Enlightened Leadership

Enlightened Leadership Solutions makes your managers into leaders faster, easier and more effectively than any other approach - we guarantee it! We have proven ourselves in twenty-five years of training, speaking, coaching, and consulting to 23 of the Fortune 100 and thousands of other organizations.

Whether the context is management-leadership, change management, cross-functional teams, leading change or just day-to-day growth management and leadership challenges, we have made managers from over 67 countries into leaders.

Ed Oakley is the Chairman and CEO of Enlightened Leadership Solutions, Inc., a training and consulting company, where he has had the opportunity to put his leadership concepts to work.

Ed spent 15 years in the computer industry and has been on a quest for over 25 years to understand how to bring out the very best in people.

Ed founded the firm now called Enlightened Leadership Solutions, Inc. in 1987. He is co-author of the best selling business book Enlightened Leadership: Getting To The Heart Of Change (Simon & Schuster), now in its 32nd printing. Ed has authored numerous articles such as "Adventures in Enlightened Leadership", "The Role of Enlightened Leadership in Cultural Change", and others. He is co-author of the audio and video training series, "Making Managers Into Leaders". His latest book is Leadership Made Simple: Practical Solutions to Your Greatest Management Challenges."

Ed has consulted in Europe , Australia and Asia for organizations challenged with major change, including those involved with quality initiatives, re-engineering, "right-sizing", etc. He specializes in turning around challenging project and change efforts.

History of Enlightened Leadership Solutions, Inc-The best place to begin is where we got our name.

The Allied Forces had just won a quick and decisive victory in the first Gulf War. The efficiency and the effectiveness of the forces were notable. One of our principals was watching CNN interview one of the Generals in Saudi Arabia .
The General who shared his observations and analysis on why the Allied Forces were so successful commented: 'The chain of command has empowered the armed forces in the field to get the job done. Decisions are being made at the battle front, not by the brass in Washington . Now that's enlightened leadership.'
Three years later, the book was published by Simon & Schuster. The book is in its 31st printing and has sold over 230,000 copies worldwide.

What we've learned is a profound demonstration about the power of human capital, and unleashing that power is at the very core of our work.


Philosophy of Enlightened Leadership Solutions

We believe that people are the cornerstone to success. People are the single biggest opportunity to realize performance gains without expending or investing in additional resources.
Attitude, alignment, communication, focus and commitment are critical differentiators between those who thrive and those who just survive. We consistently find that individuals, teams, and organizations who execute these areas well, out-perform those who may have more technical knowledge or “talent”.
We believe that what makes people “tick” doesn’t change much from company to company. The behavior that is driven by management philosophy, culture, process, systems, procedures, and structure is unique to each organization. Research has concluded that cultural alignment is a significant factor behind failed mergers and executive retention. Much of the knowledge we have gained over the years will impact individual performance. Organizational performance is further dependent on what, how, and when that knowledge is applied to those unique organizational factors.

We also believe that innovation and knowledge transference is critical and that the greatest measure of our success is how fast organizations integrate and apply the capabilities that we initially provide them. Our goal is to create independence, not dependence on us for success. We are a catalyst and guide for change, not the holder of the process. The more organizations are accountable for success, the greater and more sustaining the performance improvements. Developing that accountability is an important part of our work.