally like. Don’t commit to anything too fast, unless it’s a dream role. Explore.
The best people to recommend you for board seats are peers or people senior to you in your industry. The second best are headhunters. Call the ones you know. If you don’t know any, make a list of the big ones. Call them and ask to speak to the head of your industry’s practice. Try to meet in person if you can.
Build your profile in your last year. Go to conferences, preferably as a speaker. Write about current topics in your industry for trade outlets. Update your LinkedIn profile. Get a decent headshot. Update your resume. Get it laid out professionally.
Do not spend 100 percent of your time doing your current job. It doesn’t matter how important it is or how busy things are. You should have built capacity for others to pick up your load. You need to be spending at least 20 percent of your time on building your new career. They will survive without you. Take care of your people, but make sure you don’t do that at the expense taking care of your future.
This came from my newsletter. Join the 2,000 senior executives who avidly read it each month. Get it delivered to your inbox by signing up at corrieshanahan.com
Don’t forget to check out my new book DO IT MEAN IT BE IT, The Keys to Achieve Success, Happiness, and Everything You Deserve at Work and in Life available now on Amazon
How to build a communications function that grows your business and your brand
How to build a career of board and advisory roles after your last big job
How to navigate a crisis and protect your firm’s reputation, while building your own
+1 (202) 294-4697
corrie@corrieshanahan.com
3922 Morrison St NW
Washington, D.C. 20015