James Krantz
James Krantz, Ph.D. is a leading voice in the areas of organizational change, leadership, and the design of work for high performance.
Prior to founding Worklab, Jim worked as a consultant with the Wharton School’s Center for Applied Research and at the Tavistock Institute in London. He has held faculty appointments at Yale and Wharton, and has taught in numerous settings including INSEAD, McKinsey’s Center Asian Leadership, Universidad de Chile and Columbia University. In addition, he served as Assistant Director of Wharton’s Leadership Program.
Jim’s approach to consultation recognizes that the unique characteristics of each organization must be understood in order to arrive at individually tailored, workable solutions. He helps clients address the need for significant change by emphasizing the importance of careful analysis in order to avoid prematurely jumping from “symptom” to “solution/technique” without understanding the critical underlying systemic factors. He also works extensively with leaders and teams, helping them face challenging issues and improving decision-making.
He has helped a broad range of clients by simultaneously focusing on systems analysis and the psychodynamic background of organizational life. Among the central principles informing his practice are: 1. organizations are shaped by both social and technical forces; 2. they exist in increasingly turbulent, complex and unpredictable environments; 3. clarity of objectives and tasks are an essential basis for high performance; 4. adapting to emergent conditions requires people in organizations to learn from experience and increasingly to work in cross-functional groups; and 5. while individuals determine much of what happens, they are deeply affected by the setting in which they work. What people are capable of doing and what aspects achieve expression depend on the context/conditions that inhibit or amplify certain attitudes, behaviors and potentials.
Jim has published widely on organizational performance, on the impact of emerging social trends on management, and on issues of leadership in contemporary organizations. He serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, Organisational and Social Dynamics, and Socio-Analysis. He is a past president of the International Society for the Psychoanalytic Study of Organizations and Fellow of the A.K. Rice Institute. Jim holds a B.A. in Economics and Philosophy from Wesleyan University, and received his Ph.D. and M.S. in Systems Sciences from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Dannielle Kennedy
Drawing on her background in psychology and group dynamics Dannie helps executives to understand and leverage their talents, identify and address limitations, personal and organizational, and to read and influence organizational forces that shape outcomes. Through an holistic, systems-oriented approach that often uses verbatim 360° feedback, she asks clients to locate themselves, their roles, and their goals in the surrounding mix of values, work processes, and competing agendas. Her method enables leaders and teams to surface hidden obstacles and develop personal and organizational strategies that create forward motion and growth. Dannie is a former president of the Board of Directors of the Boston Center of the A.K. Rice Institute and has directed conferences on authority and leadership in the Tavistock tradition. She is on the faculty of the Executive Coaching Program at the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology and has served on the Case Series Editorial Board of the Family Firm Institute. As an adjunct faculty member at Simmons College and guest lecturer at Harvard University and Smith College, she has taught courses on leadership, executive coaching, organizational theory and consultation, post-merger integration, applied research methods, and group dynamics. Prior to joining WorkLab (formerly Nautilus Consulting Group), Dannie worked as a senior consultant at KRW International, an executive development boutique. Dannie holds a Ph.D. from Simmons College and is a graduate of the Advanced Studies in Organizational Development Program at the Boston Institute of Psychotherapy. Her clients include Fortune 500 corporations and institutions in electronic information, financial services, advertising, publishing, testing and assessment services, human resources and university administration.
Leadership coach and advisor Dannielle Kennedy, Ph.D., is passionate about getting her clients the information and support they need to deepen awareness, drive success, and develop and inspire their teams.
Allison Dunn
She also works with teams, facilitating the improvement of their capabilities in both the task and interpersonal realms, and with organizations, enabling them to become more effective and efficient by overcoming the technical and organizational barriers to change. Before becoming a consultant, Allison spent seven years in the financial services industry, working in brokerage, credit services, and online banking, focusing on marketing, analysis, and operations management. Allison holds a Masters in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from New York University where she was a Masters Scholar. She is on the board of the Organization Development Network of Greater New York and is a member of the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology.
Allison Dunn is an organizational consultant who specializes in coaching individuals, helping them to clarify their goals and achieve their strategic objectives.