I’ve consulted full-time for 20 years, working alongside clients in technology, finance, healthcare, the social sector, and government.

  • My goal is to reduce suffering and wasted effort in the workplace.
  • Key methods include continuous improvement, group facilitation, workshop design, strategy deployment, and change management.
  • A typical project involves sequencing activities into a structure that helps you meet your objective, with room for learning along the way.

Selected client organizations

Details

Tap or click to expand, as you like:

Brian’s consulting story

After college I got a systems analyst job and enjoyed that for a few years. I then went back to school for a Master of Science from the University of Michigan School of Information. During grad school, I started doing project-based work and consulting, and I haven’t looked back.

I then spent about 9 years as an independent technical consultant with emphasis on applying UX methods to increase the value of working software—my ‘changesets for dollars’ era. Eventually I got tired of laboring on projects that didn’t consistently make a dent in my clients’ organizations. Certainly you’ve had software foisted upon you that made things worse or slower. Let me tell you, it’s no fun being on the other end of that exchange either.

This interest in outcomes led me to figure out how to apply lean and continuous improvement methods in larger organizations. For the next 5 years, I worked alongside clients in the public and nonprofit sectors, using and mutating continuous improvement methods to directly benefit the public. Finally, over the most recent 5 years, I’ve practiced additional skills, including approaches to organizational development and linking strategy to measurement.

What I enjoy most about the work is helping people uncover mutually beneficial—often surprising—solutions to big problems. These solutions sometimes originate from lower status employees; I celebrate when their insights are heard, acknowledged, and realized. I look for ways of communicating and planning that take the usual bullshit, turn it upside down, and use it as fertile soil to grow something new.

Approach: an ‘apprenticeship to the truth’

This consulting practice has been one long ‘apprenticeship to the truth’, as Emerson put it. The school of hard knocks. I try many different approaches. I discard the ones that don’t work. I keep and refine the ones that do. All this in order to get the most meaningful and durable results for my clients. The most recent decade of this effort is documented on this very website.

Training & certification

Of many training and certification programs I’ve completed over the years, here are three I’ve found most beneficial. I broadly recommend to these to clients and colleagues alike:

  1. Technology of Participation (ToP) Facilitation Methods from the Institute of Cultural Affairs (ICA)
  2. Change Management Certification Program from ProSci
  3. Foundations of Humane Technology from Center for Humane Technology

Further details:

  • Consulting résumé, case studies, etc., available upon request.
  • As of this writing, I’ve completed:
    • 77 consulting engagements for
    • over 30 individual clients
    • across a 20 year span.

Booking

Contact me for availability, which is limited through first half of 2026. However, I’d love to assist you as I am able, and can introduce you to effective consultants who are available sooner.

Testimonials

Jeff in Washington state says:

Brian is an expert in Lean, kaizen, and process improvement. I thought I understood Lean principles until I met him; he helped (and demonstrated) how much more I had to learn. He lives and breathes and demonstrates respect for people in all that he does. He loves to challenge the status quo and drive the setting and process to where it should have been from the beginning. His ability to manage change is amazing to watch. He truly raises the bar every time he steps into a meeting or gathering of people. He may be the most humble man I have ever met.

David, a VP/vCISO in Texas, says:

Brian led an assessment engagement for my application development team which provided me with unexpected, actionable, and valuable insights into my team’s performance and ways that it could be enhanced. His approach was extremely effective and collaborative, which allowed him to develop the trust necessary to really understand what was going on with the team and to get honest and direct feedback that he turned into recommendations we still use for guidance a year after his visit.

Sharon, an HR Advisor in Washington state, says:

What I have appreciated most in my time working with Brian is his ability to gather multiple perspectives and feedback to craft solutions. Brian is impactful with his communication and listening skills, his ability to collaborate and his flexibility in adapting to changes in course. He is amazingly good at listening to and responding to critique. His end goal is a better whatever-it-is-he’s-working-on-or-towards and he has passion for making sure it includes the input of anyone who cares about the end result.

Andre, a Continuous Improvement Specialist in Washington state, says:

‌‌Brian is an excellent listener and collaborator. As a result, he is able to turn ideas into tangible products and services with minimal waste and no excuses. He is the rare talent that can design and build complex software products and then turn around and teach an all-day workshop. As a facilitator he is able to guide clients through complex processes and push them to reach their goals. As much as I have appreciated his ability to do his job, I am even more impressed by how he does it. All of his work efforts and human interactions are guided by respect for people and a strong drive to continuously improve processes and places.