Welcome to Something Blu {the blog}
Featuring the work of Blu Pagoda founder, Rachel Formaro, team members, and guest posts from our network. Here is a selection of our most recent blog posts.
“The sooner the better,” says Rachel Formaro. “Chances are we have experience in the type of project you’re working on — we know what the roses and the thorns are. The sooner you bring us on, the better you can leverage our strengths.”
Indeed, give Lisa 15 minutes, and she’ll take … 30. That’s because soon, even the busiest team member finds that once they get on Lisa’s train, they’re not in any real hurry to get off. They find immediate comfort in talking to her, sensing that the questions she poses are not just routine time-eaters, but a strategic move propelling the project forward.
[Someone] who’s known for saying “We could totally make that!” probably has a “we could totally do that” kind of attitude, too. Maggie’s clients appreciate her keen ability to maintain perspective in a way that helps everyone push through the more stressful stretches of any project.
The kind of positive energy — enthusiasm combined with confidence, respect, and awareness — that helps Emily connect with people on her travels also helps her connect with those in her work life.
In a consulting situation, her enthusiasm and energy ignite excitement, motivating the team to join the project journey.
The shifting regulatory landscape calls for a proactive, strategic stance to maintain compliance without losing focus on operational efficiency. Mastering the nuances of these reforms demands not only a keen comprehension of the new mandates, but also a proficient operational strategy for effective implementation and communication.
With more than 25 years of experience, senior consultant Keith Goodlett has a proven ability to deliver significant returns for the multinational financial firms he’s served. He has a knack for presenting complex concepts and tasks in ways that make team members confident about the journey ahead.
The consulting pros at Blu Pagoda know that reaching the finish line on a project isn’t truly the last lap. In fact, while successful project completion may be our first goal, it’s followed by a final stretch that’s just as important: We’re dedicated to making sure we’ve set clients up for ongoing success long after we, personally, have left the field. Our CEO, Rachel Formaro, shares some of the ways in which we do this.
How is being a stellar strategic consultant like being a master globetrotter? We turned to none other than Eric Radzan for the answer. See what he says about it in this week’s Something Blu blog post featuring the latest Top Talent Consultant Spotlight!
Photo: Eric Radzan at Ha Long Bay in Vietnam.
Let’s face it. For those of us who spend our time crafting creative and effective marketing and communications campaigns and love what we do, compliance can be a bit of a buzzkill. Does anyone actually enjoy sifting through all the dos and don’ts of myriad laws and regulations?
Mike Golaszewski is a technology and financial services strategist with more than 30 years of experience in technology and product development, marketing, and service and operations. His job is to deliver on complex initiatives or fix things that are impaired.
Having held multiple roles in the information technology sector, including development, testing, business analysis, and business systems analysis, Kari can IT with the best of them. For instance, she recently used her experience with JIRA and Atlassian products to manage and scale the reporting of a backlog of over 200 status updates spread across more than a dozen sub-tracks while tracking the overlap with a second high-profile initiative. In doing so, she added efficiency to the status reporting by closing high-priority tasks within a specific timeframe, making it easier to highlight key achievements.
Can feminism and capitalism exist in harmony? Strictly speaking, no, says business coach and podcast host Becky Mollenkamp.
Still, she’s a long way off from carrying pictures of Chairman Mao.
In fact, while describes herself as anti-capitalist, she firmly believes in making money. What she eschews, however, is toxic capitalism—a system that puts profits above all else.
One of the most effective yet often overlooked ways to implement DEIB is through our everyday language. The words and phrases we speak and type on a regular basis are vital in shaping workplace culture and fostering an inclusive environment. Let’s take a look at some words and phrases that can be eliminated or replaced in general corporate communication to align with DEIB principles.
While she has more than 30 years’ experience in her field, she’s always looking for ways to reach the next summit. One of her favorite quotes is from the comedian Kevin James: “If you’re not learning, you’re not living.” Showing just how much she takes this truth to heart, she recently attained a certificate in Technical Communication through a rigorous two-year program from the University of California Berkeley Extension.
No matter how deep and wide a project manager’s experience goes, if they’re truly great at what they do, they’ll never take a “been there/done that” approach to any job. That’s because the best consultants understand that each client is pursuing their own unique set of goals, and in doing so, they encounter their own distinct challenges.
When you’re looking for a consultant to helm a thorny, high-stakes project, you want someone who is organized and efficient, who has a great eye for detail, and is able to quickly master the intricacies of large, complex projects. And, because no consultant is an island, you hope they can do a fantastic job of working with the project managers, both giving them direction and holding them accountable for their work. Oh, and if they can save you from innumerable mistakes, all the better.
“The best thing about Friday is that it’s only 48 hours until Monday!” Said no one ever. Except, that is, Vinesh Mehta. That catchphrase became his favorite motto from the last project he worked on. And get this: He meant it!
In his role as a senior strategic consultant for Blu Pagoda, Vinesh loves nothing more than taking on a challenge—the thornier, the better. In his capable hands, today’s complex initiatives become tomorrow’s smooth-operating systems. And he loves every minute of the process.
Last week, we caught up with Blu Pagoda Senior Strategic Consultant John Pacheco, who’s in the middle of an ambitious communication campaign that’s involved three years of planning and phased execution. We asked him to tell us some of his own best practices that have emerged through his 20-plus years of experience in complex communications. And he gave us his top three!
“On a recent Sunday, Jenn found herself in that unenviable situation — she was trapped in an elevator stuck between floors, on a Sunday, no less. Using the emergency call box in the elevator, she was able to reach … a recorded message.” Find out how Jenn put her project management skills to use to get out of this tricky situation!
After marking our first-decade milestone and as our growth continues to surpass expectations, we are excited to share some great news about our organization. We’ve appointed Jenny Cronin to the newly created position of Chief Brand Officer. In this pivotal role, Jenny will chart the course for our brand’s evolution into the next decade. Our new colleague brings 25-plus years of experience directing marketing efforts across multiple disciplines and leading high-performance teams.