About the Authors
Alison Heiser
Alison Heiser is principal of Alison Heiser Associates, LLC, a strategy and innovation consultancy helping clients with “wicked problems” that require deep thinking and imagining new business models.
Alison has deep experience developing and leading implementation of forward-leaning strategies that deliver significant bottom-line results across a variety of industries and business situations. She is a talented change agent in organizations seeking to step change innovation and identify strategies for growth. Prior to consulting, she was a senior executive at several blue chip companies, engaging multiple consultants over the years. This gave her experience with a host of highly relevant frameworks to draw upon in her role reversal to consulting. Her corporate experience as a leader and consultant includes P&G, LensCrafters, Michelin, Accenture, Microsoft, BASF, Steelcase and many others.
She honed her consulting experience at Accenture, leading marketing and customer strategy client engagements for Fortune 100 companies undertaking enterprise-wide customer transformation initiatives. In 2009, Alison Heiser Associates launched with a small group of clients to bring marketing and strategy to CEOs leading mid-cap companies and privately held family-owned businesses. She was keenly focused on listening to clients talk about their issues, and often able to reframe these conversations into clearly defined challenges. Today, the business has expanded to serve leaders in nonprofit organizations and maintains strong relationships with her original clients.
Alison earned her MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and her BS in Communications from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Alison lives on a tree farm in northern Wisconsin with her husband Jim and their ridiculously spoiled rescue pup Nala. Their son Michael is a technology consultant and lives in Chicago.
“The future of work is creative —
it’s about solving increasingly complex problems in new ways.”
—Amy, VP Strategy
Mary O’Connor Shaw
Mary O’Connor Shaw leads 360 Shaw Communications Inc., a consulting firm that helps business leaders craft powerful stories.
Mary speaks the language of business fluently. She is exceptionally adept at synthesizing complex — often highly technical — concepts into clever, hand-drawn illustrations that foster collaboration and inspire innovation.
Mary is also an experienced writer and trainer. She has developed many unique programs, including “Antibiotics & You,” which earned the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Award for Excellence. Her latest workshop, “Learn to Draw with Mary Shaw,” is a visual storytelling how-to course for business professionals.
Mary makes her home on a farm in West Michigan with her husband Sidney and their free-ranging flock of ridiculously spoiled chickens.