Richard Brisebois PhD

Hi and welcome!

I work with managers and business owners who are serious about their development and the development of the people in their charge – business owners and managers who approach their work as a craft, that is, as something that provides them with both professional accomplishment and personal fulfillment.

You will find my ideas on my Blog and in my Book, and the work I do with managers and business owners in Solutions.

In my work and business life, I have had the good fortune of having managers and business partners who were deliberate about their own professional development as well as the development of the people in their charge. This has had a lasting impact in my own growth and has informed my work with managers in the last 25+ years.

Indeed, having learned from them and espousing their noble goal, I work as an executive coach and a designer and facilitator of leadership development programs. My coaching conversations and leadership development programs help managers and business owners be more effective in their role and more fulfilled in their professional life.

My clients describe themselves as thoughtful, discerning, inquisitive, reflective, and lifelong learners. My passion lies in providing them the means to harness that energy towards their own development and that of the people in their charge.

I’m a guide of sorts. I’ve had excellent experiences in being managed by people who worked hard at developing me, I tried to do the same in my own managerial positions, and it has been a topic of academic study and research for me, before making it my professional focus.

What makes my work unique is its multiple perspectives: practice and academia, experiences in industry and in the not-for-profit worlds, numbers and people, common sense and models, having run (still running!) my own business and helped managers and business owners run their own. I have worked with thousands managers and business owners, in 30+ countries, on three continents, in three languages.

The questions I am drawn to are “What is this?” and “What is it for?” I’m curious about first principles. I naturally seek to identify and understand the heart or root of the matter. And while this might sound theoretical, I have found that a problem well defined is a problem half solved. And it has served me well, particularly in business.

I am fascinated by the fruit of human imagination. I appreciate art in all its forms as well as innovation, technological or otherwise. I appreciate the wisdom of elders, the perennial, and the timeless. That is how I understand and value “sitting on the shoulder of giants.” (*)

I’m an independent thinker and most of my thinking is triggered by questions and conversations. Conversations are not work for me, nor a tactic. I have a genuine interest in people and the choices they make. A typical outcome of a good conversation, in addition to connection and the possibility of more, is having a better understanding of myself and my place in the world. I see reading books as having a conversation (notes in the margins, “yes and”, “yes, but”, etc.) with the author.

I am polyvalent. I like and pursue many things with equal interest and passion. That has me adapting different roles, perspectives, and prisms. From Linguistics to Finance to Management by way of music, sports, literature, and the outdoors. I have researched the nature of silence, debt-equity swaps, and the dynamics of interpersonal trust. I am attracted to puzzles (what’s this and what is it for?) and I will use any useful means, knowledge, model to solve them.

I live in Miami where I share my life with Sabrina who is a seasoned professional in international banking and financial services. Sabrina is a world-class swimmer and a three-time marathoner. She is the kindest person I know. I am a first-generation college graduate. I received a B.A. in Languages and Linguistics from McGill University, a MBA in Finance from Concordia University, and a PhD in Management from IESE/University of Navarre.

 

(*) Often attributed to a letter by Issac Newton (1676), earlier manifestations of this thought are from John Salisbury (1159) quoting Bernard of Chartres (circa 1130) who seems to be quoting a 6th century grammarian named Priscian. How about that for multiple sets of shoulders! (source)

Subscribe to my newsletter on Management and Strategy.

Links to articles and research about management, leadership, and strategy.

Here’s what a reader says: “Some great, short, insights into the way we work and think.”