“Guiding People to Achieve Higher Performance Levels”

After working for various corporations for over 25 years, Philip Berry decided to put his expertise, knowledge, and skills together to serve others. Philip has always enjoyed working in settings that improve the capability of people to improve themselves at the same time that they are improving the business. Hence, he started this process by writing a book called “Being Better Than You Believe: 8 Steps to Ultimate Success.” The principle of this book became the mantra for how Philip would organize his business practice. Ultimately, this book aims to demonstrate how people, teams, and organizations can move from their present levels of performance to higher levels of capability.

Having worked in not-for-profit and for-profit organizations, Philip has experience in the computer industry at IBM and Digital Equipment Corporation, in the consumer products sector for Procter & Gamble and Colgate Palmolive, alongside working for the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority and the Clinton Foundation. In all these sectors, what Philip found the common foundation was that when people become more proactive, fulfilled, and satisfied in their personal roles and work with others in a collaborative and team environment that is aligned with their unique vision and mission, they are going to be more effective in improving their organization. He carries these values with him and implements them in every venture he begins.

“I always bring a deeper perspective to any problem that I am faced with. I never just accept one dimensional thinking regarding a problem and solution. Abraham Maslow, a noted social psychologist said that often when a person is viewing a problem and the only tool, they have is a hammer, they view every problem as a nail,” explains Philip. “I always have my team look beyond the obvious to other than the presenting problem. I believe strongly in reframing the situation to gain a deeper, broader perspective.”

For Philip, it has been imperative to broaden his professional experience in a manner that provides ultimate flexibility. He began his career in Human Resources to expand his capability to work in the people development area. However, to really contribute, Philip needed to understand a broader array of specific functional areas like organizational development, training, labor relations, diversity and inclusion, compensation, and employee relations. “I sought out positions that would enable me to understand the depths of these functional areas so I could move to higher levels of responsibility to the Vice President level,” says Philip. “Furthermore, I wanted to broaden my experience base in understanding how this worked in various countries and different industries. I have successfully achieved my mission because of this multilayered approach.”Living in Paris and working in over 60 countries, Philip developed cross-cultural skills and knowledge of different cultural environments. “This deep global understanding provides a unique ability to work with others. Many professionals find it difficult to understand and respect the value of working with people from other countries and cultures. It makes a tremendous difference when you are trying to understand the problems and arrive at solutions which are not just from one cultural framework. I believe developing empathy is a critical behavior for success. You can’t understand someone until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes.”

As we look at Philip’s present career, it shows how establishing his business allowed him to contribute across several industries, countries, and companies. “I am presently experiencing the type of variety that fulfills my life and career ambition. Moving into this new opportunity has allowed me to be more creative by developing innovative solutions, programs, and experiences,” elucidates Philip. “It is the pinnacle of my professional contribution because I can contribute in a novel manner. The apex of this has been writing my book, “Being Better Than You Believe:8 Steps to Ultimate Success.” Philip’s business’s mission is captured in this book’s purpose. The task is to enable individuals, teams, and organizations to transition from their present performance levels to higher levels of contribution.

He accomplishes this through executive coaching; organizational effectiveness; diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies, and blue ocean strategic planning implementation. Because Philip’s mission is to enable individuals, teams, and organizations to transition to higher levels of capability, he always views issues, problems, and opportunities through a multi-level prism. His systems analysis and holistic view enables him to partner with organizations on various levels of change management.

“Since the pandemic, I see that many leaders are struggling with the new role that they must perform in order to be impactful. I am revitalizing my interventions to enable leaders and leaders in waiting to enhance their personal brand so they can be personally and organizationally more impactful,” states Philip. “Not enough attention is leveled to diverse populations of race, ethnic and gender who can rise to different levels of contribution in the organization.” ICX